Chrissy Metz: From 81 Cents in the Bank to Equal Pay on This Is Us

The anecdote has reached mythic proportions: Before Chrissy Metz, 38, made it in television, she lived with six women in a cramped two-bedroom apartment. She had to borrow gas money to get to auditions and lived on a steady diet of dollar-store ramen noodles, all while racking up massive debt (nearly $12,000 worth.) When fate at last intervened, with Metz landing the role of Kate Pearson on This Is Us, she had 81 cents in her bank account.

But while the gig was a personal game changer, Metz was the rookie on set. In the first and second seasons, she made much, much less than her cast mates. While she earned $40,000 per episode, veteran actor Milo Ventimiglia took home $115,000, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Metz didn't make a fuss. After all, even earning a steady paycheck as an actress had seemed so inconceivable. She'd grown up watching her mom skip meals. Before she landed This Is Us, she collected unemployment checks. And even now she's one of the few plus-size women with a leading role on television. Metz felt fortunate just to have a seat at the table. “For the first two years, I thought, Oh I should just be grateful," Metz tells Glamour. "But then I realized, I think I’ve done OK, and now it’s time [to negotiate].”

After the second season of This Is Us, with two Golden Globe nominations under her belt (and the collective chorus of women who've stood up to demand more in her ear), Metz decided she was done just being grateful. “It was everything, collectively,” she says. “Our audience’s [support], other women standing up for themselves, and just feeling like, OK, I’ve been recognized for the work that I’ve done—not entitled, but recognized, and maybe it’s OK [to ask].”

With the tremendous success of This Is Us—it’s the biggest drama on broadcast TV—Metz’s castmates also came to the conclusion that it was time to revisit their contracts. But this time the beloved Pearson clan banded together. Now Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, and Metz receive identical checks. What does equal pay mean to Metz? A cool $250,000 per episode, which amounts to $4.5 million per season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Metz credits her coworkers for the tenor of the process: “We all understood where everyone was coming from. It felt really respectful and professional and nice to know that if I need to, I could do it again.”

But the newfound zeros at the end of Metz’s paycheck haven't changed her financial philosophy. She doesn't have to reach too far back into her memory to recall what it felt like not to be able to afford rent, let alone a new pair of shoes. Lately she’s trying to feel comfortable living in a “gray area” in relation to her wealth. “It’s about not being so tight that you’re not enjoying what you worked really hard for, but also not spending all of it just because you have it,” she says. “It’s sitting in that gray area of, Well, this is what I’ve learned from my past experiences, my parents, and this is what I’m going to have to do in order to have a different life.” For Metz, this means evaluating her purchases. While she’s reluctant to spend a lot on more disposable items, like clothes, she has built a beautiful home for herself—and fills it with the kind investment furniture she never had as a child.

Metz has also gotten serious about how she manages the money she can't see on display in her living room. “One of my good friends was like, ‘When you book a show, you need to get a business manager.’ I met with several of them about how they could benefit my financial longevity, as well as educate me and not just think, Oh, they’ll take care of it,” she says. “I wanted to know all the ins and outs, because I never knew what an IRA was, about investments, or making sure you have your taxes paid appropriately and all of those things that factor in when you’re your own business. I had to make sure that I knew what was happening—and not just letting someone else do it.” Metz still reviews every bill, paycheck, and budget. “I really try to stay on top of everything that’s being paid for, even the little things that add up whether it’s mileage from somebody who’s running an errand for me, or tailoring, and not saying, ‘OK, just pay it,’ but asking questions like, ‘Are you sure [that’s right?]’ I’m very diligent and go through things with a fine-tooth comb, because I want to make sure that I’m not just throwing the money away,” she says.

She doeshave a future to take care of once This Is Us is finished, after all. Metz points to Reese Witherspoon as a source of inspiration and considers her career to be a blueprint. “I admire everything she’s done, not just her incredible work, but also producing and being a part of changing the narrative for women in front of and behind the camera.” To that end, Metz has expanded her public footprint. Her memoir, This Is Me, was a New York Times best-seller. She's partnered with companies like Turbo, a free financial-health app from the makers of TurboTax, for the launch of their #RealMoneyTalk campaign, and later this month she'll hit the big screen in Breakthrough.

But in the meantime, Metz is just glad that This Is Us has given her the platform to encourage women to embrace their financial circumstances—and be honest about them. “I want to make sure people know how important it is to be vulnerable and actually talk about money.” And when asked how she’s become so fearless and open about her financial life, Metz doesn't miss a beat. “I just sort of live my life that way.”

Samantha Leach is an assistant culture editor at Glamour. Follow her on Twitter @_sleach.