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Holland Taylor is opening up about her decision to leave Two and a Half Men after her contract expired.

The 83-year-old actress starred as Evelyn Harper, Charlie and Alan’s mother, across all twelve seasons of the series, but after the first six years, she took a step back. She continued to have a main role through season nine and was only recurring in the final three seasons.

In a new interview, Holland explained her decision to step away from the show when her contract expired.

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“I stopped being under contract,” Holland shared on the Alchemy with Anthony Mason podcast. “So, in other words, they would say, ‘Can you do a guest appearance at the end of March?’ And I would say, ‘No, I cannot.’ And I only did it if I wanted to do it.”

When asked why she stopped being under contract, Holland said it was “absolutely” her choice and explained it had to do with not being paid well.

“In fact, they were astonished because when your contract runs out is when people usually back up the truck. And they they never paid me very well on that show,” the actress said. “I was paid on that show what I had made on a series like like eight years before or something. And I got, you know, four Emmy nominations and they never gave me raise. They usually do, just as a courtesy.”

She added that she “loved a lot about that show, but they were not full of courtesies.”

“In any case, when the six years was up, I said, ‘I don’t want to be under contract anymore, but I will visit the show occasionally if it’s, if you want.’ I mean, I did play the boy’s mama,” Holland continued. “I said, ‘I don’t want to be under contract anymore.’ And they said, ‘We can’t pay you any more money.’ First of all, I said, ‘You could actually pay me the cost of this building, but don’t bother because I don’t want to continue on under contract.'”

“And they said, ‘But we can’t afford to give you more.’ I said, ‘I’m cool with it. I just will come back as a guest from time to time,'” she said. “They could… but the point is, I didn’t want to. So, they were just trying to protect themselves against giving me a raise of any significance, because normally, I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know, Jon [Cryer] quadrupled his salary or something like that. That’s what they usually do when the contract runs out.”

As mentioned, Holland received four Emmy Award nominations for her role on the CBS sitcom for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy series in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010.

She was, however, already an Emmy Award-winning actress before Two and a Half Men. She won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on The Practice in 1999.

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