Reese Witherspoon Had Sleepless Nights When Her and Jennifer Aniston’s Salary for The Morning Show Was Questioned by Critics

Reese Witherspoon faces scrutiny for what she and Jennifer Aniston are earning in their Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.

Two of the most renowned actresses in the world, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, found themselves amidst a media frenzy about their salaries for The Morning Show on Apple TV+.

Their earning $2 million per episode has become a point of discussion, throwing light on the stark pay disparity still prevalent in 2025!

These are both top actresses and producers, and still, how much they earn doesn’t bode well with a few people.

The value of female-led projects, along with the gaping gender pay gap, is still being discussed at great lengths today, but to what end?

What did they earn, and what backlash did they face?

‘The Morning Show‘ premiered back in the year 2019, and it was revealed at that point that Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon would both be earning $2 million per episode, which would amount to $20 million per season.

These figures were only for their roles as actors.

What they would earn as executive producers was not revealed.

As the show gears up for season 4, discussions about what they have earned gain momentum again

Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show (Credit: AppleTV+)

Apple TV has invested wholeheartedly in this show, with a production value of about $15 million per episode.

Would a successful male actor be asked the same kind of questions? Speaking to Glamour about this topic, Witherspoon said,

I guarantee these companies are real smart, and if they agree to pay us, they’re doing it for a reason.

They probably had a lot of lawyers and a lot of business people decide on that number because they knew that they were going to make more than that back.

Does it bother people when Kobe Bryant or LeBron James make their contract?

Despite how famous the show is and how experienced these actresses are, they still face criticism over their high salaries.

This age-old discussion of gender pay disparity, still widely prevalent today, and it makes you wonder, where is the equality everyone keeps talking about?

Reese Witherspoon has long been an advocate for gender pay equity

This controversy about their salaries highlights a deeper issue of the ever-so-prevalent disparity of pay in the entertainment industry.

Witherspoon has been an advocate for equal pay and opportunity for women in the industry for a long time.

Her efforts, teamed with movements like Time’s Up, have nudged giants like HBO to address and reassess their gender-based pay gaps.
Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show (Credit: Apple TV+)

Both Witherspoon and Aniston have used their position and platform to shed light on the many challenges women face in the entertainment industry, right from the intense scrutiny of how they look, to the performances, to the pay inequality.

Even in The Morning Show, their characters portray similar themes,  navigating the complex journey of women in the media landscape, which is predominantly a male-majority industry.

The discourse that surrounds Reese and Jenny’s earnings in The Morning Show is nothing short of a microcosm of the ongoing equality and pay gap struggle for women in the workplace.

Their willingness to be at the center of such a heated discussion only underscores their dedication towards bringing about a change and making things better for the women of the future.

The Morning Show is now available for streaming on Apple TV+