A fuss over what went down behind-the-scenes of Charmed broke out at MegaCon Orlando over the weekend. In an apparent sign of tension between her former co-stars, Alyssa Milano appeared on a separate panel on Friday night and addressed recent claims made by Holly Marie Combs and Shannen Doherty, who claimed that Milano had Doherty fired from the show.
While appearing on Doherty’s podcast in December 2023, Combs revealed that the producers were “backed into a corner” by Milano and forced to fire Doherty. A fan asked Milano about those claims during her MegaCon panel, and while she didn’t deny playing a role in Doherty’s ouster, she did have a whole lot to say about her former co-stars still bringing it up.
Via Collider:
“I will just say that I’m sad. And I don’t think it’s really that I’m sad for me or for my life or how it does or does not affect my life. I’m the most sad for the fans. 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. And I’m sad that we all can’t just celebrate the success of a show that meant so much to all of us.
“Do I wish that we could all sit on a stage? Yeah, because again, this was like almost a quarter of a century ago,” Milano added. “How is it possible to continue to hold on to that?”
However, Milano took things further by writing an Instagram post after the panel where she denied getting Doherty fired. According to Milano, Doherty and Combs refused to participate in “professional mediation” and that’s what led to Doherty’s removal.
“I did not have the power to get anyone fired,” Milano stated. “Once Shannen left we had 5 more successful seasons and I am forever grateful.”
That happened on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, Combs and Doherty took the MegaCon stage with Rose McGowan for a Charmed panel. (McGowan famously replaced Doherty on the show in the fourth season.) At the end of the event, Doherty read a prepared statement in response to Milano’s claims.
Via TVLine:
“We simply told the truth [on my podcast], because the truth actually does matter. At this point in my life, with my health diagnosis, with fighting a horrific disease every day of my life, it is also incredibly important to me that the truth actually be told as opposed to the narrative that others have put out there for me. We told it together. We told our truth, and we’re standing by our truths.”
“There is no revisionist history happening in the truth that I know we told,” she continued. “There is no brush-flinging or shoe-flinging. There is no lateness to set. There is no mediator for months on end. I recall the facts as if I were still living in them, and what I will say is what somebody else may call drama is an actual trauma for me that I’ve lived with for an extremely long time. It is only through my battle with cancer that I decided to address this trauma and be open and honest about it, so that I can actually heal from a livelihood that was taken away from me [and my family] because someone else wanted to be number one on the call sheet. That is the truth.”
After Doherty’s statement, McGowan chimed in with a jab at Milano.
“I will say one last thing: We’ve protected you for a long time,” McGowan said while reportedly addressing Milano. “We’ve protected you for as long as we could. Both of us, all of us. And there’s a great, great comedian named Katt Williams who has a wonderful, wonderful saying: ‘Winners do not let losers rewrite history.’”
(Via Alysa Milano on Instagram, Collider, TVLine)