Apparently, last weekend there was a three-day 90s Con in Connecticut?! Honestly, sounds fun. It had panels with stars from TV shows including, but not limited to: Full House, Family Matters, Brotherly Love, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Boy Meets World, and Charmed. Charmed started airing on The WB in 1998 and ran for eight seasons. It was the network’s second longest-running drama; and being about three sister witches, it was one of the longest-running hourlong shows with all female leads. Despite that feminist cred, the real life “Powers That Be” took issue with Holly Marie Combs’ boobs and tried to get her to wear a padded bra in her scenes.
Holly Marie Combs took a major stand while working on Charmed.
During the show’s 90s Con panel on Saturday, Combs revealed she often didn’t wear a bra on set — but there’s a reason for that.
“They tried to be gentle about it, but … the messages would come down through the ranks. And then there would be, you know, that unfortunate person who had to deliver the message to you,” Combs, 48, recalled. “Usually, it was down to wardrobe. They were, like, setting these different bras in my dressing room and I was like, ‘Those belong to somebody else.’ ”
“They wanted me to wear a big, padded push-up bra and I was like, ‘no,’ hence why there are so many scenes of me not wearing a bra whatsoever,” she continued. “Which I apologize for but at the moment, at the time, it was very important.”
The panel’s host, Christy Carlson Romano, asked whether they provided an “alternative option” for her, but Combs replied: “No, nothing.”
Comparing herself to her costars Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan, Combs explained that “their boobs was [sic] enough” and “not everybody needed to have” a push-up bra.
Charmed ran for eight seasons on The WB from 1998 to 2006. Created by Constance M. Burge, the series followed three sisters as they discover they are witches and ultimately choose to use their powers to fight evil forces.
So some show exec really gave that note that all the Halliwell sisters should have cleavage, but Holly Marie Combs’ wasn’t busty enough. Rude and gross, but not that surprising. They didn’t give her any alternatives, so perhaps they wanted her to go braless? Boobs hoisted up or braless, no normal bras on Charmed! I watched the first few seasons and didn’t remember the braless thing, likely because it wasn’t as obvious as in some sitcoms of that era. Holly Marie’s character, Piper, was presented as the more shy and reserved middle sister, so that bra might have been a bit incongruous for the character. The other sisters were definitely portrayed as sexier overall. Good for Holly Marie for standing firm and saying no to something she wasn’t comfortable with. It was important to her and she shouldn’t apologize. I probably couldn’t because I’m always freezing and not having that extra layer makes me feel colder, but maybe I too would do the same to make a point.
The Charmed stars have seen a fair bit of controversy recently for a show that ended so long ago. The ladies were, perhaps, unnecessarily critical of the reboot announcement in 2020. Then Krista Vernoff, who wrote for the original show for three seasons, told The Hollywood Reporter that she felt she was making something “bad for the world” after “there was an episode where Alyssa Milano comes out in mermaid pasties and there was a huge spike in male viewership, and then every episode after, the question would come from the network, ‘How are we getting the girls naked this week?’” Alyssa and Holly Marie took offense to that “bad for the world” comment. (Interestingly, in 2019 both actresses guest-starred as sisters on Grey’s Anatomy and Krista Vernoff is the show runner). I also disagree with that comment, but clearly the bra thing wasn’t an isolated incident and the network execs were pervily and opportunistically objectifying the actresses.
Photos credit: Getty, (C) Warner Bros. Supplied by Pacificcoastnews.com, Bandphoto /Starstock/Photoshot
The original Charmed is one of my all-time favorite shows! Great article Peridot ☺️
I loved it soooooooo much! And things still remind me of it all the time. Just this week, my husband and I are looking at new cars, and he pointed out a not so expensive BMW SUV, and I immediately said, “Prue had a BMW SUV on charmed!” (We are not getting a BMW as much as he would maybe like to….)
Also, I never noticed she was braless! It’s crazy how people get so offended or worked up over this. Dudes especially. I never notice unless it’s like right up in my face or pointed out to me
Loved the original Charmed and also Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Great shows to watch.
I loved Charmed so much, and Piper was my favorite. Holly carried the heavier acting for the rest of the cast, IMO. I adore her.
Why not wear a bra to the studio and just use that?
@equality – hahaha. Yes, that would be a logical and rational way to deal with it. I kinda understand, I had a boss who was toxic and made my life hell. He would would HATE that I wore heels which made me taller than him. He also would tell me I should always wear neutral nail polish. It got to the point where I was intentionally buying stilettos and wearing bright in your face nail polish – and it gave me IMMENSE pleasure to do so.
Maybe she did sometimes, but maybe she wore sometimes something unsuitable (like in the pic with the yellow top, if she came with a colored bra that day, i.e. black, that wouldn´t work).
Obvious solution if she were uncomfortable with the dumb padded push-up bras or being braless, but maybe she felt compelled to make a point. I like her thinking, actually. There’s no reason to make every female character into a male fantasy figure.
I wasn’t an avid watcher but definitely enjoyed it whenever it was on. Maybe it was the novelty of getting to watch women star in their own show even if I didn’t realise that was it at the time. Either way I loved it.
It’s the sort of thing I’d happily put on streaming now and watch more of.
I tried watching the reboot but it was terrible in my opinion, I was so disappointed because I’ve been a longtime fan of Charmed.
As for HMC comments, yeah, in the later seasons there was a lot more exposed skin compared to before and I felt that was on purpose.
I’ve watched this show on TNT in the background a thousand times, I never noticed this. I do love this show though and loved Holly’s character
I watched Charmed religiously back in the day, but it was noticeable that the show took a very different direction after the original show runner and creator left, and again after Shannen Doherty left (was fired). It became much more cartoonish and about displaying Alyssa Milano’s body in various skimpy outfits. I never noticed Holly Marie going braless but it was always obvious that she was much less busty than the others, at least before she had children, and much less willing to wear the skimpy outfits.
Seasons 1-3 & 6 were the best seasons of the show. Every other season was OK (season 4-5) to very bad (season 7-8)! They really lucked up when they added Drew Fuller to the show, because he had the charisma and screen presence that Shannon Doherty had, but took with her when she got was fired. And it was even more noticeable after he left at the end of season 6.
I’m with you, they should have found a way to make Drew Fuller a permanent cast member. Once they shipped Leo off, and added Billie and whatever the hell her sisters name was, it became a chore to watch, but I held on until the bitter end.
Embarrassed to admit I watched a few seasons of this show and noticed her lack of a bra. I found it refreshing and real. Not vulgar at all. I was young, and I remember wishing more women were allowed to be their natural selves without judgement. Holly has no reason to apologize.
Didn’t most shows in the ´90s have a lack of bra issue then? From the rewatches I did with Charmed I feel you could only tell when she was without a during the more skimper outfits but outside of that it wasn’t in your face obviousl unlike Jennifer Aniston (from Friends) were