Alyssa Milano is paying tribute to her former Charmed co-star Shannen Doherty, who passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Milano, 51, shared her feelings in an exclusive statement to Us Weekly on Sunday, July 14, reflecting on their complicated relationship and expressing deep respect for Doherty.
“It’s no secret that Shannen and I had a complicated relationship, but at its core was someone I deeply respected and was in awe of,” Milano said. “She was a talented actress, beloved by many and the world is less without her. My condolences to all who loved her.”
Doherty’s passing was confirmed on Sunday, with her publicist Leslie Sloane revealing that she died on Saturday, July 13, at the age of 53. Doherty had been battling cancer for many years. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt, and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie,” Sloane stated. “The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
Milano and Doherty starred as Halliwell sisters, Phoebe and Prue, respectively, alongside Holly Marie Combs, who played Piper, in the beloved series Charmed. The show premiered in 1998 and ended with its eighth season in 2006. Doherty left the show after the third season.
Despite their past on-screen chemistry, the relationship between Milano and Doherty was fraught with tension. Earlier this year, Doherty and Combs made headlines for reigniting their feud with Milano. During an episode of Doherty’s podcast, “Let’s Be Clear,” they claimed that Milano was behind Doherty’s firing from the show.
“We didn’t mean to [fire Shannen], but we’ve been backed into this corner,” Combs recalled producer Jonathan Levin telling her at the time. “‘We’re basically in this position where it’s one or the other. We were told [by Alyssa] it’s her or [Shannen] and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.’”
Milano addressed these claims during a panel at Megacon in February. “I will just say that I’m sad. I don’t think it’s really that I’m sad for me or for my life or how it does or does not affect my life. I’m the most sad for the fans,” she said. “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.”
Milano expressed disappointment that others “can’t move past” the drama. “When I think back to that time it was hard for me, and I have worked super hard in my life in the last 25 years to heal all of my trauma,” she explained. “And that’s not just all the trauma that I experienced while shooting but all of my trauma. I’ve worked really hard to heal the bits because I understand that hurt people hurt people and my intention is to be a healed person that helps heal people.”
Milano also issued a statement on social media, asserting that she “did not have the power” to have Doherty fired. “I don’t know one other show that has had the success that Charmed had where the cast still speaks ill of the experience a quarter of a century later. This is 15 movies and 13 TV shows ago for me,” she wrote on Instagram in February. “This was 11 years before my 15-year marriage and 13 years before having my first child. This was so long ago that any retelling of these stories from anyone is just revisionist history.”
Doherty responded to Milano’s comments at a separate MegaCon panel, emphasizing the importance of truth given her health struggles. “At this point in my life, with my health diagnosis — sorry if I start crying — with fighting a horrific disease every day of my life, it is also incredibly important to me that the truth actually be told as opposed to the narrative that others put out there for me,” she said. “There is no revisionist history happening in the truth that I know we told. There’s no brush flinging or shoe flinging. There is no lateness to set. There is no mediator for months on end.”
Doherty added, “I recall the facts as if I were still living in them. And what I will say is that what somebody else may call ‘drama’ is an actual trauma for me, that I have been living through it for an extremely long time. And it is only through my battle with cancer that I decided to address this trauma and be open and honest about it so that I can actually heal from a livelihood that was taken from me, a livelihood that was taken away from my family, because someone else wanted to be No. 1 on the call sheet. That is the truth.”
In this time of grief, Milano’s heartfelt tribute highlights the respect and admiration she had for Doherty, despite their complicated history. The Charmed fandom mourns the loss of an actress who left an indelible mark on television.
