Melissa Joan Hart Says She Was Almost Fired From ‘Sabrina’ After Racy Maxim Photo Shoot

variety.com:

Ethan Shanfeld Melissa Joan Hart revealed that she was almost fired from “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” because of a racy photo shoot with Maxim magazine in 1999, in which Hart posed in her underwear.

As a guest on “Pod Meets World,” a “Boy Meets World” rewatch podcast, Hart said she found out she was “being sued and fired” from “Sabrina” while at a Hollywood party during the “worst day of my life.” “While I’m at the party, my lawyer shows up and goes, ‘You did a photo shoot for Maxim magazine?'” Hart said (via EW). “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.'” Hart continued, “So I get a phone call on my cell phone from my mother, my producer, who was like, ‘What did you do?’ And 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 gonna be in your underwear.” But what caused a bigger issue than the suggestive photos was Maxim’s cover line, which read: “Sabrina, your favorite witch without a stitch.” Apparently the actor was accused of breaching her contract with Archie Comics, a producer on the series, as Hart agreed to “never play the character naked.” Hart remembers crying in her father’s arms after receiving the news from her lawyer. “He comes up to me and goes, ‘You okay?’ I was like, ‘No,'” Hart said.