Charming Star Rose McGowan reflects on her casting in the series. McGowan played Paige Matthews in CharmingBeginning in season 4 in 2001. Paige came in as a character following Charming Season 3’s loss of Prue, who was played by Shannen Doherty for the first three seasons. Doherty’s departure from Charming was controversial, and it’s something she spoke about as recently as this year, before her tragic death from cancer in July.
Speaking on the US Let’s be clear podcast, McGowan reflects on what it was like to replace Doherty On the show. The actor explained that when she arrived on the set of Charmingshe”Didn’t understand the story“About the conditions of Doherty’s departure from the show, and was just”Said she was fired and no one talked about her.” McGowan went on to explain the media storm that followed, in which various outlets tried to pit her and Doherty against each other. Check out McGowan’s full quote below:
At the time I joined Charmed I didn’t understand the backstory. I was only told that she was fired and no one talked about her. [I was] Just trying to keep my head above water at this point. I was very famous at that point, but I was persona non-grata, non-hearable. I caused disruptions everywhere I went. This is something that is common [and I] Later talking about what she relates to: the weight of what it’s like to have the media machine lying about her.
It was just funny. I was told over and over: ‘No show survives a major cast change.’ You only have about 200 something jobs on the line and a lot more behind the scenes from people you can’t see in administration, but don’t worry if everybody loses their jobs because you join the show.
I was in a very vulnerable position. The thing in Hollywood is that if you got fired as a woman for a job, you didn’t get a second chance, so it’s already a miracle that Sean was there in the first place. I think that’s definitely what made her vulnerable to the behind-the-scenes operation that took her out. . . She was a prey. I think there is nothing wrong with someone who wants things to be better. They have it sound like she is hard.
From the beginning, every question was like, ‘Do you think Sean Doherty hates you?’ ‘Do you think she’s jealous of you?’ ‘What do you mean? And I refused to take the bait. They wanted me to start a war with her, and I was like, absolutely not. And to her credit, she didn’t do that at all either.
The backstory behind Shannen Doherty’s departure from Charmed
Shannen Doherty’s firing resulted from set drama
While the specifics of the firing were seemingly not discussed on the set of Charming yourself, Doherty’s departure came after some on-set drama. According to Doherty and co-star Holly Marie Combs, the first three seasons were riddled with drama involving fellow co-star Alyssa Milano. By season 3, Milano began “Documenting every time she felt uncomfortable on set“And later threatened to”Su“Combs and Doherty for creating”A hostile workplace environment.” This sets the Charming team in a position where they have to decide between Milano and Doherty.
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As evidenced by the cast lineup, Charming Ended up choosing Milano To stay on the show, oust Doherty. on the Let’s be clear podcast that Doherty hosted before her passing, the actor discussed how the firing affected her, clearly feeling hurt by it. Over the years, Doherty accepted that “The situation happened,” still drew the distinction that “Moving on with your life does not equate to forgiveness.”
After Doherty’s story on the podcast, Milano spoke up and said she was “Sad people can not move past“Doherty was fired, but did not immediately apologize for her alleged actions on set. Doherty later disputed Milano’s claimNoting that she would stand by the “True“From what happened on the Charming Set. Especially with this contentious background, it’s good that McGowan refused to “Take the bait“When it came to talking about the woman she replaced. This put the actor in a challenging position, but she would not add fuel to the fire.
Source: Let’s be clear podcast