Key Points
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Sabrina the Teenage Witch star Melissa Joan Hart says she rarely called in sick during the show’s seven seasons.
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The actress recalled working on a specific episode with guest star Ed Begley Jr. when she felt awful.
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Hart previously confessed that she vomited between takes of a 1999 episode.
Melissa Joan Hart‘s starring role on ’90s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witchcame with some tough days.
“All right, let’s talk about how many times I was sick on Sabrina,” Hart told her Instagram followers in a video posted Tuesday. “Two or three times that I had the full-on stomach bug, couldn’t stop vomiting. But I was warned by some people, when actresses get sick, if you call out sick, that insurance might not insure you again for another project, and it could cost you your career.”
Hart had been acting for well over a decade by the time she was cast as the star of the sitcom about the titular character with magical powers. Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which costarred Caroline Rhea, Beth Broderick, and Nick Bakay, aired for seven seasons from 1996 to 2003.
Hart recalled one instance when she stayed on set despite feeling awful, during the first season in an episode guest-starring Ed Begley Jr. as her math teacher.
“Don’t even remember what the episode was about,” the actress explained. “I just remember for years, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he must hate me, because I’m like the worst costar.’ I would always put my head down on the desk and pick my head up to say my lines and lay back down for his lines.”
But he definitely wasn’t casting spells on her in his trailer.
“Years later,” Hart said, “I had the opportunity to work with him a few times.”
Hart directed Begley Jr. on TV’s Young Sheldon(he had a recurring role as Dr. Grant Linkletter) and the two costarred in the 2020 Lifetime movie, Dear Christmas. Begley Jr. portrayed her dad, while Jason Priestley was her leading man.
Turns out, he wasn’t mad at all.
“We just became fast friends, immediately,” Hart shared. “And he said he always had such fond memories of the show, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I was so afraid that you hated me.’ But it turns out we’re best buds.”
Hart recalled another time she was sick in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, as she reunited with the cast to honor Sabrina‘s 30th anniversary.
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The actress said she was “puking off camera” between takes while filming the season 3 finale.
“I do remember with this episode in particular on that volcano, I was vomiting my brains out,” she said of the 1999 episode titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Luau.” “And I asked our key grip to stand behind me in case I passed out and fell off because we were out in the sun.”
Watch the full Sabrina the Teenage Witchreunion below.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
