Julianna Margulies is revealing the reason she turned down a whopping $27-million paycheque to stick with her role on “ER”.
Margulies famously left her role as nurse Carol Hathaway on the beloved show in 2000 after six seasons despite being offered the money as part of a two-year contract.
In her upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey, the 54-year-old star recalled how she finally knew what she wanted to do after visiting a Los Angeles bookstore.
RELATED: George Clooney, Julianna Margulies & The Rest Of The ‘ER’ Cast Reunite
“It was such an incredible moment… I felt very alone. I had already planned what I was going to do before they offered me that money. I had my life planned, I was going back to New York to go and do this play then all this money came up.”
Margulies went on, “I went to the Bodhi [Tree] Bookstore [in Los Angeles] — I had heard a friend got some spiritual books and I had been studying some Buddhism, so I went.”
The book she picked up was Awakening the Buddha Within by Surya Das.
“I brought it home… I opened the book, I closed my eyes, and I [pointed to a line in the book]. And I opened my eyes and the line was, ‘I knew I wanted to learn more, not earn more.’”
Margulies then left her role on “ER” and went on to star in numerous different projects.
