Alyssa Milano is directly addressing claims that she’s the reason Shannen Doherty was fired from Charmed.
via People:
During a Who’s the Boss? panel at MegaCon Orlando on Friday, the actress, 51, said that the firing claims — made by former costar Holly Marie Combs on Doherty’s podcast in December 2023 — made her “sad.”
“I will just say that I’m sad,” Milano said. “I don’t think it’s really that I’m sad for me or for my life or how it does or does not affect my life. I’m the most sad for the fans. I am the most sad that a show that has meant so much to so many people has been tarnished by a toxicity that is still to this day almost a quarter of a century later still happening.”
Milano added: “I’m sad that people can’t move past it. I’m sad that we all can’t just celebrate the success of a show that meant so much to all of us.”
She described her life around the time that Doherty, 52, was fired from the show in 2001 as “hard.”
“I have worked super hard in my life, in the last 25 years, to heal all of my trauma,” Milano said, noting that the process included healing more trauma than just “the trauma that I experienced while shooting [the show].”
The Insatiable star said that she intended to be a “healed person that helps heal people” and added that she wished that Combs, 50, and Doherty could sit on a stage with her to discuss any long-standing issues.
Milano said she’s already apologized for the part she played in what happened on the Charmed set, so she doesn’t know “how else to fix it.”
“I even don’t know if I could put myself out there any more than I already have to try to fix it,” she said, calling the situation “heartbreaking” and “uncomfortable.”
She concluded by apologizing to Charmed fans “who love us anyway,” saying that their love was healing for her.
Milano then addressed the situation between her, Doherty and Combs in an Instagram post on Saturday.
“I don’t know one other show that has had the success that Charmed had where the cast still speaks ill of the experience a quarter of a century later,” she wrote in a caption of the post that featured a transcript from MegaCon.
Milano added that the disagreements between Charmed cast members were documented at the time and she was told that Doherty and Combs weren’t open to mediation, though a mediator was brought on set.
“It was then recommended by this mediator, after collecting testimony from cast AND crew — what changes should be made if the show was going to continue,” she wrote.
“I did not have the power to get anyone fired. Once Shannen left, we had 5 more successful seasons and I am forever grateful,” she said at the end of the caption, noting that late TV producer Aaron Spelling and the TV studio made the decision to fire Doherty.
On Doherty’s podcast Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty. in December 2023, Combs said that she was told Milano said she wouldn’t continue working with Doherty.
According to Combs, producer Jonathan Levin told her: “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. We were told [by Alyssa] it’s her or [Shannen] and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.”
“I lived a year after that sort of replaying everything in my brain and really trying to find those moments,” Doherty said on the podcast of her time working with Milano. “I don’t ever remember being mean to her on set.”
Some feuds last forever.
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