In a shocking revelation, Holly Marie Combs, who played Piper Halliwell on the hit show 'Charmed', has claimed that her former co-star Alyssa Milano was responsible for Shannen Doherty's departure from the series after the third season.
Combs made the allegation on her podcast, 'Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty', where she invited Doherty as a guest to talk about their friendship and their experience on the show. During the conversation, Combs said that Milano told the network executives that it was either her or Doherty, and that they had to choose one of them.
"She said, 'It's me or her. You have to pick one of us,'" Combs recalled. "And they picked her. And that was it. That was the end of our show as we knew it."
Doherty, who played Prue Halliwell, the eldest sister of the trio of witches, confirmed Combs' statement and said that she felt betrayed by Milano's ultimatum. She also said that she had no idea why Milano disliked her so much and that she tried to be professional and respectful on the set.
"I don't know what I did to her. I don't know why she hated me. I don't know why she wanted me gone. I never did anything to her. I was always nice to her. I was always supportive of her. I was always there for her," Doherty said.
Milano, who played Phoebe Halliwell, the youngest sister, has not responded to Combs and Doherty's accusations. However, her mother, Lin Milano, has denied them and said that they were "completely false and fabricated".
"Neither Alyssa nor I ever interfered with anyone's personal or professional life on 'Charmed'. We never blocked anyone from visiting Holly in the hospital. We never asked the network to fire anyone. We never caused any weird divide between the cast. These are all lies and they need to stop," Lin Milano said in a statement to TMZ.
'Charmed' ran for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006 and was one of the most popular shows on The WB network. It followed the adventures of the Halliwell sisters, who inherited the power of witchcraft from their grandmother and had to fight evil forces. Doherty left the show in 2001 and was replaced by Rose McGowan, who played Paige Matthews, a half-sister who was introduced in the fourth season.
The show has been rebooted in 2018 with a new cast and a new storyline, but it has received mixed reviews from critics and fans. The original stars have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the reboot and have said that it does not honor the legacy of the original show..