“At the time I joinedCharmedI did not understand the backstory,” McGowan said.
“I was just told she was fired and nobody talked about her.”
McGowan was “just trying to keep my head above water at that point,” she said.
Rose McGowan and Shannen Doherty at MegaCon Orlando 2024 in February.Gerardo Mora/Getty
“I was very famous at that point, but I was persona non grata, non-hirable.
I caused disruptions everywhere I went.
“She was very vulnerable on that show,” McGowan said.
Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty, and Alyssa Milano on ‘Charmed’.Richard Cartwright /The WB Television Network / Courtesy Everett Collection
“Knowing what I know now, that she had left90210in a kind of cataclysmic way.”
When she joined the show, “It was just strange,” McGowan recalled.
“I was told over and over: ‘No show survives a major cast change.’
Being relentlessly told that she would fail made her determined not to fail, she said.
“I was in a very vulnerable position.
I think that’s certainly what made her vulnerable to the operation behind the scenes that took her out.
she was preyed upon in that way.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with someone wanting things to be better.
They made it sound like she was difficult.”
“From the get go, every question was like, Do you think Shannen Doherty hates you?
Do you think she’s jealous of you?
What do you think?”
“And I refused to take the bait.
They wanted me to start a war with her, and I was like, absolutely not.
And to her credit, she absolutely did not do that either.”
Doherty died July 13 from breast cancerat 53.
Her mother, Rosa, intends to continue her daughter’s podcast to honor her legacy.
“And of course, I’m not her.
I could never be her.
Listen to McGowan’s thoughtful episode in full above.
