Charmed stars upset by former producer's attack on show
Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs are defending their beloved TV series Charmed after a former producer revealed she quit the show when it started catering to lusty men.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Krista Vernoff claims she exited the series when it started becoming "bad for the world", insisting it stopped becoming "a girl power show" when men started tuning in to ogle the stars.
"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?'" Krista told the publication.
Castmates Alyssa and Holly reacted to her comments on social media, insisting Charmed was always a "girl power show".
"This absolutely broke my heart," Milano wrote on Twitter.
"I hope we didn’t make something that was 'bad for the world' for eight years," she went on, sharing: "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."
Co-star Combs replied to Alyssa's tweet, adding: "I can attest 1000 per cent 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 then insisted: "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 $ (sic). And still don’t. We knew how to rally against it and found our own power. And still do."
