Holly Marie Combs, 50, claimed Alyssa Milano, 51, is the reason Shannen Doherty, 52, was fired from their hit show Charmed, in a new interview. The actress appeared on Shannen’s Let’s Be Clear podcast this week when she revealed that she found out the news when she went to show producer Jonathan Levin in the early 2000s to find out herself why Shannen was let go.
“He 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,’” Holly said in the episode. “‘We were told [by Alyssa] it’s her or [Shannen] and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.’”
Holly, who was on Charmed from 1998 until 2006, also said hinted that Alyssa had allegedly built a case against her and Shannen and “documented every time she felt uncomfortable on set.” She said she was caught off guard because she never witnessed any “harsh words” being exchanged or public “brawls” happening. She went on to also admit that there was friction between the three of them behind the scenes and wasn’t noticed by crew or special guest stars.
“There are actually people who behave badly and get away with it,” Holly continued. “I don’t think people understand that never happened here.”
At the time of Shannen’s firing, Holly said she wanted to walk away from the show and told Jonathan about her wishes. “This is not a show I wanted to do without Shannen. She didn’t want to do it without me. Therefore, I don’t want to do it without her and that should be fairly clear,’” she recalled saying.
Holly claimed Jonathan threatened to sue her if she quit and it felt like “blackmail” to her. Shannen was soon replaced by Rose McGowan after her character was killed off the show at the end of season 3 in 2001. Shannen also opened up about how the firing made her feel.
“I lived a year after that sort of replaying everything in my brain and really trying to find those moments [of alleged bad behavior on set] — and i couldn’t find them,” she explained. “I don’t ever remember being mean to her 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.”
Shannen also revealed she wishes she had been “older and wiser” when she was let go from Charmed. “I definitely would’ve sued and I would’ve been honest about the situation because the rumors followed me regardless,” she said.
As far as forgiveness goes, Shannen has learned to accept what happened, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s forgiven those allegedly involved with the firing. “As you get older, you accept that a situation happened. Acceptance and moving on with your life does not equate to forgiveness,” she explained. “You just learn a lesson and look at somebody differently and move on.”