Rose McGowan has reached out to Shannen Doherty in an emotional post on Instagram, slamming Hollywood for pitting the pair against each other and sharing support for the star who is currently battling breast cancer.
43-year-old McGowan posted an illustration of the duo on Tuesday, with a lengthy caption referencing their “funny history” after the she replaced Doherty on Charmed in 2001.
“As young women we were pitted against each other for society’s pleasure,” the actress wrote.
“The rules of Hollywood engagement brainwashed into us were truly vile. The men & brainwashed women in our business made it so we couldn’t be friends, I regret that. We were cast in this weird fake reality show where we were supposed to be enemies. I resented it greatly. I regret not being awake enough to articulate this to you at the time.”
Doherty, 45, left the supernatural TV series after the third season, with reports of hostility between her and co-star Alyssa Milano.
McGowan shared her thoughts the “Bad Girl Shaming” that she says Doherty was subject to within the media, referring to rumours that the Beverly Hills, 90210 actress was difficult on set.
“Fear was drilled into me from day one in this town & you were the barometer by which my behaviour was judged. I was under a microscope, one false move and I’d be branded ‘difficult’ just like you. I think we all know what happens when girls here get out of line. I willfully remained enigmatic & unengaged.”
“I had to prove I wasn’t as bad as you or I’d get the axe, too,” she continued, “But we were never the bad ones, it was them. The Beige Brained White Dudes in Charge. Well f*ck them. Damn them for f*cking with our minds & careers just because their misogynistic belief systems couldn’t sanction two strong females in a traditionally subservient role- actress.”
McGowan said that she refused to give the media and Hollywood the cat fight they so wanted.
“Shannen, we didn’t know it yet, but we were the good ones,” she wrote, “Two boss young women that scared the ‘faux-liberals in provincial Hollywood, for that sin we got burned at the media stake, egged on by Hollywood who believe the press they start. There was a strongly inferred threat of me being blacklisted in tv as I’d been in film. Instead of understanding that we were a different breed, they tried to crush us, but they couldn’t. I send you strength.”
Doherty has yet to respond on social media but her Charmed co-star, Alyssa Milano has. The actress, who was also rumoured to have feuded with Doherty, wrote on Twitter, “Holy shit! This is powerful.”
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