Shannen Doherty says Alyssa Milano 'blocked' her visits when Holly Marie Combs was in hospital.

During filming for Charmed's second season in the 90s, Holly Marie Combs ended up in hospital.

The actor – who starred alongside Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano – required surgery to remove a potentially cancerous tumour from her uterus. Production paused for two weeks while Combs was treated, but during that time a long-documented 'feud' between her co-stars solidified.

Combs joined Doherty on a December 11 episode of her podcast, Let's Be Clear, to talk through their decades-long friendship and time on the show — as well as Doherty's belief that Milano tried to get between her and Combs, who had been long friends even before Charmed, during this time.

Watch: Shannen Doherty shares her stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Post continues below video.

At the time, Doherty had been dealing with her sick father, which saw him "in and out of the hospital nonstop". She hated hospitals, but said she summoned the strength to visit Combs anyway, but was turned away by Milano and her mother.

"Hospitals scared me to death. 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," Doherty said. 

"Alyssa and her mom were blocking people from seeing you and at the time you didn't know. 

"I remembered you texted me and were like, 'Dude, are you going to come and see me?' And I can feel like your pain of feeling like I'd abandoned you. 

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

Combs said that she definitely took refuge with Milano's family during that period.

"I think it was pretty obvious I was raised by teenage parents and I didn't have a big family," she responded.

"So you're right, when a family swooped in and tried to basically adopt me it was very seductive for me. I also wanted everybody to get along, I wanted the show to be successful. 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."

Doherty 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."

Image: Getty.

Speculation about the Charmed cast, including Rose McGowan who joined for season four after Doherty's exit, not getting along has always marred the series' legacy. 

In a 2021 interview, Milano said she took responsibility for a lot of the tension between the group, putting it down to misplaced competitiveness.

"I would say we are cordial," she said while promoting her book of personal essays, titled Sorry Not Sorry. "You know, I could take responsibility for a lot of our tension that we had. 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. I have respect for [Doherty]. 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 said during the same time period that she sent Doherty DMs "every couple of months", and said they had been in touch following Doherty's stage IV breast cancer diagnosis in February 2020.

But on the podcast episode, Doherty's response on their current standing was less diplomatic.

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

Oh Instagram, Doherty clarified this was not about 'hating' on her former co-star.

"I have never hated on anyone," she responded to a fan. "This is about being CLEAR. Hence the name. I'm asked constantly why I left or whatever really happened. It would not be clear if I simply ignored it all."

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Feature image: The CW.

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