Sarah Michelle Gellar chimed in on the tension between her friend Shannen Doherty and former Charmed costar Alyssa Milano, praising Doherty for ‘sharing her truths’ with the public.

The Emmy-winning actress, 46, chat with E! News Sunday, as Doherty, 52, and Milano, 51, have exchanged words in recent weeks about the circumstances behind Doherty’s 2001 exit from the WB show.

Gellar, who starred on her own hit series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from 1997-2003, said that ‘it was a difficult time’ for her longtime friend Doherty, adding, ‘I was there for it.’

The Cruel Intentions star said that she was proud and supportive of Doherty, who has been candid about her personal and professional battles in recent years, including her ongoing bout with stage 4 breast cancer.

‘I think Shannen’s just about sharing her truths in general right now,’ Gellar told the outlet. ‘What’s amazing about her is, flaws and all, she’s showing it all. I will support her.’

Sarah Michelle Gellar, 46, chimed in on the tension between her friend Shannen Doherty, 52, and former Charmed costar Alyssa Milano, 51, praising Doherty for ‘sharing her truths’ with the public. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star was pictured last year in Cannes, France 

The Cruel Intentions star said that she was proud and supportive of Doherty, who has been candid about her personal and professional battles in recent years, including her ongoing bout with stage 4 breast cancer 

The Scooby-Doo actress added: ‘I know it wasn’t the easiest time, but she’s a different person now.’

Gellar, who is mother to two children with husband Freddie Prinze Jr., 47, daughter Charlotte, 14, and son Rocky, 11, detailed how she has grown close to the Beverly Hills, 90120 star after decades of friendship.

‘Our relationship has grown because we’ve grown,’ she said. ‘We’ve had experiences and life is complicated. And we’ve been able to experience it together, so then you grow together.’

The issue between Doherty and Milano came into the public focus when Doherty welcomed their Charmed costar Holly Marie Combs onto her podcast Let’s Be Clear in December.

Combs, 50, played the role of Piper Halliwell on all 179 episodes of the series from 1998-2006, while Doherty played the role of Prue Halliwell on 67 episodes of the WB show Charmed from 1998–2001, leaving after the third of the show’s eight seasons.

On the podcast, Combs went into detail about past tensions between the cast members on the series, saying that the show’s producer Jonathan Levin admitted to her that Milano had told producers she would depart the show if Doherty remained on it.

Combs said Levin told her producers had been ‘backed into this corner’ and were in a ‘position where it’s one or the other.’

In addition, Combs said Levin told her Milano had documented ‘every time she felt uncomfortable on set’ and had ‘threatened to sue [over] a hostile workplace environment’ should she be the one to depart.

Milano, pictured earlier this month in Orlando, has denied playing a role in Doherty’s exit from the series Charmed in 2001

Gellar told the outlet, ‘I think Shannen’s just about sharing her truths in general right now. What’s amazing about her is, flaws and all, she’s showing it all. I will support her.’ The friends were pictured in 2016 in LA 

Gellar detailed how she has grown close to the Beverly Hills, 90120 star after decades of friendship: ‘Our relationship has grown because we’ve grown’

Milano denied playing a role in Doherty’s exit from the series in an Instagram post she put up February 3.

‘I did not have the power to get anyone fired,’ Milano said. ‘Once Shannen left we had 5 more successful seasons and I am forever grateful.’

Combs said in a response on Instagram earlier this month that Milano was not taking full responsibility for her past actions in regards to Charmed.

‘I heard that Alyssa said she did not have the power to fire anyone which is ironic because this was actually all about power,’ Combs said. ‘But let’s go with that and let me explain what she did have the power to do.’

Combs said Milano ‘had the power the stop the process at any time.’

She added, ‘When the producers said ok we will let Shannen go Alyssa also had the power to say no I don’t want that. But she did not. She had the power to say no just as Shannen had said no I don’t want you to replace Alyssa when posed with the same option.’

Doherty later released a statement that read, ‘Holly and I, we were not mean on the podcast – my podcast, Let’s Be Clear. In fact, we went in and we edited out anything that we felt would cause more drama.

‘We simply told the truth because the truth actually does matter. But we wanted to try to save you, the fans, from heartbreak as much as humanly possible.’

Milano, Combs and Doherty seen in a promotional pic for the series, which debuted in 1998 

Doherty played the role of Prue Halliwell on 67 episodes of the WB show Charmed from 1998–2001, leaving after the third of the show’s eight seasons 

Rose McGowan went on to star in a leading role on the show after Doherty left the cast in 2001

Doherty hinted at tensions on the set of the fantasy drama in 2001, when she told Entertainment Tonight of her departure from the series, ‘I want to work with actors who really, really care and that want to be there every single day. 

‘I don’t want to work with people who bitch about their job and complain about it and say that they hate it or anything else.’

Rose McGowan went on to appear on the show in the ensuing seasons, saying in her 2018 book Brave, ‘I wasn’t going to be playing Shannen’s role, but it was still someone new for the fans to bond with … I knew that I had a slim chance at success here.’

She said that the show ‘at times a very stressful environment’ and she ‘started to have panic attacks because of everything [she] was pushing down.’

Doherty and Combs have stayed on good terms, as they co-starred on the 2015 travel series Off the Map With Shannen & Holly.

Milano in 2021 told Entertainment Tonight that she and Doherty – who she called ‘a great actress’ – had been on ‘cordial’ terms.

‘You know, I could take responsibility for a lot of our tension that we had,’ she told the outlet. ‘I think a lot of our struggle came from feeling that I was in competition rather than it being that sisterhood that the show was so much about. And I have some guilt about my part in that.’

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