Kate Jackson says she earned no money from Charlie’s Angels merchandise sales, even as Jaclyn Smith points to the show as the launchpad for her own branding business. The disagreement surfaced during the 2026 Paley Honors Spring Gala honoring the series’ legac
Kate Jackson sat down at the 2026 Paley Honors Spring Gala on May 14 and didn’t mince words about the money around Charlie’s Angels merch.
Speaking to Page Six at the event, Jackson made clear she wasn’t personally seeing the payoff. “Funny thing, all that merchandising, somebody got rich off of it, it wasn’t the three of us! They’ll have to figure that one out; some attorney can figure that out… It annoys me,” she said.
The talk came as Jackson and her costar Jaclyn Smith were honored for the show’s legacy and their contribution to it at the Paley Honors Spring Gala for 2026. Cheryl Ladd was absent from the event.
Smith, who was also at the gala, struck a different tone when asked about the merchandising side of things. She told Page Six, “I always say Charlie’s Angels was a gift. It opened up a whole series of businesses.”
“I do a lot of branding, and I design clothes and wigs and skin care and one thing after another! So, it gave me… a backup plan. So, I don’t really think about the merchandising,” Smith added.
Their answers landed against the backdrop of the series itself. Charlie’s Angels originally aired on ABC from 1976 to 1981, and the new event marked celebrations for its lasting impact—50 years on.
When Jackson was asked at the gala if she ever expected the massive success of the show. she replied. “No. not a clue!” She later reflected on what the series meant to her. saying. “I think it’s just kind of amazing that 50 years ago we somehow lit a fire that caught on all over the world. and it’s never been put out. There has not been a day that Charlie’s Angels has not been on television. in more than one place in the world. since it went on the first night.”.
Jackson and Smith also spoke about the bond they’ve kept since the show’s run—alongside Ladd. who reunited with them for PaleyFest’s 50th anniversary celebration of Charlie’s Angels in L.A. in April. At that time. Jackson described their friendship as “a real love [that] doesn’t go away. ” while Smith called it “a sisterhood.”.
Between the unease Jackson voiced about who profited from merchandising and Smith’s focus on how the show fed her own business path, the shared history of Charlie’s Angels took on two very different meanings—both rooted in the same legacy, and both still very much alive.
Kate Jackson Jaclyn Smith Charlie’s Angels Paley Honors Spring Gala 2026 PaleyFest 50th anniversary merchandise sales ABC Cheryl Ladd