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Louise Thomas
Editor
Shannen Doherty’s time in Charmed was almost outshadowed by a feud she had with her co-star Alyssa Milano.
Five years after quitting teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210, the underrated star, who died of breast cancer aged 53 on Saturday (13 July), was cast in the cult TV series centred on the Halliwell sisters, who are witches.
Doherty, Milano and Holly Marie Combs played the lead roles of Prue, Phoebe and Piper and, after three seasons, Doherty quit the show.
At the time, it was reported that Doherty’s departure from the series was due to behind-the-scenes tensions with her co-star Milano – but nothing was ever addressed by the show’s stars until Doherty started speaking candidly about the subject on her podcast Let’s Be Clear.
In December 2023, Doherty said she felt Milano was “competitive” and accused her of creating a “weird divide” between her and Combs. Milano once admitted that tensions got so frosty between the pair that they often refused to talk to each other.
“There were times when I’d come in and say, ‘Good morning, Shannen,’ and she didn’t say anything to me,” Milano said. “And there were times when she’d come in and say, ‘Good morning, Alyssa,’ and I wouldn’t say anything to her.” A mediator was allegedly brought in to try to restore things between them.
In 2021, after leaving the show, Doherty hinted at the furore in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, stating: “There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work. You know, I’m 30 years old and I don’t have time for drama in my life anymore.”
While she didn’t namecheck Milano, she said she would miss Combs, adding: “That’s really the only thing I want to clear up. She is one of my best friends and I love her dearly. And there were never, ever, ever any problems between the two of us, and we will always be pals,”
Combs, speaking on Doherty’s Let’s Be Clear podcast in December 2023, claimed that Milano had her co-star fired after issuing an “ultimatum” to producers.
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Milano denied the claims earlier this year, telling fans gathered at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida: “I’m 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, and I’m sad that people can’t move past it.”
Combs doubled down on her allegations, writing: This is not revisionist history. This is just the history she didn’t want people to know about.”
Doherty added that, in light of her health issues, “it is also incredibly important to me that the truth actually be told as opposed to the narrative that others put out there for me”.
She also used the podcast to deny ever creating hostility on set, adding: “I lived a year after that sort of replaying everything in my brain and really trying to find those moments – and I couldn’t find them. I don’t ever remember being mean to [Milano] on set.”
It didn’t seem like the pair were always feuding, though. Milano, who asked her co-stars to be bridesmaids at her wedding in 1999, said in a Charmed special: “I feel that we’re incredibly lucky that the three of us found each other. “
