17 years have passed since the supernatural series Charmed left the building and 14 since Shannen Doherty left the show. But the reason for the actress’ departure was the long-held belief that she had given up. But according to Doherty herself, this was not the case at all.
In a recent article from The Hollywood Reporter, it is said that Doherty herself did not resign, but was forced out by co-star Alyssa Milano. To preface this we must first enter the land of gossip. Back then, Doherty was rumored to be difficult to work with, especially during her time playing Brenda in the teen soap. Beverly Hills, 90210. Since then she became the “bad girl” of Hollywood, a title that has followed her ever since.
But in case Charmed, there was another factor, alyssa milano. It is known in Hollywood that the two actresses had a Davis/Crawford sized feud going on between them backstage, which until now has led fans to believe that Doherty went off on her own.
“The narrative that I’m ‘quitting’ has been attributed to me by other people,” Doherty said on a recent podcast hosted by her Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs. “I didn’t assign it to myself. I think I’m at that point in my life where I don’t want to keep lying about it and I don’t want to keep lying about something that meant the absolute world to me, something that I loved doing. I enjoyed going to that job. I loved the people I worked with.”
On the podcast, Combs admits that during that time he spoke to producer Jonathan Levin and he told her the truth.
“[He said], “We were told it was her or me. Alyssa threatened to sue us for a hostile work environment,” Combs claims. “Because she (Milano) went to the therapist or the mediator or the corporate mediator, whatever the title was, she built a case for herself where she documented every time she felt uncomfortable on set and from whatever reason, while you and I refused to talk to him. So that’s where the deck was stacked.”
The showrunners perpetuated the false narrative that she quit, according to Doherty on the podcast, “I remember them looking at me at that point and saying, ‘No, no, no, your career is not going to survive another firing. [after the Beverly Hills, 90210 exit]so we’ll just say you chose to leave.”
“I don’t remember her ever being mean [Milano] on set,” adds Doherty. “I remember one episode I directed where she did something at Christmas breakand they asked me to work things out with her and I couldn’t have been nicer and more understanding.”
In a previous episode of the podcast, Doherty speculates exactly what started the rift between her and Milan. She thinks it was jealousy.
“The competitiveness has kicked in,” she explains to Combs. “And I’m not saying with you, I’m saying with Alyssa and myself, that there was a lack of female support.”
Charmed ran for eight seasons on The CW, ending in 2006. The series was rebooted in 2018 with a new cast and ran until 2022.