Shannen Doherty Addresses Friction With Charmed Co-Star Alyssa Milano: ‘There Was a Lack of Female Support’

Andy Swift
·4 min read
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For fans of Charmed, or for any avid consumer of ’90s pop culture, Shannen Doherty’s early exit from The WB’s supernatural drama after just three seasons was legendary. It marked the second time she dramatically parted ways with producer Aaron Spelling — the first time being on Beverly Hills, 90210, from which she was fired after four seasons — and rumors about a behind-the-scenes feud with co-star with Alyssa Milano kept the tabloids churning.

More than two decades after her final episode of Charmed aired, Doherty is addressing those rumors on her new podcast Let’s Be Clear. The Dec. 11 episode welcomes Doherty’s longtime friend and former TV sister Holly Marie Combs for the first of a two-part discussion about their careers, their relationships and everything in between.

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On the topic of her friction with Milano, Doherty essentially boils it down to an atmosphere of “competitiveness,” similar to one she experienced working on 90210. (She recalls her co-stars on the Fox soap being “super mad” at her for doing a Rolling Stone cover without requesting that the entire cast be included. Her feeling at the time was, “It’s the cover of Rolling Stone. I’m not saying no to it.”)

Even though Charmed was considered an ensemble show, Doherty points out that it “was originally sold to The WB based on [her], so that’s just going to be there.” Milano didn’t join the cast until after Charmed had been picked up to series; Lori Rom, the actress who played Phoebe Halliwell in the pilot, allegedly parted ways with the role over not wanting to play a witch for religious reasons.

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“It was happening [again] of the competitiveness kicking in,” Doherty says. “I’m not saying with [Holly], I’m saying with Alyssa and myself. There was a lack of female support. I’ve had the same publicist for I don’t even know how long, Leslie Sloane, and she could come on the podcast and be like, ‘Shannen never cared about somebody else getting a cover.’ It just wasn’t in my wheelhouse.”

Doherty understands that Milano addressed their issues in her 2021 book Sorry Not Sorry, but she adds, “Obviously I’m never going to read her book, because it’s [titled] Sorry Not Sorry, so right there it tells me you’re not friggin’ sorry. Why even mention something in that case?”

Doherty says that working on Charmed‘s second season (1999–2000) was especially difficult, as that competitive energy began to affect her on a personal level. Combs was dealing with a serious health situation, which she detailed in an episode the House of Halliwell podcast, and Doherty alleges that Milano and her mother prevented Doherty from visiting Combs after her surgery.

After reminding Combs about how much time she spent in hospitals due to her father’s health issues, Doherty explains: “Hospitals scared me to death, and I waited 23 hours after your surgery to go, and then it wasn’t even easy for me to get in. I was being told I couldn’t even get in by Alyssa and her mom. They were blocking people from seeing you. At the time, you didn’t know. I remember you texted me and were like, ‘Dude, are you going to come to see me?’ I felt your pain of feeling like I had abandoned you, but I also felt my anger at the situation of not being allowed to come see you.”

As Doherty puts it, this family “swooped in and caused this weird divide between the two of us, which then continued throughout Season 2. I think I cried every single night of Season 2.”

Combs agrees that Charmed‘s second season was difficult for everyone because “there was a lot going on behind the scenes.” She didn’t have a big family, so “when a family swooped in and basically tried to adopt me, it was very seductive for me. And I wanted everybody to get along. I wanted the show to be successful. There were no angels. There were no demons. We all had bad days. We all had good days. We all could have behaved better at certain points. But there was a lack of awareness of a bigger, broader picture of just being grateful to have a job, and to be doing something that we liked, and to be in a position of power to do something that we liked. It was not something that happens easily or normally or routinely.”

TVLine has reached out to Milano’s reps for comment.

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