Rose McGowan shares 'regrets' over Shannen Doherty friendship

Rose McGowan has shared her regrets over the fact she was "pitted against" late actress Shannen Doherty.

The 50-year-old actress and activist was cast in season four of the hit TV show Charmed in 2001, filling the void of Shannen's character which was killed off at the end of season three.

And while Rose and Shannen didn't work on the series together, the Scream star admits they were pitted against each other.

On Friday's episode of the Let's Be Clear With Shannen Doherty podcast - the podcast that is being continued by the actress's friends and family following her death last month at the age of 53 - Rose said, "If I have any regrets, I wish I could have gotten to know her sooner. I don't know how it would have happened, but I wish we could have."

She revealed, "We were really pitted against each other. I was just told she was fired (from Charmed) and nobody talked about her."

The star went on to explain she was encouraged to bad mouth her predecessor, but refused.

She said, "I refused to take the bait. They wanted me to start a war with her, and I was like, 'Absolutely not. I will not start a war with her.' And to her credit, she absolutely did not do that either."

Rose said being able to reconnect with Shannen during the final year and a half of her life, when she battled breast cancer, was, "an amazing gift."

She said, "The biggest misconception about her was that she was hard. But at the same time, it was the truth, but it's not who she was natively. And I would say that was the biggest misconception about me as well. We both just like to laugh. Soft, underneath it all."