Actor Nina Dobrev, popular for playing Elena Gilbert on Vampire Diaries has revealed why she abruptly left the show after Season 6. Nina left the show at the height of its success due to pay disparity with her male co-leads, Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore) and Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore).
Nina Dobrev spilled the beans Samantha Highfill’s new book I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries.
Nina Dobrev's Elena Gilbert was a central part of the show's plot and her abrupt exit left fans confused. However, Nina received a lower salary than Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley which made her leave.
"Candice, Kat, and I were the three lowest-paid series regulars in the first two seasons", revealed Nina Dobrev.
Nina Dobrev believes that she deserved at least a higher pay because she was playing several characters as and when the plot required.
In the book, she wrote, "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 memorize 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".
Nina Dobrev also revealed that she had requested the network for a pay raise so that there is parity with her male co-stars. Their refusal to adhere to her request had hurt Nina Dobrev who then decided to call it quits as Elena Gilbert.
"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", said Nina Dobrev.
Nina Dobrev made a guest appearance in the series finale in 2017. Nina quit Vampire Diaries in 2015 after being a part of the show from the very beginning.
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