Fans are grieving the loss of the Prue Halliwell actress.
Fans have been grieving the loss of Shannen Doherty, star of witchcraft fantasy Charmed, who has passed away at the age of 53.
There is grief for the big sister, the soft-hearted badass and the woman and actor who sold no one fairytales.
Growing up with the Charmed Ones was like growing up with sisters from a slightly mystical world; they were diamond-encrusted but cosy, messy and well-meaning.
Charmed was always about the humanity behind the magic, the sisterhood of it all.
Prue Halliwell, played by Shannen Doherty, was the anchor that grounded the series. As the eldest of the Charmed Ones, Prue’s practicality, responsibility, and no-nonsense attitude balanced her sisters’ more free-spirited nature. She made it all so real.
Her power as an actor was that she was this iconic, era-defining presence who still felt like the put-upon big sister ready to tell you off – she was just always there.
I say the Charmed Ones raised me, and I mean it. This show wasn’t just about entertainment; it was a guide that taught me about the ups and downs of life, helping me grow and learn. It offered advice on everything from fashion to dating. So much entertainment, then and now, is telling women how they should be. Charmed didn’t dictate what I should want or how I should be.
For all its whimsical, homespun charm, the show’s power lay in its unflinching honesty about relationships and the complexities of being human. Wrapped in a cosy, nostalgic package, it tackled feminist themes and said, ‘Here are these women, flaws and all – because being a woman is hard and being a sister is hard too.’
As Prue Halliwell once said: “Don’t worry. We’ll be safe here.”
Prue represented the quintessential strong and responsible persona. She’s the strength and the group’s de facto leader, characteristics that earned her the reputation as the most powerful witch of the Halliwell sisters. Lines like, “While I admire your confidence and your fearlessness, your utter lack of responsibility frustrates me to no end” meant she could be anyone’s big sister, and Charmed found its pulsing, thrumming, endearing, realness in that. She was fearless in going braless or strapless.
Beneath her tough exterior lies a vulnerability that makes her all the more relatable. As women, we’re often told we must choose between being soft or strong, but Prue is both. She’s the epitome of a grounded and tough individual, yet there is a vulnerability to her hardness.
Prue’s scepticism towards magic is a testament to her realistic reaction to the notion. She’s not immediately swept up in the whimsy of it all, instead choosing to approach it all with vigilance; she’s pragmatic in recognising that there will be a sacrifice in the fairytale, fantasticalness of it all. She so often found the ordinary and pulled it into their world: “Listen, I shot a magazine cover yesterday, I had a date last night, and then this morning I am searching for evil. You can’t get more balanced than that.”
I thought of this when Charmed star Alyssa Milano remembered her on-screen sister in a press statement after years and years of a well-documented feud, saying: “It’s no secret that Shannen and I had a complicated relationship, but at its core [she] was someone I deeply respected and was in awe of.”
If there is one thing Charmed taught us, it is that real relationships and heartache are muddled and complicated. We might yearn to think of them as straightforward or something else, but real life is in the flaws.
Charmed was all about the strengths and imperfections of women, which could get messy and complicated but be no less beautiful for it.
As Rose McGowan, who played the youngest Charmed one, Paige Matthews, put it: “We laughed at dark forces who wanted us to hate each other. Instead, we chose love and respect. A soft-hearted badass as there ever was. A force of energy that will live forever in hearts.”
Shannen Doherty has left an indelible mark on our collective pop culture consciousness thanks to her iconic roles in Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210. Through her memorable performances, she taught us the value of authenticity, humanity, and a healthy dose of realism in the most idealistic places.
Charmed created a world that offers, and still offers, escapism through overstuffed armchairs, beautiful stained glass and compelling, almost handmade villains. It says come in and get close, a warm hug that will, for a time, give you a reprieve; it will provide you with a human connection. I am so grateful for the four Halliwell sisters in a world that often feels designed to overwhelm us, to be just a little too much.
It was just enough – and so much more. Thank you to the best big sister, a soft-hearted badass, the woman who never wanted to sell fairytales – the Charmed One.