Tiffany Haddish Claims She Was ‘Never Paid’ for First Movie: I Didn’t ‘Get a Dime’

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Tiffany Haddish is still haunted by how she was treated on her first film.

The “Girl’s Trip” breakout star and recent “Haunted Mansion” actress told the Associated Press in the below video that she was never paid for her film debut, despite being told her salary would be $1,200. Haddish was also homeless at the time.

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“My very first movie I ever did that I was the star in, I was homeless while I was shooting that movie,” Haddish said. “They were supposed to pay me $1,200 to do the movie. I wasn’t in the union. It was non-union film so there was nothing I could do about it. They never paid me. They never paid me a dime.”

She continued, “The producers gave me 10 DVDs and said, ‘Sell those. Good luck.’ I never saw the movie.”

While Haddish did not name the film, her first credited role was in 2005’s “The Urban Demographic.” She also appeared in established series “Pimp My Ride” and “That’s So Raven” the same year.

“Then ‘Girls Trip’ comes out in 2017,” Haddish recalled. “That [first] movie is all over BET, VH1…this network, this streaming. It’s everywhere that movie! I don’t get a dime. It’s the second worst movie I was ever in. Not a penny.”

Haddish previously told Cosmopolitan that after landing success in Hollywood, she “started trying to figure out how to create generational wealth” including buying land in Los Angeles.

“Before we even got into Season 2 of ‘The Carmichael Show,’ I bought a house. Everybody told me I should wait, but I didn’t care,” Haddish said. “I just knew I was going to have to always make enough money to take care of me and the house, and that’s what I did. Between that show’s next season, the ‘Keanu’ movie, and making sure I can live comfortably off of $500 a month, I was able to pay off half the house. The ‘Girls Trip’ check was the final check. People told me to spend it in other ways, but I used it to pay off the house because I was always afraid of being homeless again.”

In September 2022, Haddish claimed she lost work due to a child sexual abuse lawsuit against her and her former comedy partner. The case was later settled.

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