The Uncharming Truth: Holly Marie Combs Confirms That Alyssa Milano Got Shannen Doherty Fired From Charmed
Elder millennials know all about Charmed, a long-running series about the Halliwell sisters. They were three powerful witches who tried to live normal lives while battling demons that attacked them.
The original Halliwell sisters were played by Shannen Doherty as Prue, Holly Marie Combs as Piper, and Alyssa Milano as Phoebe. Recently, Holly shared some details about the drama behind the scenes between the three actresses.
Shannen’s character abruptly exited the show in 2001, and many were surprised that the main and the strongest among the sisters left after the third season. Holly, now 50, revealed that she met with Jonathan Levin, the show’s producer, about what happened when Shannen was fired.
According to Holly, Jonathan 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.”
Holly continued that Jonathan shared, “We were told [by Alyssa] it’s her or [Shannen], and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.”
Alyssa apparently had documentation of all the instances she felt uncomfortable on the set and that she had built a case against Holly and Shannen.
However, Holly refutes reports of these uncomfortable incidents. She was part of all 179 episodes of the series and cannot recall harsh words or brawls during filming.
Holly also shared how upset she was when Shannen was fired and that she didn’t want to do the show without her. When Jonathan learned about this, Holly claimed she was threatened with legal action if she quit.
As for Shannen, she shared that after being fired, she tried very hard to think of anything that would have pushed Alyssa to the brink. But Shannen couldn’t remember ever being mean to her.
On an episode of Shannen’s podcast, Let’s Be Charmed…with Holly Marie Combs (Part 1), Shannen openly accused Alyssa and her mother, Lin, of working together to turn Holly against her, especially during the second season of the show. She told Holly how she found the ploy interesting and wanted to know why she and Holly were being driven away from each other when they had been friends before the show began.
At the time, Shannen and Holly were dealing with personal matters. Shannen’s father had just passed away, and Holly had to undergo an operation to remove her uterus. While Holly was recovering, Shannen recalled how Alyssa and her mother tried to restrict her access to her friend, whom she wanted to visit at the hospital.
Shannen also shared how Holly sent her a message asking her if she would come and see her in the hospital. Little did Holly know that Alyssa and her mom were blocking people from the hospital. That incident caused a gap between Shannen and Holly that continued while filming season 2 of the series.
Shannen also hinted that there was tension brewing behind the scenes in 2001. She was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight, and she hinted at her departure by saying, “I want to work with actors who really, really care and that want to be there every single day. I don’t want to work with people who b**ch about their job and complain about it and say that they hate it or anything else.”
