Shannen Doherty Says Alyssa Milano Was Behind Her Firing From ‘Charmed’

It has been 17 years since the supernatural series Charmed left the building, and 14 since Shannen Doherty exited the show. But the reason for the actress’ departure has been a long-held belief that she quit. But according to Doherty herself that wasn’t the case at all.

In a recent article from The Hollywood Reporter, it says that Doherty herself didn’t resign, but was forced to leave by co-star Alyssa Milano. To preface this we must first enter the land of gossip. Back then, it was rumored that Doherty was difficult to work with, especially during her time playing Brenda on the teen soap Beverly Hills, 90210. From then on she became the “bad girl” of Hollywood, a title that has followed her ever since.

But in the case of Charmed, there was another factor, Alyssa Milano. It is common knowledge in Hollywood that the two actresses had a Davis/Crawford-sized feud happening between them behind the scenes which, until now, led fans to believe Doherty left on her own.

“The narrative that I ‘quit’ was assigned to me by other people,” Doherty said on a recent podcast hosted by Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs. “I didn’t assign it to myself. I think I’m at that point in my life where I don’t want to keep lying about it, and I don’t want to keep lying about something that meant the absolute world to me, something that I loved doing. I loved going to that job. I loved the people that I worked with.” 

On the podcast, Combs admits that during that time she spoke to producer Jonathan Levin and he told her the truth.

“[He said], ‘We were told that it’s her or me. Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment,” Combs contends. “Because she (Milano) went to the therapist or the mediator or the corporate mediator, whatever the heck his title is, she built a case for herself where she was documenting every time she felt uncomfortable on set and for whatever reason, whereas you and I refused to speak to him. So that’s where the deck was stacked.”

Showrunners perpetuated the false narrative that she quit according to Doherty on the podcast, “I remember them looking at me at the time and said, ‘No, no, no, your career won’t survive another firing [after the Beverly Hills, 90210 exit], so we’re just going to say that you chose to leave.” 

“I don’t ever remember being mean to [Milano] on set,” Doherty adds. “I remember an episode that I directed where she did something on the Christmas break, and they asked me to work around some things with her and I couldn’t have been more kind and understanding.” 

In a previous episode of the podcast, Doherty speculates exactly what started the rift between her and Milano. She thinks it was jealousy.

“The competitiveness was kicking in,” she explains to Combs. “And I’m not saying with you, I’m saying with Alyssa and myself, that there was a lack of female support.”  

Charmed ran for eight seasons on The CW, it ended in 2006. The series was rebooted in 2018 with a new cast and lasted until 2022.