There’s no way that when Marta Kauffman sat down to write a single episode for Everything’s Relative, that she could have known she would go on to help create Friends, one of the most legendary sitcoms of all time.
Being such a big part of Friends, it’s easy to think that Kauffman might be rolling in the dough. But is that really how she made most of her money over her life, or did her other projects over the years contribute more to her pocketbook?
So what is Marta Kauffman’s net worth and how did she make her money?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Marta Kauffman is worth an estimated $700 million. As a producer on Friends, a show that basically will be shown in reruns forever on TV and streamed by basically everyone forever, Kauffman is entitled to the residuals from the show. With a show that popular, it’s no wonder she’s worth so much.
Don’t just assume Friends was her only major success though. Her first major sitcom success came from being a writer, producer, co-executive producer, creative consultant, and the creator of Dream On, which ran from 1990 to 1996, and was syndicated by Comedy Central, so it kept airing all the way until 1999 —though it isn’t available to stream.
This wasn’t the first time something like this would happen for Marta, either. She created Veronica’s Closet, which released originally in 1997 but was so massively popular it would be shown as reruns on various channels all the way through 2012. She just kept on co-creating incredibly popular sitcoms with the multiple award winning Grace and Frankie, though the residuals from that show in particular might be pretty pathetic.
It’s not just television where Kauffman has shown her producer prowess, either, as she’s shown her talent on Broadway, working on the Beetlejuice musical.
Kauffman even has made some of her money in real estate, selling two different homes over the years for $8 million and $6.37 respectively. Her current oceanfront Malibu mansion cost $2.7 million to buy, not including the house right next door, which she also eventually bought for $23.6 million.
To put this in perspective, she’s worth more than Friends stars Lisa Kudrow and Cortney Cox combined. Big name actors may get some serious fame, but maybe producing and creating shows is where the money is really at.