Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs hit back at Charmed writer/producer who claims she left the show because it became ‘bad for the world’
Alyssa Milano and Holy Marie Combs have taken issue with current Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff’s explanation for why she left their hit series Charmed as a writer and producer.
The former co-stars did not agree with Vernoff’s assertion during a new interview that she was ‘creating something that’s now bad for the world’ after working on the show for three seasons.
Vernhoff singled out one particular Charmed episode, where Milano was dressed in a revealing mermaid outfit, that played a role in her decision to move on from the supernatural fantasy drama.
‘I signed on because Charmed was a girl-power show,’ Vernoff, 49 shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
‘About halfway through there was an episode where Alyssa Milano comes out in mermaid pasties and there was a huge spike in male viewership, and then every episode after, the question would come from the network, “How are we getting the girls naked this week?”‘ she explained.
She went on to share how she was offered double her salary to do a fourth season but turned it down.
‘And they were throwing money at me, and the number keeps going up, and there’s all this pressure, and all I can think is, “I’m creating something that’s now bad for the world, and I’ve had enough bad for the world in my life.”‘
The episode in question was among the two-part season five premiere, A Witch’s Tail, that aired in September 2020.
For its first three seasons, Charmed was the second-highest rated series on The WB, behind 7th Heaven. By its fifth season, the series became the highest-rated Sunday night program in The WB’s history.
Milano, who played the role of Phoebe Halliwell during the show’s entire eight season run, got emotional when she responded to Vernoff’s revelation.
‘Well, this absolutely broke my heart. I hope we didn’t make something that was ‘bad for the world’ for eight years,’ Milano shared on Twitter.
‘I think we gave permission to a generation of women to be themselves and to be strong and own their sexuality. I’m so proud of what this show meant to so many.’
Combs, who played the role of Piper Halliwell, did not mince words when she disagreed with Charmed being ‘bad for the world’ on Twitter.
‘I can attest 1000% Charmed was not bad for the world. The reasons and people are too long to list. Maybe it was bad for Krista’s world at the time. End story.’
She added, ‘And the fact that we can still stand up for ourselves and the show and the people who loved it proves this. I never cared what producer or network exec wanted us more naked for their $. And still don’t. We knew how to rally against it and found our own power. And still do,’ along with the hashtag #Facts.
