Melissa Joan Hart was nearly 'sued and fired' for Maxim photoshoot during her stint on Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Melissa Joan Hart, known for the hit 90's television film Sabrina the Teenage Witch, has recently made some shocking revelations regarding a racy photoshoot that almost got her fired from the project. The film aired on Showtime on April 7, 1996, before the television series that started airing on September 27, 1996, on ABC.

Joan Hart was approached for a photoshoot for the cover of the Maxim Magazine. Shooting in her bare minimum invited a negative reaction from casting directors and ongoing projects, as she was almost fired from her acting gigs.

In a recent episode with Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, and Will Friedle of Pod Meets World, Hart opened up on the horrific episode saying:

"While I'm at the party, my lawyer shows up and goes, 'You did a photo shoot 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 talk to the press, don't do anything.'"

Melissa Joan Hart played Sabrina Sawyer in the titular television film and reprised her role as Sabrina Spellman in the television series from 1996 to 2003.

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Melissa Joan Hart opens up on the scramble between her career and the Maxim Magazine photoshoot

Pod Meets World on Apple Podcasts had invited Melissa Joan Hart on their Melissa Joan Hart Meets World episode that was recorded on June 14, 2023. The description of the episode on the official website reads:

"Melissa Joan Hart explains it all on a brand new episode! How did her mom pay $1 for the rights to Sabrina? Which PMW host did she briefly date as a teenager? What’s going on in that infamous movie premiere photo with Britney Spears? And what will she be working on with Will in the not-so-distant future? Plus, time travel to the back of a limo with Melissa, Danielle and *NSYNC during the early ‘00s. It’s time to sit down with a real witch on the newest Pod Meets World."

Now, when it comes to the infamous movie premiere photo with Britney Spears, Melissa Joan Hart took a stroll down memory lane to recount the horrors.

She was about to be on her way to an after-party for the premiere of Drive Me Crazy (1999) when she was told that she had been dropped from her upcoming project Scary Movie.

"I was put in a limo, and I was taken away… I had just broken up with my boyfriend while we were in the movie… I'm crying and I'm upset."

Hart's mother had called her, enraged, questioning her, to which she allegedly answered:

"I was like, 'I don't know, whatever my publicist told me to do at the photo shoot.' I did a photo shoot for Maxim! It's Maxim, of course. You're going to be in your underwear."

Joan Hart told the Boy Meets World cast and hosts of Pod Meets World that she was informed that she had allegedly breached her contract by doing the photoshoot for the October 1999 issue as the legal intricacies involved her never playing the role of Sabrina naked. She points out:

"If you look at my eyes, I'd been crying all evening."

Melissa Joan Hart appeared on the Maxim with a headline that read:

"Sabrina, your favorite witch without a stitch."

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Hart was eventually made to formally apologize to the Archie Comics company following which she went on to reprise her role as Sabrina in the following seasons.