Charlie Sheen’s Two and a Half Men Salary Stuns Jon Cryer

Sheen became the highest-paid actor on television because CBS had already pre-sold two more seasons of the show

Two and a Half Men was one of the most successful sitcoms of the 21st century, but according to star Jon Cryer, there was a massive pay gap behind the scenes.

Charlie Sheen is back in the spotlight this week with the release of his autobiography, The Book of Sheen, and a new Netflix documentary titled aka Charlie Sheen. The documentary includes serious accusations — one involving an incident with then-girlfriend Kelly Preston, and another about Corey Haim, which Sheen firmly denies.

In the film, Cryer not only opens up about their time on Two and a Half Men but also likens Sheen to a North Korean dictator, expressing frustration over the imbalance in their salaries.

“He was falling apart in every way I could imagine,” Cryer says, “and yet he was renegotiating a new contract for another season of the show we were both on!”

Cryer elaborates by comparing Sheen’s strategy to that of Kim Jong-Il: “He acted crazy all the time and got tons of aid from countries too scared to say no. That’s what happened here — his life was imploding, and his deal skyrocketed. Meanwhile, my life was stable, and I got a third of what he did.”

According to Cryer, Sheen became the highest-paid actor on television at the time because CBS had already pre-sold two more seasons of the show. To keep it alive, the network ended up paying “an astonishing amount of money” to Sheen.