Rose McGowan was charmed by the late Shannen Doherty, but wishes their friendship had started earlier.
McGowan, who replaced Doherty, Charmed When the latter left the WB show in 2001, he spoke in the August 22 episode of Let us be clearthe podcast that Doherty launched months before her death from cancer at the age of 53 in July.
“I don’t regret anything, I wish I could have met her sooner,” McGowan said. “I don’t know how that would have happened, but I wish we could have.”
She added that she and Doherty both had outsider status, both preferred directing to acting, and both detested what McGowan called “corporate feminism,” “like slogans and fake activists and people who just do it for the clicks and the fame but without actually putting in the work and the trauma that that work requires.”
McGowan also shared her impressions of Doherty, saying, “She lived life in a big way and with enthusiasm. And just had a lot of fun. One of the things I think we learned from each other by talking openly was how much more alike we were than we were different.”
And McGowan told listeners that about a month before Doherty’s death, she and Doherty were able to spend quality time together – “just her and me, for the first time ever.”
“We didn’t want the evening to end,” Doherty said. “And it was both enjoyable and – this word is so silly, but it is – sweet. She told me things I didn’t know, and I told her things she didn’t know. And she had some questions for me, and I answered them, and vice versa.”
McGowan said Doherty asked her to participate in her podcast, and McGowan tells her she is starting an experimental treatment.
“And when she talked about the treatment, I had a feeling that this wasn’t going to go well,” McGowan told listeners. “And she looked scared for the first time. She was afraid. And I gave her a big hug and told her I loved her. I regret not doing the podcast with her. But at the same time, I think it was really special to have that time just for us because so much of our relationship was out in the open.”
McGowan publicly addressed Doherty on Instagram in 2016 after she announced her cancer diagnosis. “As young women, we were pitted against each other for society’s amusement,” McGowan wrote at the time, among other things. “The Hollywood relationship rules that were drilled into us were truly abhorrent. The men (and) brainwashed women in our business made sure we couldn’t be friends, and I regret that. We were cast in this weird, fake reality show where we were supposed to be enemies. I resented that very much. I regret not being awake enough to tell you that at the time. … Instead of understanding that we were a different species, they tried to destroy us, but they couldn’t. I send you strength.”
