Alyssa Milano reflects on her feud with Charmed co-star Shannen Doherty following her passing

Alyssa Milano is honoring Shannen Doherty.

Milano, 51, expressed in a statement to Us Weekly on July 14: “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.”

“She was a talented actress, beloved by many and the world is less without her. My condolences to all who loved her.”

On Sunday, it was confirmed that Doherty passed away at the age of 53 after a prolonged fight against cancer.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” stated Doherty's publicist Leslie Sloane.

Doherty and Milano portrayed the Halliwell sisters Prue and Phoebe on Charmed, alongside Holly Marie Combs as Piper. The series debuted in 1998 and concluded its eighth season in 2006. Doherty departed the show following the third season.

Earlier this year, the trio garnered attention due to their revived conflict. Doherty and Combs, aged 50, asserted on Doherty’s podcast "Let’s Be Clear" in December 2023 that Milano was responsible for Doherty’s dismissal.

“We didn’t mean to [fire Shannen], but we’ve been backed into this corner,” Combs recounted 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 responded to the allegations during a panel at Megacon in February, expressing her sorrow. 

“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 shared with the audience.

“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 clarified in a social media post that she “did not have the power” to dismiss Doherty from her role.

“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,” Milano shared on Instagram. 

“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 discussed Milano's reaction in a different panel at MegaCon for Charmed.

“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,” Doherty 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.”