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Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano: How 'Charmed' co-stars went from #MeToo warrior sisters to name-calling foes

Ironically, the 'Charmed' actresses have been vocal about the same set of topics but have often found each other on the opposite sides of the spectrum

"A woman's enemy is another woman!" Find as many faults as you want with that idea, but at the end of the day, it happens to be true. The debacle between Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan is the biggest proof. The two nurtured a sisterly bond two decades ago when they were cast on WB's supernatural fantasy drama ‘Charmed’. Clearly, the two were not charmed by each other. Starring in a tale revolving around powerful good witches of all time, Alyssa was cast as Phoebe Halliwell — the third eldest sister and one of the three lead characters — and McGowan played Paige Matthews — the youngest half-sister. 

Back in 1998 when the show began, Alyssa was cast alongside Shannen Doherty — who played the eldest sister Prue Halliwell. The two actresses, however, did not see eye to eye on the sets. After three seasons, the latter left the show citing "too much drama" in an Entertainment Tonight interview. When McGowan stepped foot in the fourth season, the tension was far from being eased. However, their issues were never publicized at that time.

The transition from reel to real-life was quite diametrical. Ironically, the two have been vocal about the same set of topics — especially the US presidential elections and the #MeToo movement — but have often found each other on the opposite sides of the spectrum. 

Back in 2017, McGowan narrated her experience with Harvey Weinstein and said that Amazon Studios dropped her when she told them about it. "I told the head of your studio that HW raped me," she wrote in an explosive tweet to Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, using Weinstein’s initials. "Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof." Three days later, Milano shared the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter started by Tarana Burke. "If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet," she tweeted and sparked a worldwide movement as an astonishing number of women – and some men – used Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to spill shocking details of their harassment stories. 

The two women were hailed for bravely standing up against the predators. Shockingly, they were still in disagreement with each other's views. McGowan slammed Milano and hinted at her friendship with Weinstein's wife. Back in 2018, McGowan said in an interview with ABC News' Nightline: "I don't like her... I think she's a lie."

What's more, she bashed her for the Time's Up pins worn at the 2018 Golden Globes: "I know she's married to a CAA agent. Do the math. Who's behind Time's Up? CAA... Who needs good PR? CAA. Who are part of the pimp problem? CAA." Nevertheless, Milano didn't butt into a fight that time and said in a statement, "I have always been completely supportive of Rose... My goal... has been to use my platform to give others a voice."

Fast forward to 2020 and the actresses again had a huge feud over the #MeToo movement and upcoming elections. In August, McGowan listed two bombshell points to slam her former co-star. "1) You stole #metoo (a brilliant communication tool, not a movement) from Tarana. You co-opted my movement, the Cultural Reset, for fame, jealous of me for outing my rapist. You made 250k per week on Charmed," adding, "2) You threw a fit in front of the crew, yelling, ‘They don’t pay me enough to do this s**t!’ Appalling behavior on the daily. I cried every time we got renewed because you made that set toxic AF. Now, get off my coattails you f*****g fraud."

In October, McGowan dubbed her a "fraud" once again over a Democratic debate. "What have the Democrats done to solve ANYTHING? Help the poor? No. Help black & brown people? No. Stop police brutality? No. Help single mothers? No. Help children? No. You have achieved nothing. NOTHING. Why did people vote Trump? Because of you mother******s," she tweeted. When Milano tried to defend her stance with "a thread of all the things the Democratic Party has done to make the world a better place", McGowan blatantly slammed her saying, "Rose and anyone bleating the same 'dEmOcRaTs DoNt HeLp PeOpLe' nonsense, your lies are going to hurt people less privileged than you. It’s the kind of thing an ACTUAL fraud would do. Thousands of people are dying a day but you go on with your hyperbolic attention-seeking tweets."

Now, they are back to hanging swords at each other's necks. "Who is the Leader of Karens? Alyssa Milano," McGowan, 47, tweeted as per Fox News in response to a headline that read in part, "Alyssa Milano calls 911." Using the slang for an “obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often a racist middle-aged white woman," her tweet soon went viral. However, she later deleted it.

Apparently, the controversy was stirred when 47-year-old 'Who's the Boss?' actress and her talent agent husband Dave Bugliari called the cops on an “armed gunman” seen near her property. The suspect described as “male, 40-years old, with long rifle” turned out to be a teen with an air gun, shooting squirrels. After facing tons of backlash, Milano explained in a statement to Fox News that her neighbor called the police after spotting "a man dressed in all black, walking in the woods between our properties with a gun", calling it "a rare sight in our parts". 

Then, she was slammed for praising the Ventura County Sherrif's Office as she had tweeted #DefundThePolice several times in the past. However, she denied it and said she "never called the police" and added that it was a "lie" when people claimed that she indeed called 911. She added: "But I would have if I saw a guy with a gun in my backyard." Well, amid all the fiasco, McGowen didn't let go of the opportunity and name-called her fellow actress. That proves the point, doesn't it? Hoping the rift ends soon, we would like to repeat Maya Angelou's words: "A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy, a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim."