Shannen Doherty responds to Alyssa Milano’s Charmed comments: ‘We were not mean’

Actors starred together in three seasons of magical drama series

Shannen Doherty has addressed the comments of her former Charmed co-star, Alyssa Milano, on the nature of her exit from the programme.

Doherty, Milano and Holly Marie Combs made up the main cast of the magical drama about sister witches from its launch in 1998, until Doherty’s abrupt exit as eldest sister Prue Halliwell taking place at the end of the third season.

Rose MacGowan was then introduced in season four as Paige Matthews, the siblings’ younger half-sister.

In a December edition of her podcast Let’s Be Clear, Doherty, 51, and Combs, 50, discussed the former’s sudden departure from the show. Doherty claimed she was fired after Milano issued an “ultimatum” to producers.

After Milano denied these comments, Doherty, Combs, and Rose McGowan, who joined the show in season four, took part in a panel conversation at MegaCon Orlando where the Beverly Hills, 90210 star gave a further account of her experience.

“Holly and I, we were not mean on the podcast,” Doherty said on Sunday (4 February), according to Variety.

“In fact, we went in and we edited out anything that we felt would cause more drama. We simply told the truth because the truth actually does matter. But we wanted to try to save you, the fans, from heartbreak as much as humanly possible.”

Doherty, who first received a cancer diagnosis in 2015, added that expressing her truth was particularly important to her in light of her health issues.

Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano (Getty)

She continued: “At this point in my life with my health diagnosis – I’m sorry if I start crying – with fighting 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 put out there for me.”

On the podcast, Combs claimed that Charmed producer Jonathan Levin had once filled her in on the nature of Milano’s alleged ultimatum.

“He said, you know, ‘We’re basically in a position where it’s one or the other. We were told [by Alyssa] that it’s [Shannen] or me, and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment,’” Combs recalled.

Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs, pictured in 2016, have remained close friends since starring in Charmed together (Getty Images)

Appearing at the same convention in Orlando on an earlier date, Milano spoke out against Combs and Doherty’s account given on the podcast.

“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,” Milano said.

“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.”

In a post on Instagram, Milano later added that she had no power to be able to get a castmate fired.

The Independent has contacted Milano’s representative for comment.

Charmed concluded in 2006 and was rebooted with a series of the same name in 2018, which ran for four seasons.