Rose McGowan Shares Her Experience with Weight Checks from ‘Charmed’ Executives Each Season
Rose McGowan Reflects on Hollywood’s Body Standards During ‘Charmed’ Era
After a quarter-century, Rose McGowan has candidly addressed the stringent body expectations prevalent in Hollywood during her time on the series Charmed. The actress, who portrayed Paige Matthews from 2001 to 2006, shared her experiences regarding the pressures she faced from the show’s producers.
In a recent conversation on the program We Need to Talk, McGowan disclosed that executives at The WB closely monitored her weight whenever she returned for a new season. “They would circle around me to check my weight when I came back from season to season. I think it was just really inspecting their product,” she recalled.
McGowan emphasized the lack of concern for body image issues at the time. “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,” she noted, highlighting shifts in perceptions around body standards in the industry.
Having largely stepped back from acting almost a decade ago, McGowan expressed uncertainty about how much the landscape has truly changed for actresses today. “People are like, ‘Do you think Hollywood’s changed?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. 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,’” she stated.
Charmed, which aired for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006, followed the Halliwell sisters, played by Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano, and Holly Marie Combs, as they navigated their powers following the death of their mother. McGowan joined the cast as Paige after Doherty’s character, Prue, departed after the third season.
