Feature: Charmed

As Charmed finally comes to DVD, star Alyssa Milano tells us about how she’s changed over seven years of playing Phoebe…

It’s seven years since the then 24-year-old Alyssa Milano signed up for Charmed and began the third phase of her already lengthy career, after her long stint as the angelic teenager Samantha in sitcom Who’s the Boss? , and her equally successful, but far less demure, time as the teen temptress of choice in erotic thrillers like Poison Ivy II. But as she marks the release of that first season on DVD, there’s one thing that strikes her about that time – “Yeah, look what a baby I was.”

Seeing the past return to haunt her has thrown the actress into a philosophical mood, as she reflects on the series’ runaway success, despite changing timeslots, approaches… and hairstyles. “Well, I think to be a fan of a show like ours, fans have to be so committed to us, no matter what time slot we are in… no matter what our hair looks like, what age we are, what our story-lines are doing… So to be able to look back and see how it all began like this is sort of a gift to them.” It’s a gift fans have been demanding for some time, and Milano understands their frustration at the show’s absence from the shelves. “I was saying, ‘What took so long?’” She’s less surprised by the show’s longevity. “I had an idea, yeah. I was lucky enough to watch the pilot before I actually agreed to do the show and I knew just watching the pilot that it was going to be hugely successful. I do not think you ever imagine seven years but you know we have been very blessed to have an amazing fan base.” When Charmed began and Milano came in to replace pilot Phoebe Lori Rom, she was playing the baby of the family. Phoebe was pretty flighty, not as bright as she might have been, and perhaps a little self-centered. That’s changed over the years, she realizes. “I think more than anything the characters have just grown up. I started the show when I was 24 years old, I am 32 years now. That’s very important times in your life, and the character has grown up with me. So I think we have all evolved as Human beings, we have all grown up. You know your twenties are spent sort of trying to figure out who you are and what you believe in, and your thirties are about sort of basking in that revelation. Well, I think the characters have done the same thing.”

by Diane McGinn

Get the full interview in
Xposé #93

Photo © Warner Bros
Feature © Visual Imagination 2005. Not for reproduction

Taken from

Xposé #93
March 2005
ships from Feb 24 2005
News-stand Price
UK £3.99 / US $6.99

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