Holly Marie Combs is claiming Alyssa Milano threatened to sue the higher-ups of Charmed if Shannen Doherty wasn’t fired from the WB series.
“[Producer Jonathan Levin] said, ‘We didn’t mean to [fire Shannen], but we’ve been backed into this corner. We’re basically in this position where it’s one or the other,’” Combs, 50, recalled during the Monday, December 18, episode of Doherty’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast. “‘We were told [by Alyssa] it’s her or [Shannen] and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.’”
Combs explained that she and Levin had the conversation during a meeting where Combs requested to leave the show after Doherty’s exit. Combs said she told the producer that she never “wanted to do” Charmed without Doherty, which allegedly caused Levin to get emotional and reveal details behind why Doherty, 52, was actually let go.
Combs also claimed that Milano, 51, had built a case against her and Doherty and was allegedly “documenting every time she felt uncomfortable on set.” Combs admitted she was surprised by Milano’s allegations, as she couldn’t remember any “brawls” or even “harsh words” exchanged between the trio in public.
“It was all behind the scenes it was all in a trailer it was nothing that any of our crew noticed, that any of our guest stars ever noticed or noted,” she said before praising how beloved Doherty was on set. “There’s not a director that wouldn’t work with you again. There’s not a crew member that didn’t have a great time working with you. So by today’s standards, it wouldn’t f—king fly.”
Combs noted that there are people in the entertainment industry who behave badly and “get away with it,” adding, “I don’t think people understand that that never happened here.”
Combs starred on all eight seasons of Charmed, which aired from 1998 to 2006, as middle sister Piper Halliwell. Milano portrayed youngest sibling Phoebe, while Doherty played Prue, the eldest of the three. Doherty’s character was abruptly killed off the show at the end of season 3 and replaced with Rose McGowan, who joined the cast as long-lost half-sister Paige Matthews.
“We have had a long and prosperous relationship with Shannen and we didn’t want to hold her back from what she wanted to do,” Spelling Television said in a 2001 statement of Doherty’s exit. “We wish her all the best and much-continued success.”
While Doherty’s reasons for leaving the show were unclear at the time, she opened up about her exit months later amid reports that she and Milano didn’t get along.
“There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work,” Doherty told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “You know, I’m 30 years old and I don’t have time for drama in my life anymore. To me it’s sort of whatever. I’ll miss Holly a lot and that’s really the only thing I want to clear up.”
While discussing the topic with Combs on her podcast on Monday, Doherty, who clarified there was no “hate” toward anyone, explained that nobody “in their right mind would quit a hit show that is paying them a ton of money [and] that they enjoyed doing.”
“I lived a year after [leaving the show] sort of replaying everything in my brain and really trying to find those moments and I couldn’t find them,” Doherty said. She alleged that she and Milano “never had it out” with each other, saying she couldn’t “remember being mean to [Alyssa] on set.” She hypothesized that disagreements over her personal website or pay disparities could have contributed to the tension.
Combs, meanwhile, defended Doherty for doing all she could to keep things positive between the three on-screen sisters and wondered if Doherty’s previous firing from Beverly Hills, 90210 — also helmed by Spelling Television — contributed to her being fired from Charmed. (Doherty starred as Brenda Walsh for four seasons on 90210 before she was let go amid alleged tension between her and other members of the cast.)
“Previously you had discussed with [producers] that the tension was getting high and you didn’t want a reply of what had happened before,” Combs recalled. “So you were preemptively trying to work it out. And I wonder … because they had known they had [fired you] before, and 90210 went on … I almost wonder if they were OK with the publicity.”
While Combs and Doherty claimed that Milano’s allegations were the reason for the BH90210 actress’ exit, Milano has previously denied knowing why Doherty left the show.
“I don’t know if she got fired, we never really found out what happened,” she said during a 2013 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, admitting that there were “definitely some rough days” between the three women.
Milano alleged that Combs and Doherty’s friendship contributed to the problem, saying, “Holly and Shannen were best friends for like 10 years before the show started so it was very much sort of like high school. I would hope that in our thirties it wouldn’t feel like that anymore.”
In 2021, Milano told ET that she and Doherty were “cordial” and that she takes “responsibility for a lot” of the problems between them. “I think a lot of our struggle came from feeling that I was in competition rather than it being that sisterhood that the show was so much about. And I have some guilt about my part in that,” she said.
