More than two decades after “Everybody Loves Raymond” became a television staple, the sitcom is still generating enormous paychecks for its leading man.
According to Page Six, Ray Romano reportedly earns around $18 million every year from reruns of the hit CBS comedy.
Figures published by Vanity Fair and Forbes in 2012 highlighted just how profitable syndication remained years after “Everybody Loves Raymond” ended its nine-season run in 2005 — particularly for Romano.
At the time, Vanity Fair ranked Romano among the highest-paid actors in television despite the fact that “Everybody Loves Raymond” had already been off the air for seven years.
The publication placed him alongside stars like Ashton Kutcher, Tim Allen, Patrick Dempsey, Hugh Laurie, and Mark Harmon, all of whom were starring in active network television hits at the time.
Romano played Ray Barone, a sportswriter navigating family life alongside his overbearing relatives and wife, played by Patricia Heaton. The cast also featured Brad Garrett, Doris Roberts, and Peter Boyle.
By the show’s final season, Romano had secured one of the biggest salaries in television history.
He earned nearly $2 million per episode, setting a Guinness World Record for the highest-paid TV actor at the time.
The massive contract later created friction among the cast after Garrett and other co-stars sought raises once Romano’s salary became public.
“It was inevitable,” Romano told the Daily News in 2003. “When my salary came out in the papers, I knew stuff would happen.”
Romano said he understood why the rest of the cast pushed for higher pay.
“I don’t hold anything against anyone, not the cast or CBS. I’m loyal to both of them,” he said. “I wanted it to get resolved, but I knew it had to play its course.”
Today, Romano’s reported net worth sits around $200 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Last year, several members of the sitcom reunited for a 30th-anniversary celebration honoring the show and remembering Roberts and Boyle, who both died.
Romano has repeatedly ruled out reviving the series, saying the absence of the late actors would make a reboot feel incomplete.
“We’re all heartbroken. They’re a big part of the show, the dynamic,” Romano told The Post.
“Without them, I don’t know what the dynamic is. We love the show too much, we respect it too much to even try to do it.”
