Emmy Rossum finally revealed the real reason she left “Shameless” two seasons early this week, seven years after her exit.
On Wednesday’s episode of “Call Her Daddy,” the former “Shameless” star discussed the hit Showtime series with host Alex Cooper, pushing back on rumors of issues on-set, her desire to have children or pay disparity.
“I loved the job until it felt like there wasn’t enough juice to squeeze out of the lemon,” Rossum said. “We had made 110 episodes and by the time I left and they offered us two more years I had already started my production company. I had set up my first show [‘Angelyne’] and I was green lit and getting ready to make it.”
“I left to go make the show I had been developing that our showrunner John Wells had encouraged me to kind of get in the driver’s seat of my own career and make my own shows and make things,” she added. “I left with a lot of grief and sorrow because I would miss all those people and I couldn’t believe that they were going to go on the journey without me. But I was also really excited. I felt like I was launching and getting ready to start this new chapter.”
Rossum did fight for herself while working on “Shameless,” however. She was the outright lead despite William H. Macy’s billing, and after seven seasons, thought she should have a salary that reflected that; she was paid $350,000 an episode in her final run on the show. Rossum told Cooper she suspected Showtime leaked her pay dispute because she preferred it stay private.
“My focus is never on money. It’s on what’s fair and what’s right,” she explained. “I believe that people should be paid for their labour. It was really about being valued equally when I was doing equal work.”
“Shameless” was an American remake of a popular British series that ran for 11 seasons – the final two without Rossum. It also launched the career for Jeremy Allen White, who went on to star in “The Bear,” “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” and “The Iron Claw.”
