Just like the Halliwell sisters, the cast of Charmed had its fair share of trouble over
the years.
And when The CW revived the show in 2018, without the original witches, even more drama
ensued.
Here's everything the power of three previously hid behind closed doors.
Doherty's run-ins with the law
While she was used to taking down the bad guys on TV, Shannen Doherty, who played Prue
Halliwell, was apparently up to no good in real life.
In fact, she established quite the reputation after fighting at LA's Roxbury club and allegedly
driving drunk on the freeway.
In 1993, Doherty's ex-fiancé, Dean Jay Factor, claimed she had a violent streak, via People.
While petitioning for a restraining order against Doherty, Factor told a California
court that she tried to hit him with her car, and even threatened to shoot him.
Factor recalled locking himself in the bathroom after one altercation, claiming,
"She threatened to shoot me and said, 'I'm going to drop you!'
I knew she had a loaded [gun].
I heard the chamber [pull] back; at that point, I hastily exited the house through a back
door."
McGowan's cultish upbringing
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a fun, carefree childhood, but Rose McGowan,
who played the Halliwell sisters' long lost sibling Paige Matthews, was raised in a real
life cult, according to People.
Her family was a part of the Italian branch of the Children of God.
McGowan described how poorly the women were treated, telling the outlet,
"I did not want to be like those women.
[They] were basically there to serve the men [intimately]."
"I think for the adults it was playtime…
It wasn't, I think, so great for children."
McGowan's father eventually planned his family's escape from the cult, apparently fearing that
his daughter would be molested.
The family then moved to the U.S., with McGowan admitting,
"My dad was strong enough to realize that this hippie love had gone south."
Doherty vs. Milano
Despite Doherty claiming there was no drama between her and co-star Alyssa Milano, rumor
has it the two butted heads while working on the early seasons of Charmed.
And judging by an Entertainment Tonight interview, it seems that Doherty may have been sick of
Milano's behavior.
Without naming Milano directly, Doherty claimed,
"I don't want to work with people who b---- about their job and complain about it and
say that they hate it or anything else."
"Alright the best defense is a good offense.
Are you ready?"
"No."
"Yeah, you're ready."
"No no."
"On three."
Considering Doherty made sure to clarify that she had no problem with Holly Marie Combs,
one could assume the tension centered around her relationship with Milano.
"Okay is he dead?"
"Well, we didn't really say the spell."
Given the rumored tension on the set, it was only a matter of time before somebody left
the series.
And that somebody was Doherty, who said goodbye to the show in 2001, after her character was
killed off in the Season 3 finale.
Showrunner Brad Kern told TV Line,
"There were internal issues that were problematic.
I'd rather not get into the dirty laundry this many years later, but it is safe to say
that there were changes being thought about."
Doherty's exit from the show has never been fully explained, but it's largely suspected
that she was fired.
Even so, Milano told Andy Cohen,
"I don't know if she got fired, we never really found out what happened."
Not feeling the reboot
While the real-life drama has since settled between the original Halliwell sisters, bad
blood would again boil up with a series reboot, and all-new cast, in 2018.
When the CW ordered a pilot for Charmed 2.0, they called it a quote, "fierce, funny, feminist
reboot."
And Doherty had a problem with that.
Responding to a skeptical Charmed fan on Twitter, she called the network's description quote
"terrible and a bit offensive," claiming it implied that the original show was none of
the things the CW described of the new show.
Combs weighed in, too, saying via Entertainment Weekly,
"Let me say first 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."
Shortly before the new Charmed hit the air, Milano told Entertainment Tonight,
"I wish that they would have come to us and we would have been involved since the beginning."
But she wished the show well, adding,
"I do hope that it reaches the newer generation… the way ours was able to do for its generation."
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