Nina Dobrev, the lead of “The Vampire Diaries,” earned less than her male costars for most of the series: “They just said out of principle they wouldn’t bump me up to being equal to the boys.”
“I was really working hard and we shot eighteen-hour days sometimes, and nights, and… pic.twitter.com/YRIFuw40uX
— Variety (@Variety) September 9, 2025
-Nina Dobrev played lead character, Elena Gilbert for the first 6 seasons of The Vampire Diaries before exiting at the end of the 6th season, returning for the series (8th) finale. Originally she stated ““I want to be the first to tell you that it wasn’t just a holiday celebration, it was a goodbye rave. I always knew I wanted Elena’s story to be a six season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime.”
-But immediately the truth is finally out in the new book – I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, by Samantha Highfill and that truth is: Pay.
-Nina revealed that in the first 2 seasons the women were the lowest paid of the cast with Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley being the leading paid actors on the show. Nina was able to negotiate a higher salary for the 3rd season but it came with a battle. Part of her salary increase had to do with the fact that she was playing Elena and Katherine when she only signed on to play one character leading her to work double the hours and she was not having it. Nina attempted to get equal pay to her two leading men that were in love with her character but the network refused. And then they allegedly forced the show to write off Katherine, only allowing the character to appear sparingly so they wouldn’t have to pay Nina more money.
-Nina states “They just said out of principle they wouldn’t bump me up to being equal to the boys, and so that was probably the most hurtful because it felt like I was really working hard and we shot eighteen-hour days sometimes, and nights, and I was putting my absolute heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears into it,” Dobrev recalls. “I remember feeling like the studio didn’t appreciate what I was bringing to the show, and it felt like they were saying that all the hard work I was putting into it didn’t matter to them and that I wasn’t an equal to my male counterparts, and so that was upsetting to me.”
-Due to lack of equal pay with her co-stars she left the show when her contract was up. She was open to returning for the 8th season but it once again came with another pay dispute. The writers wanted her for multiple episodes and Nina refused to come back unless she got paid what Ian/Paul were getting. At first the Network countered with a salary that was 5 times less than her Season 6 salary. Putting her foot down, she was ready to walk away from the show until they finally agreed to pay her equal to Ian/Paul…..but only for one episode. That episode being the series finale.
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