Melissa Joan Hart has said that her decision to pose for a men’s magazine nearly cost her her job as Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
From 1996 until 2003, she starred as Sabrina in the adolescent series, which followed Sabrina as she discovered she had magical powers on her 16th birthday.
While the programme lasted seven seasons, it was almost cancelled in 1999 after the actress posed for Maxim to promote her film, Drive Me Crazy.
Melissa, 47, has now recounted the uncomfortable predicament she found herself in after learning that her role in Sabrina was under jeopardy.
Melissa featured in the romantic comedy film with Adrien Grenier during the height of the show’s success and had stripped off to promote it.
But it was at the film’s New York premiere that she learned she would not only be fired from Sabrina, but would also be sued.
When she thinks back on what happened, she calls it the “worst day of her life.”
‘[At the premiere] my lawyer shows up and goes: “You did a photoshoot for Maxim magazine?”. I’m like: “Yes, I did.” They’re like: “Well, you’re being sued and fired from your show, so don’t take to the press, don’t do anything”,’ she recalled.
Melissa then received a phone call from her mother, who inquired as to what had occurred.
‘I’m like: “I don’t know, whatever my publicist told me to do on the red carpet or at the photoshoot!”
‘I did a photoshoot for Maxim, it’s Maxim, of course you’re going to be in your underwear,’ she added when speaking on the latest episode of Pod Meets World podcast.
She continued: ‘They’re like: “We’re being fired from the show,” I’m like, oh my god, so I’m crying, then the movie gets out and everyone shows up”.’
Despite the worry over what might happen to her career, Melissa stated that everything was resolved quickly since those who intended to take her to court “had no foundation to stand on.”
Explaining exactly what had been the issue, she explained: ‘What happened was the magazine wrote “Sabrina, your favourite witch without [a stitch]…” I’d never heard of someone being on the cover of a magazine and not using their name, they used Sabrina.
‘In my Archie Comics contract, it said I would never play the character [of Sabrina] naked…so hhere they were thinking I’m in breach because I’m playing the character.
‘No, that was supposed to be me promoting my movie, it wasn’t supposed to be a character. I had no control over what they wrote on the cover.’
Melissa stated that the situation was “all gone” after drafting an apology letter, but conceded that the drama surrounding the cover photo helped create major exposure for the film.
Breaking down the conversations that happened at the time, she said: ‘[They were discussing] “Can Melissa be sexy? She’s 23, is she allowed to be sexy? What’s going on here? Is it allowed? Is it OK? Why is she being fired from her show?” And all the drama. It made for Drive Me Crazy to come out and be a huge success.’
Melissa also said in the interview that the night was not without drama, as she had been sacked from her part in Scary Movie and had broken up with her boyfriend earlier in the day.
Melissa spoke about the repercussions of the shot on the Unzipped podcast last year, stating that she later turned down an offer from Playboy after her father and brother had previously had ‘people come up to them’, showing them her Maxim cover.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch is streaming on Prime Video.
