Actress Rose McGowan is once again pulling back the curtain on what she says really went down behind the glossy image of Hollywood. In a lengthy interview on the We Need to Talk podcast, the former star of Charmed described a culture of intense scrutiny and open discrimination at The WB network during her time on the hit series.
McGowan, who played Paige Matthews from 2001 to 2006, said that when she returned each season, executives would literally circle around her to check her weight. “They would circle around me to check my weight when I came back from season to season,” she said. “There was no chill with it. It was completely fine to be that way. Now they have to kind of pay lip service to being different.”
Rose McGowan “Hollywood Was Worse Than The Cult I Escaped”
Her statements raise questions about what Hollywood really learned from its so-called reckoning. Has anything actually changed? McGowan doesn’t seem to think so. “People are like, ‘Do you think Hollywood’s changed?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. But, I mean, definitely in a lot of ways, in the sense that it’s not really a major player on the world stage anymore.’”
The actress also described what she called “a pattern of intimidation” by her former bosses. She said she once asked if smoking weed on set would get her fired. The alleged response? “If you go work at a pharmacy, we’ll sue you. No matter what job you get, we’ll take your wages for the rest of your life, and then we’ll go after your family.” What kind of employer would say that to anyone, let alone one of the show’s main stars?
Before Charmed, McGowan made a name for herself in horror history with Scream, the 1996 thriller from director Wes Craven that redefined the genre and launched six sequels. Her role as Tatum Riley — the best friend whose death scene became one of the most unforgettable moments in horror — remains a fan favorite nearly three decades later.
Reflecting on that film in an interview with Scream Obsessed, McGowan said she took the job because of the script itself. “The first thing that made me want to bring Tatum Riley to life was the entire script. It was just moments of genius on every single page,” she said. “When Tatum is like, being fully Tatum with the ‘Please don’t kill me, Mr. Ghostface… I wanna be in the sequel,’ I was like, ‘Oh, I can do that. Let’s go.’”
The newest installment, Scream 7, is set to hit theaters next month, with familiar faces Matthew Lillard and David Arquette reportedly returning — despite their characters meeting grisly ends in previous films. The official synopsis reads: “When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target.”
As the movie world braces for another entry in the long-running horror franchise, McGowan’s latest words serve as a reminder that behind every so-called “Hollywood miracle” lies a business still struggling with accountability.
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