Elena Tobin

In 1999, ABC offered Patricia Richardson $1 million an episode to stay on Home Improvement. Her TV husband, Tim Allen, was offered $2 million, and she said no. In the video below, she explains why she turned it down. "I had this thing of not really being able to see my kids anymore." She had played Jill, Allen's wife on the show, for eight seasons. Over those years, she says, "they never even paid me a third of what Tim was making." For season nine, she asked for the same pay as Allen. She says she knew Disney, which owned ABC, would refuse. She was divorcing and wanted time with her three kids. Disney refused. Then, she says, the network asked Allen to kill off Jill and go on. "Let's do it with dead Jill," they told him. Allen refused, she says, and announced it was time to end the show. Home Improvement ended in May 1999. She says Allen took it personally. "He's never really forgiven me for not wanting to do the ninth year." Would you take $1 million an episode while your co-star gets $2 million, or walk away like she did?