For Julianna Margulies, money isn't everything.
In a clip of the actress' upcoming appearance on Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul show, airing on discovery+ this Saturday, May 1, Julianna reveals that she was offered $27 million to stay on the medical drama for two more seasons.
At the time, the ER star had already appeared in six seasons as Carol Hathaway, alongside George Clooney's Doug Ross, and was ready to try something new. She shares, "I was going back to New York to go and do this play and then all this money came up. Everyone I asked said, 'You'd be crazy [not to]. Take the money, take the money.'"
But she says that she had already resolved to quit, saying, "I felt very alone because I had already planned what I was going to do before they had offered me that money. I had my life planned."
So, rather than take her friends' advice, she asked the universe for a sign telling her what she should do.
"I had heard a friend got some spiritual books and I had been studying some Buddhism, so I went [to a bookstore]," she continues. "And I ran my finger down a shelf and I picked out a book, Awakening the Buddha Within."
The Good Wife actress recalls, "I brought it home and I said nothing. I walked into my bedroom, I opened the book, I closed my eyes and I went like [points to a line in a book]. And I opened my eyes and the line was, 'I knew I wanted to learn more, not earn more.'"
So, the show went on without her for an additional nine seasons, before coming to an end in 2009. At the time of her departure, George had already moved on to blockbuster films like Ocean's Eleven.
George previously said that he treasures his time on the NBC show, but admits his wife, Amal Clooney, isn't a big fan of Dr. Ross. He recently explained, "My wife is watching them now and it's getting me in a lot of trouble because I'd forgotten all of the terrible things he was doing picking up on women."