When celebrities show up to protest, the media follows — but so does the backlash

Alyssa Milano says that celebrity activism is at its best "when we are able to hand over the microphone" to the "incredible heroes" doing activism work day to day. She's pictured above in July 2018 at a protest following President Trump's meetings with Russia's Vladimir Putin. A longtime activist, Milano says it's impossible to avoid "the vitriol," especially when talking about the Middle East. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Alyssa Milano first became an activist more than 30 years ago. But she tells the story of her eureka moment like it was yesterday.

In the late 1980s, when she starred in the sitcom Who's the Boss?, one of her fans was a teenager named Ryan White who was HIV positive. The two became friends.