Shannen Doherty says Alyssa Milano got her fired from Charmed, and Alyssa's... not denying it.

The three original stars of Charmed were 'It girls' in the late '90s to early 2000s - Alyssa Milano, Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs.

On TV, they were sisters who had an 'us against the world' mentality, constantly banding together to fight evil with their witchy powers. But their real-life connection was far from magic.

An intense feud has been ongoing for more than 20 years now and this week, Milano addressed claims she was the one who got Doherty fired from Charmed. 

The actor did so over the weekend during a panel (hosted by Collider) for the TV show, but none of her co-stars accompanied this weekend. They did, however, show up to the same event the day before.

As she spoke to fans, Milano skirted around the feud.

"I knew this was going to come up in one way or another, and I want to be very thoughtful in how I respond to any of this," she said. "I will just say that I'm sad."

She continued, by saying how upset she felt for fans of Charmed, but refused to deny the claims.

"I don't think it's really that I'm sad for me or my life or how it does or does not affect my life," she said.

"I'm the most sad for the fans. I am 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."

"I'm sad that people can't move past it," added the star. "I'm sad that we all can't just celebrate the success of a show that meant so much to all of us."

Milano addressed the claim after Doherty welcomed Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs (who played Piper) to talk about their history and longstanding friendship, which predated the TV series, on her podcast Let's Be Clear.

A look back at the trailer for the Charmed reboot. Post continues below.

During season two of the show, Doherty said that Alyssa Milano (who plays Phoebe) and Milano's mother attempted to separate her from Combs. Doherty claimed that the Milano duo stopped her from visiting Combs after she had undergone serious surgery on her uterus amid filming. 

"It was really interesting of [her] trying to pull you away from me. I waited 24 hours after your surgery to go and then it wasn't even easy for me to get in. I was like being told I couldn't even get in. Alyssa and her mum were blocking people from seeing you and at the time you didn't know. I remember you texted me, 'Dude are you going to come and see me?'" Doherty said on the podcast. 

"I also felt my anger at the situation of not being allowed to come see you and how a sort of family had swooped in. [It] caused a weird divide between the two of us that continued throughout season two. I think I cried every single night."

Combs stayed more neutral on the subject, adding: "There were no angels, there were no demons. We all had bad days, we all had good days. We all could have behaved better at certain points but there was a lack of awareness of a bigger broader picture."

As for where this all started? Here's what we know.

1998 – a promising start.

Initially, things were looking good in the coven.

Milano said to E! News at the show's premiere: "I feel that we're incredibly lucky that the three of us found each other. It's like a big slumber party every day. We giggle a lot."

They were so close in fact that when Milano married in 1999, she asked Doherty and Combs to be her bridesmaids. 

1999 - cracks begin to show. 

A year on, there were constant tabloid reports that things were not exactly 'charmed' on the set. Milano later admitted there was growing tension between herself and Doherty, putting it down to a clash in personalities.

"There were times when I'd come in and say, 'Good morning, Shannen,' and she didn't say anything to me. And there were times when she'd come in and say, 'Good morning, Alyssa,' and I wouldn't say anything to her. Holly and Shannen were best friends for like 10 years before the show started, so it was very much sort of like high school."

2001 - Shannen Doherty leaves Charmed.

Doherty said goodbye to her character Prue Halliwell and left Charmed at the end of the third season, telling Entertainment Tonight it was down to "drama".

"There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work," she said 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."

Doherty was then replaced by Rose McGowan, who played half-sister Paige Matthew.

The Charmed cast back in the day: Alyssa Milano, Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs. Image: Getty.

2001 - Alyssa Milano reacts to Doherty's departure.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Milano said: "I think it's hard when you put two very different people together. I'm very laid-back and passive. I have my Buddha. I come in here and meditate. [Shannen has] got a lot of energy, she's very headstrong, she wants to get the job done."

Milano continued: "I think it's unfortunate that she left, and that she needed to bad-mouth everyone involved and the audience. She sounds really angry. I just hope I didn't contribute to that anger."

As for Combs, she said in the same interview that she felt it was a "definite sense of loss" having Doherty leave.

"I was very close with Shannen. We're filming more grieving after the funeral [for Doherty's character]. It was hard for me to sit in front of the casket. I was like, this is ridiculous! You are asking so much of my psyche right now!"

2018 - a kumbaya of sorts.

In 2018, the CW network brought back Charmed as a reboot - but the original stars were not here for it.

Milano, Doherty and Combs all came together (albeit briefly) and criticised the reboot for not consulting with the original cast and its "offensive" marketing. When CW announced the reboot, it was described as "fierce, funny, feminist".

People thought it was an insinuation that the OG series was none of these things, particularly the feminist aspect. 

"Their wording is terrible and a bit offensive. But, everyone makes mistakes. Perhaps with the backlash they will be more thoughtful in future," Doherty tweeted.

Combs added: "Let me first say that I appreciate the jobs and opportunities the Charmed reboot has created. But I will never understand what is fierce, funny or feminist in creating a show that basically says the original actresses are too old to do a job they did 12 years ago. I hope the new show is far better than the marketing so the true legacy does remain."

2020 - Twitter/X beef.

Rose McGowan, Doherty's replacement, and Milano had a bit of a Twitter blow-up in August 2020.

In a tweet, McGowan wondered what the American Democratic party had done "to solve ANYTHING." Milano replied with a thread of accomplishments.

McGowan then accused Milano of creating a "toxic" environment on the Charmed set. McGowan then also accused Milano of co-opting the #MeToo movement, after she had also shared her own story of experiencing sexual abuse in Hollywood.

"You co-opted my movement, the Cultural Reset, for fame, jealous of me for outing my rapist. You made 250k per week on Charmed. You threw a fit in front of the crew, yelling, 'They don't pay me enough to do this sh*t! Appalling behaviour on the daily. I cried every time we got renewed because you made that set toxic AF," wrote McGowan.

"Now, get off my coattails you f**king fraud."

In previous tweets, McGowan had said "I don't like her" regarding Milano.

Asked for comment, Milano said in a statement to E! News: "Hurt people hurt people. Commenting any further doesn't align with my wellness plan."

Rose McGowan's tweets. Image: Twitter/X.

2021 - a telling TikTok video. 

In a TikTok video, Milano was asked a bunch of questions by Charmed fans, and she answered them while dancing.

When asked who out of the Charmed cast she keeps in touch with, she simply said: "Holly [Marie Combs]."

A fan then asked in the comments: "Care to explain why you don't talk to Rose?? Of course not!!".

Milano replied: "Because she's been publicly very hurtful to me and my family. Simple as that. Love her always though. I hope she heals and finds solace."

@alyssa_milano #choppingdance #dance #dancetrend #FYP #FY #foryou #fypsounds #qanda ♬ The Magic Bomb (Questions I Get Asked) [Extended Mix] - Hoàng Read

2021 - A Charmed producer then added their two cents.

Former Charmed producer Krista Vernoff said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she left the show after it went in a creative direction that was "bad for the world". 

"I signed on because Charmed was a girl-power show, and about halfway through there was an episode where Alyssa Milano comes out in mermaid pasties and there was a huge spike in male viewership, and then every episode after, the question would come from the network, 'How are we getting the girls naked this week?'" Vernoff told the outlet.

Milano took offence, tweeting in response: "Well, this absolutely broke my heart. I hope we didn't make something that was 'bad for the world' for eight years. I think we gave permission to a generation of women to be themselves and to be strong and own their sexuality. I'm so proud of what this show meant to so many."

Combs also said: "I can attest 1000 per cent Charmed was not bad for the world."

2021 - Alyssa Milano says she is now "cordial" with Shannen Doherty.

"I would say we are cordial. You know, I could take responsibility for a lot of our tension that we had," Milano reflected to Entertainment Tonight. "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."

Milano also said she did reach out to Doherty when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015.

"I will send her DMs every couple of months to just check in. I have respect for her. Great actress, loves her family so much, and I just wish I could've felt strong enough in who I was to recognise that back then," Milano noted.

2023 - No love lost for Shannen Doherty.

In her podcast, Doherty not only shared the hospital story regarding Combs, Milano and Milano's mother, but she also reflected on her strained relationship with Milano today.

And put it this way - she doesn't expect a reconciliation with Milano any time soon.

"I heard that she addressed it [the competitiveness] in her book," Doherty said, referring to Milano's 2021 book Sorry Not Sorry. "Obviously, I'm never reading her book because it's called Sorry, Not Sorry. So right there, you know, it tells me you're not freaking sorry."

With more podcast episodes to be released from Doherty, and no comment yet from her former co-star, Charmed fans are waiting to see what happens next. Will the Halliwell sisters patch things up? Will the coven ever come back together? 

Stay tuned.

Feature Image: Spelling Television/CW Network. 

This article was published on December 15, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Read more on Shannen Doherty: 

• Shannen Doherty has passed away after battling cancer for 9 years, aged 53.
• Shannen Doherty battled cancer for 9 years before her death. Her ex-husband made her suffer until the end.
• Shannen Doherty says Alyssa Milano 'blocked' her visits when Holly Marie Combs was in hospital.
• Shannen Doherty was divorcing her husband of 11 years. She felt she was 'left with no other option'.