Photoshoot meltdowns, ‘degrading’ firing & ‘pure torture’ with ‘bully’ star… explosive feuds behind Desperate Housewives

IT was one of the most successful TV shows of the Noughties thanks to the catfights and drama that regularly hit the ladies of Wisteria Lane.

But there was just as much fighting happening behind the scenes on Desperate Housewives – which first aired 20 years ago this week.

The award-winning show, which ran from 2004 to 2012, starred Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross and Nicollette Sheridan as five women living on a seemingly perfect street.

And, while it made stars out of them all, it was heavily rumoured during airing – and in the years after – that none of the women got on with the already-famous Teri, who played Susan.

She was the only member of the cast who was already a big name, having starred as Lois Lane in the hit TV series The New Adventures of Superman.

Last year, a former Desperate Housewives writer even revealed it was a “miracle” that the series ever got made because of the chaos and bitter off-screen feuds that tore the cast apart.

Just one season into the show, the cracks were already starting to show between the ladies, as they landed a front cover of Vanity Fair in 2005.

Felicity, Eva, Marcia, Nicollette and Teri were photographed posing together in swimsuits, with a headline reading:  “You Won’t Believe What It Took Just To Get This Photo!” 

The article claimed that a rep for ABC asked the magazine staff to keep Teri in check, which meant not allowing her to select her outfit first or act like she was the “star”.

But, when Teri still managed to have first-pick of the wardrobe, the rest of the cast got upset, and Marcia – who played Bree van De Kamp – even stormed off set.

A rep then received text messages from Eva saying: ‘Everything is not fine.”

As Marcia refused to stand anywhere near Teri, the final shot was Nicollette in the middle of the two bickering women.

After the magazine article came out, ABC network stated: “While negotiating certain elements of photo shoots is standard practice, and was part of our coordination with Vanity Fair, this shoot simply did not go as planned.

“Because of this, our talent were made to deal as best they could with a situation not of their making. 

“This one isolated incident does not define these women or their relationship.”

Lawsuit over shock firing

However, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry later revealed this was definitely not the first time the cast had been arguing.

When everyone’s favourite maneater Edie Britt was electrocuted to death in season five, viewers were shocked and devastated.

And so was the actress Nicollette – who filed a lawsuit against ABC, production studio Touchstone, and Marc, claiming he struck her in the head and then wrote her out of the show after she complained about the altercation. 

Marc insisted the assault was just a “tap to the head” in order to show Nicollette how a scene was meant to be played and claimed he killed off Edie due to the actress’s unprofessionalism.

Nicollette pulled me aside and told me that Teri Hatcher was the meanest woman in the world because of how she was acting

Marc CherryDesperate Housewives creator

He claimed Nicollette had a history of not knowing her lines, noting a time when she only had one scene in an episode and still struggled with the dialogue.

He said: “She only had five or six lines and she had come to the set and didn’t know any of them.

“This wasn’t the only time this had happened.”

Teri and Nicollette’s rows

Marc also said there was a lot of tension between her and Teri and he was even called to set during the first season, when they were shooting a scene together.

He said: “They were furious with each other. 

“Nicollette pulled me aside and told me that Teri Hatcher was the meanest woman in the world because of how she was acting.”

The court case ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked, but there has been multiple appeals since.

The most recent ruling in 2017 was that there was ample evidence Nicollette’s dismissal was a creative decision by Marc.

The following year, speaking of her decision to star in a reboot of Dynasty, Nicollette tellingly told EW: “I really wanted to work with nice people.

“That has been something that has coloured the past 10 years of my life.”

She added: “What happened at the end of Desperate Housewives was degrading and demoralising.

“It sent me under a rock.

“I really grappled with what happened, losing faith in people and really not trusting the business at all. 

“I didn’t know that I wanted anything to do with the business for some time.”

Eva Longoria ‘bullied’

The other Desperate Housewives stars’ relationships with Teri doesn’t seem to have improved over the final three seasons.

When the show wrapped in 2012, the crew members were apparently given a farewell gift of luggage from all the main cast – including Vanessa Williams, who joined the show as Renee Perry after Nicollette left.

But Teri wasn’t mentioned in the card, as it read: “Thank you for a magical eight years. Love, Eva, Marcia, Felicity and Vanessa.”

The off-screen feuding came to light again in 2019 when Felicity, who played Lynette Scavo on the show, was convicted of paying $15,000 to boost her daughter’s university admission score.

I dreaded the days I had to go to work with that person because it was pure torture. Until one day, Felicity [Huffman] told the bully ‘enough’ and it all stopped

Eva Longoria

As she awaited her sentencing, her Desperate Housewives co-star Eva, who played Gabrielle Solis, and Marc were two of 27 people who wrote a letter to the judge defending Felicity’s character.

In Eva’s letter, she revealed she’d been bullied by one of her former cast members throughout her time on the show  – and that it was Felicity who eventually stood up for her pal.

“I dreaded the days I had to go to work with that person because it was pure torture,” Eva wrote. “Until one day, Felicity told the bully ‘enough’ and it all stopped. 

“Felicity could feel that I was riddled with anxiety even though I never complained or mentioned the abuse to anyone.”

She finished: “I know I would not have survived those 10 years if it wasn’t for the friendship of Felicity.”

Meanwhile, Marc also confirmed they had a “problematic” cast member in the show, although didn’t specify whether they were talking about the same person.

He wrote: “She was a big star with some big behavioural problems. Everyone tried their darndest to get along with this woman over the course of the show. 

“It was impossible. And things went from bad to worse.

“At some point during season seven this woman decided she would no longer speak to her fellow cast members.

“Felicity still insisted on saying, ‘Good morning’ to this actress, even though she knew she wouldn’t get a response.”

‘Crew scared of Teri’

Although they never mentioned any names, Nicollette was killed off in season five, suggesting Marc was not talking about her on this occasion.

Former writer Patty Lin also revealed the whole crew were scared of Teri.

In her memoir End Credits: How I Broke Up with Hollywood, she wrote: “Usually, we’d see the cast only at table reads where we’d sit quietly at the back and try not to make eye contact with Teri Hatcher.”

Teri has always denied any feuds with the cast or crew at Desperate Housewives.

In 2013, after she was left off the card for the luggage gift, she told the Daily Mail: “That crew knows I’d have jumped in front of a bus for them at any moment.

“’I was beyond generous throughout those eight years and any crew member will tell you that, so it doesn’t matter what anybody writes.

“I don’t really know who gave or did what. 

“I know what I did and I can look in the mirror at myself in a good way about the people I worked with and how much respect I had for them.”

All seasons of Desperate Housewives are now streaming on Disney+.