Rose McGowan said Hollywood executives openly obsessed over her fluctuating weight during her stint on “Charmed” in the early 2000s.
During an appearance on the “We Need To Talk” podcast, the 52-year-old actress — who joined the cast in 2001 — recalled how show executives would often mull over her weight gain or loss.
“They would circle around me to check my weight when I came back from season to season,” she said, referencing show producers. “I think it was just really inspecting their product.”
“There was no chill with it. It was completely fine to be that way,” she added. “Now they have to kind of pay lip service to being different.”
McGowan replaced original cast member, Shannen Doherty, in the fourth season. The series originally starred Doherty, Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs, and ran from 1998 to 2006.
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Doherty claimed “drama” on set sparked her early departure from the series in 2001, which ran for eight seasons until its final episode aired in 2006.
“There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work. You know, I’m 30 years old, and I don’t have time for drama in my life anymore,” Doherty, who died in 2024, told Entertainment Tonight at the time of her departure.
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Following Doherty’s exit from the show, Milano told Entertainment Weekly, “I think it’s hard when you put two very different people together. I’m very laid-back and passive. I have my Buddha. I come in here and meditate. [Shannen’s] got a lot of energy, she’s very headstrong, she wants to get the job done.”
McGowan is not the first actress to open up about the harsh criticism she received.
In 2021, Kate Winslet recalled “straight-up cruel” criticism of her weight.
“In my 20s, people would talk about my weight a lot. And I would be called to comment on my physical self,” she told The Guardian at the time. “Well, then I got this label of being ballsy and outspoken. No, I was just defending myself.”
“It was almost laughable how shocking, how critical, how straight-up cruel tabloid journalists were to me,” Winslet said. “I was still figuring out who the hell I bloody well was! They would comment on my size, they’d estimate what I weighed, they’d print the supposed diet I was on. It was critical and horrible and so upsetting to read.”
“It damaged my confidence,” she added. “I didn’t want to go to Hollywood because I remember thinking, ‘God, if this is what they’re saying to me in England, then what will happen when I get there?’” she reminisced. “Also, it tampers with your evolving impression of what’s beautiful, you know? I did feel very on my own. For the simple reason that nothing can really prepare you for… that.”
