Bitch
No More
Cleo, August 2000
Shannen Doherty wants you to know that she's not the Wicked Witch of Hollywood.
She's really quite charming - honest. Lucy Bradbent meets America's most
misunderstood actress
Shannen Doherty smiles a lot. She is also astonishing warm. And she is
politeness itself as she apologizes for smoking and being late. Apparently,
three chimpanzees she was being filmed with for an episode of Charmed -
her latest TV success- refused to behave, sending production schedules into
mayhem.
"But they were so adorable," Shannen enthuses as she takes a long draw
on her Malboro Light and settles back onto the plastic green chair outside her
trailer at the studio. "I just wanted to cuddle them all the time, but the
trainers said they'd only act up more, so it wasn't allowed."
As she chats animatedly about her love of animals -she has 4 horses and 3 dogs-
as well as her contentment with her new TV role, her passion for quiet nights in
front of the video, and how she would never be seen dead in a nightclub, you
wonder if there has been some sort of mistake.
She looks like Shannen Doherty, with her long dark hair, piercing green
eyes and petite frame, covered today by a baggy tracky pants and a halter-top.
But surely this isn't the same person for whom the cliché "wild
child" was often penned? This couldn't be the same woman whose tantrums on
the set of Beverly Hills 90210 made Hollywood History; whose violent
temper earned her a police restraining order after trying to run down a
boyfriend in a car; whose out-of-control partying guaranteed her a column in a
tabloids every week; whose series of doomed engagements -and an impetuous
marriage that lasted only 5 turbulent months - landed her a reputation as a
vindictive shrew? Surely this couldn't be her? She's just too normal.
"I've mellowed a lot," she says with a coy smile. "I guessed I
went through a growing-up progress. Once you grow up something seems to happen
to make you settle down and find peace. These days my life revolves around work,
looking after my horses, then going home and going to bed. It's all my publicist
can do to try and persuade me to go out. But my partying days are over and I
think I'm the happiest I've ever been."
Contributing that happiness has been - after nearly 5 years away from regular TV
work- the success of Charmed, another Aaron Spelling hit, that Shannen
plays the oldest of 3 sister witches, alongside Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa
Milano. A calmness has also descended over her private life. Two years after
splitting up with director Rob Weiss, and loving it. She's also in the process
of buying a ranch on the ranch on the outskirts of LA to house her menagerie.
"I don’t even go shopping anymore," she says, "I’m over it.
The closest I get to shopping is buying blankets for my horses, and the closest
I get to partying is a barbeque with my riding friends at the barn where I keep
my horses. I like it that way."
Contentment suits Shannen. She seems unflappable, confident and relaxed- she
doesn’t even mind talking candidly about her "bad girl" days.
(Though it does mean another cigarette- something she swear as she'll quit on
her birthday on April 12, 2001.) "I think everybody goes through a stage in
their lives when they act like teenagers. Most kids do it at college, but i
never went. Hanging out with your friends and having a good time is normal , but
if you're in the public eye, it's suddenly a big deal. But i didn’t mind the
bad girl label, because I’ve never partied as much as everyone said i did. As
a human being, you want people to know the real you."
The fiery temper is still there though, just more controlled, she admits.
"I've learned a different way of handling it now," she reveals.
"Things still bother me, but i try to be diplomatic, I'm still an up-front
person, but I don't think i take everything so seriously now. I try to let
things roll of my back. It's all part of the maturing process, I guess I've
learned that blowing your top doesn’t get you anywhere."
Her 1994 marriage to Ashley Hamilton after knowing him only two weeks, and the
string of engagements are less easy to explain away. "That marriage i can
never , ever come up with an excuse for," she sighs, running a manicured
hand through her hair. "I mean, it was a disaster from the moment I met the
person until we ended it. It's the largest mistake I've ever made. But I did
learn from it. I learned not to be impulsive. I learned it's fine to be
romantic, but better to be practical- romantic.
"As for the engagements? Well, I’ve only really been engaged..." She
pauses, takes a deep breath and laughs. "I cant believe I was about to say
that. I was going to say only twice, but you know what? It was three times -
which is a lot, yeah...What can I say? There's no excuse. But I will say
that the only engagement that ever meant anything to me, and the only
relationship that, at this point, has ever meant anything to me, was with Rob
Weiss. It's the only relationship that was good."
The couple lived together for four years and Shannen leg's still bears a tattoo
with his name. But they broke up amicably, deciding that they needed to focus on
their careers - a move that has clearly been fruitful, both professionally and
personally for her.
"I like being single," Shannen proclaims. "It sounds selfish, but
it's wonderful to come home and not have to worry about someone else. I mean,
these days I get in from work and I'm exhausted. I'm on the set a lot of the
mornings at 6 am. When you're in a relationship, you've got to work at making
the other person feel loved and secure and happy, and if you're doing this job
it's not always easy.
"But, having said all that," she laughs, "I'm 29 and I've always
wanted to get married and have children. All of a sudden I'm thinking, 'Wow 29
and no future dates, no prospects whatsoever.' That, to me, is a little scary.
Perhaps the big joke will be when I'm 60 I'll still be sitting on my porch all
alone with my dogs and horses."
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Shannen moved to LA with her family when she was 7
years old. She relentlessly begged her parents to allow her to act, and was in
TV shows by the age of 10. At the age of 18, she got her big break when Aaron
Spelling signed her to play bitchy Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210.
The show was a phenomenal success catapulting Shannen to unprecedented height of
fame. Coupled with her wild-child antics on the LA club scene, she was very soon
in every magazine on the newsstand. But people were unable to distinguish the
real her from her TV character, and was even sent copies of "We Hate
Brenda" newsletter that circulated amongst the show's fans. She became
dissatisfied, and her eventual departure of the show has been a source of
continued speculation -with rumors that she was fired.
"I can tell you honestly why i left," she says frankly. "Let me
start by saying it wasn't like i walked out one day and said, 'I quit.' It was a
very long process of quitting the show. Aaron got as fed up with me as I was
with the show, and I think it was because the notoriety was too much. People
were hating the character and I couldn't take the abuse that came with that.
People couldn't separate me from her and I got sick of people assuming that I
was as naughty and bad as Brenda was. It was all very hurtful.
"The show started out as a serious program for young adults to watch. It
had real teenage issues, like Brenda having breast cancer, or Dylan dealing with
AIDS, or teenage pregnancy. There were real issues in the first season,
but then it became about who was sleeping with who. It changed in my eyes, and
the characters started changing. So I was consistently unhappy in the last 2
season of the show. Eventually, Aaron got sick of it too, and we both sat down
and said, 'Let's call it a day, before we walk away really disliking each
other.'"
Given the history, TV critics were surprised that Aaron asked Shannen back to
play this new role in Charmed. But if anyone knows how to spot an actress
who'll win in a ratings war, it's Aaron Spelling. And Shannen has done him proud
once again. Not that it didn’t cause the actress some angst before production
began last year - after all, this was something of a TV comeback.
"I got nervous about the expectations that people had," says Shannen.
"Everybody kept saying to me, 'Your name will bring in an audience,' and
that's a lot of pressure to be under. It's hard when everyone is expecting you
to be responsible for really good ratings. But, thank God, we got a hit."
Now, as filming of the second season draws to a close, Shannen is contemplating
what to do with her next 2-month hiatus -as well as the rest of her life.
"My last real vacation was lying on a beach in St Barts with a girlfriend
for 10 days. It was amazing and really what i needed. This break, I'm not sure
what I'm going to do. I've been offered a bunch of TV things, but unless it's
something I absolutely fall in love with, I have no desire to work really. I
feel like I need the vacation."
And after Charmed is finished for good? "I think that in after 2 or
3 years, when the show is done - God willing it runs that long- I won't do
another one. This is pretty much it for me. Your life and priorities change. I
think that by then my priorities are going to be heading towards marriage and
children. Three - I'd like to have 3 children."
She throws her head and laughs, "Although perhaps I'll start with one and
see!"
She is, after all, more cautious these days!.
Thanks
to Karen
for typing this article and let me use them!