Melissa Joan Hart Says Her Maxim Photoshoot Almost Got Her Sued And Fired From SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH

Melissa Joan Hart she is known for her girl next door roles on TV, starting with the Nickelodeon series Clarissa explains everythingpassing to Sabrina the teenage witch, and has since landed on a few other projects that have kept her on TV. But she was almost all into it after a photo shoot landed her in hot water while she was doing Sabrina the teenage witch.

During a recent interview on Boy meets world watch podcast Pod Meets World, hosts Danielle Fishel, Will FriedleAND Strong Knight he was referring to a photo of Hart posing with Britney Spears at the 1999 teen romantic comedy premiere Drives me crazyand Hart explained that she wasn’t as smiley as she appeared, saying, “If you look me in the eyes, I would have cried all evening.”

Hart went on to explain everything that was happening to her at the time (via EW):

“I was leaving a guy that night because I decided I didn’t want to be in a relationship with him anymore,” she recalled. She added that she had been “up since 4 a.m.” doing the press, and when she finally made it to the premiere, she wasn’t allowed to leave the car until Spears appeared.

“I had to wait on the red carpet. They wanted me to wait in the car for about an hour before Britney showed up so we could take pictures together. And I was like, ‘Can I go and start doing the press?’ But no, ‘You have to wait for Britney.'”

Once the photos were taken and the film started, Hart was “carried away in a limousine” because she was supposed to shoot the horror spoof. Scary movie in Vancouver.

“I was supposed to be the first, perky, big-breasted guy who got killed or something in the beginning. And I was put in a limo, and they took me away, and I had just broken up with my boyfriend while we were in the movie, and I’m crying and I’m upset.”

But before Hart got to the airport, she got a call that she was being dropped off Scary movie and you should go to a Planet Hollywood after-party instead. That’s when the night got really bad.

“While I was at the party, my lawyer showed up and said, ‘Did you do a photo shoot for Maxim magazine?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, I did.’ They say, ‘Well, you’ve been sued and fired from your show, so don’t talk to the press, don’t do anything.’ So I get a cell phone call from my mother, my producer, saying, what did you do?, and I was like, ‘I don’t know, whatever my publicist told me to do during the photo shoot.’ did a photoshoot for Maxim! It’s Maxim, of course you’ll be in your underwear.”

Hart said her near-firing was spurred by Maxim’s cover line, which read, “Sabrina, your favorite witch without a point.” She was accused of violating her contract with Archie Comics, according to which she “would never play her naked character”. But Hart said they “had no basis to lean on,” and after writing an apology letter, she was safe.

However, that solution was weeks away, and at that moment Hart assumed the worst. After Drives me crazy at the premiere, she mourned her sitcom seemingly lost in her father’s arms.

“He comes up to me and says, ‘Are you okay?’ I said, ‘No.’ And he hugs me, and I cry even harder because my dad hugs me, I got fired from my show, I just got fired from the movie, and I just broke up with my boyfriend.”

There was at least one silver lining to her dreadful day, according to Hart: The buzz surrounding her photoshoot increased interest in Drives me crazy. It’s a pretty absurd story that simply wouldn’t have happened today. At least she was able to return to her job and her career was not affected by the future.