It’s been almost 20 years since Shannon Doherty’s fan-favourite character Prue Halliwell was killed off cult 2000s TV show Charmed.
In the years since fans have been wondering why Shannen Doherty left Charmed, but now, her co-stars have revealed all.
On Holly Marie Combs (Piper Halliwell) and Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt)’s podcast The House of Halliwell, the former Charmed onscreen lovers react to an episode of the show each instalment.
“Every fibre of my being doesn’t want to get through this episode for just so many reasons,” Combes shared through tears in the latest episode reacting to “All Hell Breaks Loose”, season three’s finale.
Why? Because the episode was Doherty’s final episode on the show.
“She wouldn’t want us to skip this episode,” Combes continued.
“She would say, ‘I did a great job directing.’ She would say it was her favourite episode. I can hear her saying, ‘Don’t let them get to you like this.’ But they did. And it’s done.”
So, continue she did.
Both Combs and Wyatt spoke openly about how Doherty was fired and their opinions on the people responsible in the explosive podcast.
“And the fact of the matter is it was handled so s***tily. It was such massive insult to injury to let her direct [the episode] and go out on this high note. Like, it’s just so sick and twisted. And it makes me f**ing angry,”
“God knows we’re not naming names of who it was or who said it, because everyone’s still so afraid to talk about it,”
“There’s just so many ways it could have been handled,” Combs added, “and this may have been the exact worst way,” she candidly confessed.
Why did Shannen Doherty leave Charmed?
Speaking on Doherty’s podcast Let’s Be Clear both Doherty and Combes revealed that she was fired as a result of an alleged request from co-star Alyssa Milano.
Holly revealed on the same podcast that she’d been told about the alleged ultimatum directly. “[Charmed producer Jonathan Levin] said, you know, ‘We’re basically in a position where it’s one or the other. We were told [by Alyssa] that it’s [Shannen] or me, and Alyssa has threatened to sue us for a hostile workplace environment.”
“I don’t even remember being mean to her on set, I couldn’t have been more kind and understanding,” Doherty shared.
“My representatives, I remember them looking at me at the time and [they] said, ‘No, no, no, your career won’t survive another firing, so we’re just going to say that you chose to leave,’”
“I remember I started laughing, going, ‘Who is going to believe that I’m crazy enough to leave a hit show?’” she continued.
Doherty was previously fired from her role on hit series 90210.
How was Shannen Doherty fired from Charmed?
Combs and Wyatt spoke openly for the first time about Doherty’s firing in their podcast.
After the third season wrapped and the cast and crew had left the set, Combs received a call from Doherty.
“They literally waited until everybody was gone on hiatus and made a phone call to her, and she called me. They didn’t even tell me. I had to find out from her. And they expected me to just go on with the show.”
Krause added that “nobody” saw it coming, “Nobody wants to speak their truth because they feel like they’ll be hated by the fandom, by the thing, by their former workers, by whatever it is, it’s a shame because it does no one justice.”
Years later, Combs revealed that Brad Kern (Charmed’s showrunner) penned a letter to Doherty filled with apologies for the situation was handled.
Shannen Doherty passed away from cancer in 2024.
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