Shonda Rhimes’ jaw-dropping Grey’s Anatomy earnings will absolutely blow your mind!

According to Forbes, in the early seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Rhimes made $30,000 per episode for writing and producing the series. By 2021, that ballooned to a whopping $250,000 per episode.

She told the magazine, however, that she had to fight for her pay despite bringing in an estimated $2 billion in revenue to ABC since her tenure on Grey’s began.

“It’s really startling to realize how much money your work is earning for a place and then to discover how much they think you’re worth versus that,” she said.

In early seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Rhimes made $30,000 per episode as a writer and producer. In later seasons, her salary grew to $250,000 per episode of the series.

In 2017, Rhimes finalized a reported $100 million deal with Netflix. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the massive success of Bridgerton netted Rhimes a significant pay increase to $150 million in 2021, plus bonuses that could bring her into the $300 million to $400 million range.

According to Forbes, Rhimes’ deal with ABC was for $10 million annually, plus 10% of profits generated from her series’ syndication on other channels and streamers like Netflix. Add that to her reported whopping $150 million Netflix deal and the bonuses reported to be within it, and you can see how her business savvy, combined with her creative genius, made her a very wealthy woman.

Looking specifically at 2021, Forbes estimated that Rhimes would earn close to $40 million from her Netflix deal that year (in part thanks to her Bridgerton bonuses); $8 million in producing fees for Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19; $17 million for her share of the profits from Grey’s, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder; and several million for her Shondaland projects (podcasts, web content, etc.). That would put her take-home in 2021 at about $70 million before taxes.

Forbes also reports that since her television career began, Rhimes has banked more than $350 million, pretax. And that was as of 2021. A lot of checks have come in since then!