Nina Dobrev reveals she quit Vampire Diaries over being paid less than her male co-stars
12 September 2025, 15:10 | Updated: 12 September 2025, 18:12
Despite being a lead actress, Nina Dobrev was paid significantly less than Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder.
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Nina Dobrev has opened up about the shocking salary dispute that led her to quit The Vampire Diaries after season 6.
It's impossible to imagine The Vampire Diaries without Nina Dobrev. Over the course of six seasons, Nina brought the role of Elena Gilbert to life, as she navigated a gripping love triangle with vampire brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder). Not only that but Nina played Elena's doppelgängers Katerina Petrova and Amara.
However, in spite of Nina's obvious contributions to the show, she's now revealed that she was paid significantly less than her male co-stars, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. In fact, it was pay disputes that led her to leave the show.
Why did Nina Dobrev leave The Vampire Diaries?
In a new interview for Samantha Highfill’s ‘I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries’, Nina explained that the real reason why she quit The Vampire Diaries two seasons before it ended. Nina revealed that it came down to an unsuccessful fight to get equal pay with her two male co-stars, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley.
Nina shared that it was made even worse by the fact that she played multiple main characters in the show: “It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my workload."
[I] had to be on set for double the amount of time. I had to memorise double the amount of lines. I wanted to play Katherine, but I wanted to be compensated fairly for that, and I wanted to be an equal to the boys."
Instead of meeting Nina's request to increase her pay, because she was playing more than one character, Nina revealed that the studio decided to write Katherine out of the show.
How much was Nina Dobrev paid in The Vampire Diaries?
Discussing the unjust situation, Nina said: "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."
Nina also let slip that she was asked to return for the full final season. However, when she was offered “five times less” than her male co-stars, she "politely declined". Nina was only able to return for the final episode after showrunner Julie Plec intervened and allowed her to have her pay rate for one episode.
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