Alyssa Milano And Holly Marie Combs Have Strong Words For A Charmed Producer Who Quit

Charmed is back in the spotlight after a former producer on the show made some controversial comments about the show. Krista Vernoff, who went on to be showrunner on Shonda Rhimes' mega-hit Grey's Anatomy, raised a few eyebrows in April 2021 when she revealed the surprising reason she quit in 2004. 

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Vernoff explained that she joined Charmed because it promoted "girl-power" but decided to leave after an episode that saw actor Alyssa Milano wear "mermaid pasties." She claimed "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?'" Vernoff added that she was also struggling with the death of her father at the time, and claimed that she was offered more money to stay, but said, "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.'" 

She clarified her comments on Twitter on April 1, 2021, writing, "I want to clarify here for Charmed fans and also for my colleagues from Charmed who I love and admire, that I do not believe that the show was bad for the world. I felt that the objectifying notes were bad for the world – and were demoralizing for me. All love to Charmed." But plenty of people — including Milano and Holly Marie Combs — had thoughts of their own.

Krista Vernoff's Charmed confession didn't sit too well with Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs, who played Phoebe Halliwell and Piper Halliwell, respectively. Tweeting on April 1, 2021 in response to Vernoff's interview, Milano wrote, "Well, this absolutely broke my heart. I hope we didn't make something that was 'bad for the world' for eight years. 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." She tagged Vernoff in her message.

Combs responded to Milano's tweet to share her own thoughts, writing, "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." She continued in a second tweet, "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. #Facts." 

Combs and Milano's tweets were posted around the same time as Vernoff's Twitter clarification, so it's not clear if they saw her message before posting, but we're hoping the trio can work this one out for the sake of the rebooted much-loved supernatural hit.