Holly Marie Combs has revealed she is quitting acting after becoming dissatisfied with the roles she was being offered.
The 52-year-old Charmed star said on Tuesday’s episode of her podcast that she had “retired” from show business House of Halliwell.
Combs admitted that the roles she fancied simply weren’t as compelling as they once were, but she also became less interested in appearing in front of the camera again after moving to Washington state to focus on raising her three sons: Finley, 22; Riley, 19; and Kelly, 17.
“The things that I got and came across on my desk were just nothing that made me think, ‘Oh my god, this is really amazing.’ I have to do this,” Combs said.
“And because you know you’re in that 40 to 50 range, the job pool gets even smaller and smaller. And I feel like the roles are becoming a little less interesting,” she added.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Combs’ reps but has not heard back.
Former Charmed star Holly Marie Combs (center) revealed Tuesday that she has “retired” from Hollywood after moving to Washington state and focusing on raising her three sons (pictured)
Combs, who starred in Charmed from 1998 to 2006 with Alyssa Milano (L), Shannen Doherty (middle) and Rose McGowan (not pictured), said she was dissatisfied with the kind of roles she was now being offered; Milano, Doherty and Combs are pictured in a still from Charmed
While speaking out about the lack of roles available for women her age, Combs joked that none of the roles she was offered “blow up my skirt.”
However, she made it clear that there were still more opportunities for women in her age group than years earlier.
Although Combs has appeared on multiple podcasts in recent years, her last on-screen role was a 2019 guest appearance on Grey’s Anatomy.
Before that, she starred in Pretty Little Liars as Ella Montgomery from 2010 to 2017.
Combs, who shares her three sons with her ex-husband, David Donoho, further explained that the shift in her career accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
“There was a lot of family. During COVID, we had three teenagers. Well, it was three teenagers and a preteen in the house, and it was just chaos and mayhem,” she clarified.
The Pretty Little Liars actress – who tied the knot with her now husband Mike Ryan in 2019 – admitted that she sometimes longs for the days when she was acting regularly.
“I miss it sometimes,” she said. “Because, like you said, there are those moments where you’re involved and you’re acting and you’re working, and I think it’s like being present.
“The things that I got and came across on my desk were just nothing that made me think, ‘Oh my god, this is really amazing.’ I have to do this,” Combs shared, adding that the roles were less interesting for women in their 40s and 50s; pictured in 2016 in LA
But Combs admitted she missed the “escapism” of acting. “We can escape into this other character with a different set of situations than our own lives,” she said; pictured with McGown (L) and Doherty (center) in 2024 in Orlando, Florida
‘That’s what escapism is. And we can escape into this other character with a different set of situations than our own lives,” Combs continued. “And there’s something about being in that moment that’s very peaceful, even if you’re doing something very dramatic.”
However, Combs said she was still happy with her decision to step back from Hollywood, and that she was busy raising her children and running her “15 other businesses.”
Her podcast, House Of Halliwell, a Charmed rewatch series she launched in 2022, also kept her busy and in touch with her most popular show.
Combs made it sound like she wouldn’t consider dedicating herself to acting again until her youngest son, Kelley, graduates high school, at which point she will “have a lot more time.” [her] hands.’
However, the wait does not have to be particularly long, as her son is already 17.
Combs is best known for starring in the CW fantasy series Charmed from 1998 to 2006.
She co-starred with Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano as a trio of magically gifted sisters forced to battle evil forces while trying to continue their normal lives in San Francisco.
Combs’ close friend Shannen Doherty left the series after the third season, and Rose McGowan joined Charmed for the five remaining seasons as a long-lost younger half-sister.
However, Combs said she was still happy with her decision to step back from Hollywood, and that she was busy raising her children and running her “15 other businesses,” as well as hosting her Charmed rewatch podcast; pictured with McGowan and Milano on Charmed
Combs became emotional as she paid tribute to her late friend and costar Doherty, shortly after her death in July 2024 after a long battle with breast cancer; Doherty is pictured in 2019
Combs later took on a behind-the-scenes creative role when she became a producer starting in season five.
After Doherty died in 2024 after a long battle with breast cancer, Combs paid a tearful tribute to her on her House Of Halliwell podcast, shortly after Doherty joined her as a guest.
“I’ve had some time to think about that and how everything went down,” Combs said. “I think she did everything she could in the time she had, but we thought we had more time.”
She added tearfully, “And that’s the saddest part: we had big, big plans for this year. And she didn’t think she was going anywhere anytime soon.”
