Appearing on Shannen's podcast, fellow 'Charmed' actress Holly Marie Combs details the real reason behind Shannen's firing from the The WB witchcraft series.
- Dec 19, 2023
AceShowbiz - Shannen Doherty was allegedly forced out of "Charmed" behind the scenes by her co-star Alyssa Milano. The "Beverly Hills, 90210" star, 52, who is battling stage 4 cancer, was said by fellow actress Holly Marie Combs to have been let go from The WB witchcraft series as show bosses feared Alyssa would sue for a "hostile workplace environment" if Shannen was not kicked out of her role.
Holly, 50, who starred alongside Shannen and Alyssa, also 50, on the series, told in the Monday, December 18 episode of Shannen's "Let's Be Clear" podcast how she called a meeting with show producer Jonathan Levin, 51, in the early 2000s to get to the bottom of why Shannen was fired.
She said, "(Jonathan) said, 'We didn't mean to, but we've been backed into this corner, we're basically in this position where it's one or the other,'" Combs recalled. "'We were told (by Alyssa) it's her or (Shannen) and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.' "
Holly appeared to hint Alyssa had built a case against her and Shannen to help her argument and allegedly "documented every time she felt uncomfortable on set." The actress, who starred on the show throughout all of its eight seasons from 1998 to 2006, also admitted she was caught off guard over the move as she couldn't remember any "harsh words" being exchanged or "brawls" happening in public.
She added tensions between the three stars occurred behind the scenes and was never anything noticed by the crew or special guest stars. Holly shared, "There are actually people who behave badly and get away with it. I don't think people understand that never happened here."
She added she was ready to walk away from the show at the time of the row and told Jonathan she wouldn't be moving forward without Shannen. Shannen's character Prue Halliwell was killed off in the series three finale of "Charmed" in 2001, and the actress said about the pain of being fired, "I lived a year after that sort of replaying everything in my brain and really trying to find those moments (of alleged bad behaviour on set) - and I couldn't find them."
"I don't ever remember being mean to (Alyssa) on set. I remember an episode I directed where she did something on the Christmas break and they asked me to work around some things with her and I had no problem with it. I couldn't have been more kind and understanding," she added.
She also reflected about how she had handled the situation differently at the time, "I definitely would've sued and I would've been honest about the situation because the rumours followed me regardless. As you get older, you accept that a situation happened. Acceptance and moving on with your life does not equate to forgiveness. You just learn a lesson and look at somebody differently and move on."
