“It sounds terribly cliché … until it happens to you, you always think you have more time,” Holly Marie Combs said of her Charmed costar Shannen Doherty.
Holly Marie Combs opened up about how Shannen Doherty had plans for her future before her unexpected passing at age 53.
Combs, who played Piper Halliwell — one third of the witch sisters on the beloved show Charmed — and her fellow costars Brian Krause and Drew Fuller dedicated this week’s episode of the “House of Halliwell” podcast to the late actress.
In their first episode since Doherty’s passing, the Pretty Little Liars alum got emotional while recounting some of the plans that Doherty had for the podcast — which she joined days before her death on July 13, 2024 — and Doherty’s “enthusiasm for life.”
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Holly Marie Combs Shares Emotional Tribute to Shannen Doherty: ‘A Part of Me Is Missing’
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“That’s one of the saddest parts to me is that she was really looking forward to this, and she was actually really looking forward to watching the episodes with Rose,” Combs, 50, said about Doherty and her recent involvement with the podcast. “One of the last times I was with her, we actually watched the first two episodes together like we were freaking teenagers again.”
Combs said that Doherty was looking forward to watching their show with “fresh eyes.” She said Doherty “became like a fan; she watched it like an audience member. I don’t think anybody loved Charmed more than she did. And that’s a fact.”
Doherty played Prue Halliwell, the oldest sister, from Seasons 1 through 3 prior to her departure from the show. She was replaced by Rose McGowan who played Paige Matthews, their long-lost half-sister, for the remainder of the series.
“I think she did as much as she could in the time that she had, but we did think we had more time. And that’s the really sad part is, you know, we had big, big plans for this year, and she didn’t think she was going anywhere anytime soon.” Combs continued.
“It sounds terribly cliche until it happens to you,” she said through tears. “But you always think you have more time and life changes on a dime.”
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Shannen Doherty Announced as Cohost of ‘Charmed’ Rewatch Podcast Shortly Before Death
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Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and went into remission two years later. In 2019 the cancer returned and she continued her battle for the remainder of her life. Despite her diagnosis, she was planning to build a house in Tennessee and move to Italy.
Fuller, 44, who played Chris Halliwell, Combs’ son on the show, shared that he rushed back home from Italy after hearing the news of Doherty’s death.
“She’s probably laughing at all of us right now being super sad. There’s a degree of sadness she does want; she wants a proper amount of mourning and crying.” Combs said. “Drew raced back from Italy and she’s definitely laughing at him panicking and getting on a plane for her.”
The three remember their friend and costar as someone who had ambition to do more and, in the process, made others “forget” that she had a terminal disease.
There will be five posthumous episodes still featuring Doherty to come.
