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Report: 'Big Bang Theory' stars to take pay cut for Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch
Five Big Bang Theory stars will reportedly take a pay cut so Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch can receive raises.
Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar agreed to each give up $100,000 per episode to benefit the actresses, according to Variety.
Bialik and Rauch, who both joined the CBS sitcom in Season 3, were renegotiating their contracts when their co-stars reportedly made the offer. Galecki, Parsons, Cuoco, Helberg and Nayyar are rumored to make $1 million per episode.
The extra $500,000 per episode would bump Bialik and Rauch from $200,000 to nearly $450,000 per episode in the show's prospective 11th and 12th seasons. The series is in its 10th season, and has yet to be renewed.
Deadline had reported last week that Parsons, Galecki, Cuoco, Helberg and Nayyar were in the process of finalizing new two-year contracts. Sources said at the time that Bialik and Rauch were "primed for a major salary bump."
"We are in negotiations," CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller said in January. "These are going to be, I think, the normal tough negotiations when you're in a situation like this but we are guardedly optimistic."
The Big Bang Theory stars Bialik and Rauch as Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, respectively. The sitcom airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
Catherine Zeta-Jones says her kids want to go into show business
Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones says her kids want to go into show business.
The 47-year-old actress discussed Dylan and Carys, her "talented" 16-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter with husband Michael Douglas, on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
"You know, I know it's going to be hard for them, because they've got their grandfather, Kirk [Douglas], they've got me, they have Michael, but they so inherently love it and they're good!" Zeta-Jones told Kimmel. "They go to summer camp every year -- they do, like, three musicals and straight plays -- and they love it."
"I've had a wonderful life in this business, so if they want to do it, they know the hardships and the percentages of who makes it and who doesn't, so I just think that they've got the talent and I know that they have the drive," she said.
Zeta-Jones and Douglas, the son of Spartacus star Kirk Douglas, married in 2000 following Dylan's birth. The actress shared a photo on Instagram of her son and daughter laughing in January.
"'When you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you,'" she quoted the song "When You're Smiling" in the caption.
Zeta-Jones will next play actress Olivia de Havilland in the FX series Feud: Bette and Joan. The new Ryan Murphy project stars Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, respectively, and premieres Mar. 5.
LOOSE LIPS:
"There are so many unknowns, [but] it's invigorating to know I am starting over."
--Christina El Moussa, on her split from her husband, Flip or Flop costar Tarek, in this week's issue of PEOPLE
??? Guess Who ???
Which media mogul said she's not ruling out a presidential run?
Vera Farmiga joins Millie Bobby Brown in 'Godzilla' sequel
Vera Farmiga will star with Millie Bobby Brown in a sequel to Godzilla.
The 43-year-old American actress will play mom to the 13-year-old English star in the new Legendary movie Godzilla: King of the Monsters, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Friday Night Lights alum and Bloodline star Kyle Chandler will co-star as Brown's character's dad. Krampus helmer Michael Dougherty will direct from a script he wrote with Krampus executive producer Zach Shields.
King of the Monsters is a followup to the 2014 movie Godzilla starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Ken Watanabe. Sources told Variety Watanabe is the only actor likely to return for the sequel.
Legendary had announced in 2015 that all future King Kong and Godzilla movies would be developed by Legendary and distributed by Warner Bros. The companies will release Kong: Skull Island in March, with King of the Monsters to follow in 2019.
Farmiga is known for playing Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring films, and stars as Norma Louise Bates on the A&E series Bates Motel. Brown portrays Eleven on the Netflix sci-fi drama Stranger Things.
??? Guess Who ???
Which media mogul said she's not ruling out a presidential run?
Oprah Winfrey says she hasn't ruled out a future presidential run.
The 63-year-old television personality said on Wednesday's episode of The David Rubenstein Show that she's rethought her chances of becoming president in the wake of Donald Trump's election.
"I actually never thought that that was [an option]. I never considered the question even a possibility," Winfrey said on the Bloomberg Television series.
"I thought, 'Oh, gee, I don't have the experience. I don't know enough.' Now I'm thinking, 'Oh,'" she added with a smile.
Winfrey campaigned for Barack Obama in the 2008 election by holding fundraisers and attending rallies. She supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, but didn't actively campaign for the Democratic presidential candidate.
"There really is no choice, people," the star said on The T.D. Jakes Show in October. "Do you like the country? Do you like freedom and liberty? Do you like democracy? Or do you want a demagogue?"
"The reason why I haven't been vocal other than saying, 'I'm with her,' is because I didn't know what I could say that could actually pierce through all the noise, and the chaos, and the disgusting vitriol that is going on, and actually be heard," she explained.
Winfrey will appear in Disney's new adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, and posted photos from set last week with Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. She will also star in a remake of Terms of Endearment.