Melissa Joan Hart was nearly fired from ‘Sabrina’ over racy Maxim photoshoot

Melissa Joan Hart nearly lost one of her most iconic gigs because of a Maxim magazine cover shoot.

The actress, known for beloved '90s sitcoms like "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," pivoted to something a bit more mature when she made the decision to do the racy photo shoot in 1999, not knowing the move would almost violate her "Sabrina" contract.

During an appearance on Betches' podcast "Picture Day," she told the story behind a photo of her with Britney Spears at the premiere for "Drive Me Crazy." 

She pointed out that her eyes were bloodshot in the photo because it was "one of the worst days of my life at the time."

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Hart explained that she'd been crying because she'd left the premiere, where her family was in attendance, to fly to another movie set. While she was en route to the airport, she got a call that she'd been fired from the film. She'd been given a cameo in "Scary Movie," but the powers that be decided she "didn't have big enough boobs for that part."

She was sent back to the "Drive Me Crazy" premiere, where her lawyer approached her and said, "Because of your cover of Maxim magazine, you're being fired from your show."

"So, then I really start crying," she recalled, calling it a "dramatic night."

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Ultimately, Hart was able to keep her job on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." The issue was that, in her original contract, she'd agreed that the Sabrina character would never appear nude or in a way that implied nudity. While she did the Maxim cover to promote "Drive Me Crazy," the magazine referred to her as "Sabrina" on its cover.

Once it was made clear that Hart had no knowledge or control over Maxim using the character's name, the issue was dropped, and she went on to star in the show until it ended in 2003.

In 2023, she told Fox News Digital that, despite the issues the photoshoot caused, she doesn't regret it.

"Everything in retrospect is … in the rearview mirror. Everything looks a little more distant," she explained.

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"At the time, what felt like panic and, you know, my career ending and all these terrible things, worked out to turn into really good press around a movie I had launched.

"It ended up being kind of a bonus in a way."