Melissa Joan Hart is undeniably one of the standout faces of the ‘90s, with the star getting her breakthrough at 15 years old when she landed the titular role in Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All. She then enjoyed even more success with her subsequent series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Melissa was 20 when she was first cast as the iconic character in 1996, and the show ran until 2003.
At the height of Sabrina’s popularity, Melissa starred in the romantic comedy Drive Me Crazy, which was released in 1999, and the actor — now 49 — has long been open about how the New York premiere for this movie was the “worst day” of her life.
In case you missed it, Melissa posed for men’s magazine Maxim to promote Drive Me Crazy, which did not go down well with her bosses at Nickelodeon. In fact, she said while at the premiere’s after-party, she was told that she was being fired from Sabrina and sued.
In addition, Melissa was also fired from her role in Scary Movie on that day, and had broken up with her boyfriend, too.
Speaking on Pod Meets World back in 2023, Melissa said: “I had been crying all evening. This was one of the… At the time, I thought this was the worst day of my life.”
“I was breaking up with a boy that night because I decided I no longer wanted a relationship with him, so that was a little heartbreaking,” she explained. “I was with my family, we had done so much press, I had been up since 4 a.m.”
“I was supposed to go and shoot the movie Scary Movie in Vancouver, I was supposed to be the opening, vivacious, big-breasted one that’s murdered or something in the beginning,” Melissa went on. “So I was put in a limo, taken away, and I had just broken up with my boyfriend, and I’m crying, and I’m upset. My little brother was [at the premiere], and I remember just being like: ‘I never get to see him,’ and I got to spend, like, 10 minutes with him and had to leave my family.”
“I get a call in the limo,” she added. “They’re like: ‘You’ve been fired from the movie, you can go back to your party,’ because there was a party at Planet Hollywood.”
Things went from bad to worse once she was at the party, with Melissa adding: “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.'”
Thankfully, nothing ended up coming of the Maxim cover drama as the people who wanted to sue her “had no ground to stand on.” She explained: “What happened was the magazine wrote ‘Sabrina, your favorite 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 contract, it said I would never play the character [of Sabrina] naked,” Melissa revealed. “So here 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.”
And Melissa has now opened up some more about that chaotic night — even recalling the outrageous reason why she ended up being fired from Scary Movie.
Appearing on Betches’ Picture Day, Melissa was shown a photo of her posing with Britney Spears at the Drive Me Crazy premiere, and she began: “If you look at my eyes, they’re very bloodshot because this was what I would consider, if you read my book, one of the worst days of my life at the time.”
Discussing losing the Scary Movie role specifically, Melissa added: “I was supposed to be this small part in the beginning, that’s, like, the Drew Barrymore knockoff part, but they decided when I did the fitting that I didn’t have big enough boobs for that part.”
“I’m driving to the airport and back in those days you had the cellphone in the limo, and I got a call, and it was like: ‘Turn around, go back to your premiere. You’ve been fired from the movie,’” she went on. “So, I was already crying and waiting for everyone to finish the movie and come on over. And when they get there, my lawyer meets up with me first and says: ‘Because of your cover of Maxim magazine, you’re being fired from your show.’ “
“So then I really start crying,” Melissa added. “And then my dad comes and hugs me. And I don’t see my dad often, so for him to hug me? I was, like: ‘Oh my God, my dad’s hugging me.’ It was just a dramatic night.”
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