Sabrina the Teenage Witch star’s selfie triggers fan frenzy


Melissa Joan Hart had audiences well and truly under her spell in the ’90s.

The actress rose to fame with her roles in the sitcoms Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

But now the star has shocked fans with her recent transformation.

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Melissa Joan Hart transformed for her new role in a true crime show. (Instagram)

The star uploaded a selfie to her Instagram account looking very disheveled, her hair frizzy and wild and her mascara smeared.

“Felt cute… might delete later! #workmood this #truecrime Monday!” she said, also tagging The Bad Guardian and Lifetime TV, hinting that the new look may be for a project.

“Why u look sooooooo CRAAAAZY CUZ????” asked one fan, to which the actress replied: “you should see what they are doing to me in this movie. Ha.”

Another added: “This is me after too many glasses of wine (2 – I’m getting old) the night before. ??? But you look much cuter!”

“They better not have you playing a grandma again that about took me out,” another fan said.

The fan was referring to her surprise role in the recent Lifetime film, Would You Kill For Me? The Mary Bailey Story.

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Melissa Joan Hart in Would You Kill For Me?
Melissa Joan Hart plays a grandmother in Would You Kill For Me? (Lifetime)

The 47-year-old actress, who is also an executive producer on the film, has fans stunned over her portrayal as an on-screen grandmother – yes you read that right.

Hart stars as Ella, the oldest generation of the Bailey women in the Lifetime production.

To get into character, the actress has pinned back her hair and aged up her wardrobe. But her recent role has sent social media into a tailspin after a clip from the film has been circulating online.

“I just saw a clip of Melissa Joan Hart playing a grandmother,” one person wrote on “Someone hold me I am unwell.”

“Did they just call #MelissaJoanHart GRANDMA?!” another person wrote alongside the popular internet gif of Jennifer Lawrence crying ‘what do you mean?’.

“Seeing Melissa Joan Hart play a grandmother just hurt my soul why do I feel so old,” a third wrote.

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Melissa Joan Hart in new Lifetime movie
Fans can’t wrap their heads around the 47-year-old star playing a grandmother. (Lifetime)

Fans couldn’t believe the 47-year-old could be playing a grandmother now after growing up with Hart on our screens since the Sabrina days.

Hart first made her splash into television at the age of four, when she appeared in a bathtub toy commercial.

Her mother Paula became her manager, or ‘mumager’, as Hart continued to book television commercials.

The mother-daughter pair later opened their own Film and Television Production Company, Heartbreak Films, in 1993.

Hart guest-starred in shows such as Kane & Abel and The Equalizer before trying her luck in theater as an understudy on the 1989 Broadway production of The Crucible,

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Melissa Joan Hart, pictured during her Sabrina years, started her career in television commercials.

Clarissa Explains It All

Before we knew her as Sabrina, Hart starred as teen Clarissa Darling on Clarissa Explains It All,

The Nickelodeon sitcom first aired in 1991 and had a five-season run on the network.

You might remember the character had a pet alligator named Elvis, but what you might not know is that Hart almost missed out on this breakout role altogether.

Creator Mitchell Kriegman revealed to Paley Matters in 2017 that Hart “was not really Clarissa” in his mind until he later saw her on screen.

The sitcom was a smash hit and quickly became known for its fourth-wall breaks and Clarissa’s quirky bedroom, envied by teens across the world.

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Melissa Joan Hart in Clarissa Explains It All.
Hart as Clarissa Darling. (Nickelodeon)

But it was Hart’s wardrobe on the show that made her a ’90s style icon.

Hart confessed to Elle in a 2014 interview that she actually kept all her outfits from the sitcom.

“I have them in my theater closet in my basement,” she said.

Fans of the show might find it funny to know there was one color Clarissa was deliberately never allowed to wear (for no apparent reason): purple.

There were talks of Hart reprising her role in a Clarissa Explains It All reboot, but as of 2019, the actress confirmed to US Weekly that any plans to see Clarissa Darling on screen again had been put on hold.

Never say never, though!

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Clarissa’s outfits were the envy of ’90s kids. (Nickelodeon)

Sabrina The Teenage Witch

Caroline Rhea, Melissa Joan Hart and Beth Broderick in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 1998.
Hart with her on-screen “aunties” Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 1998. (Disney General Entertainment Con)

In 1996, Hart picked up her wand and rode her broom all the way onto our screens as she transformed into Archie Comics’ beloved teen witch, Sabrina Spellman.

Hart played the role of Sabrina for three movies and seven seasons of the TV series before it wrapped in 2003.

Her spellbinding portrayal in Sabrina the Teenage Witch secured Hart’s status as America’s sweetheart of the ’90s.

During a recent appearance on the Hey Dude…The 90s Called! PodcastHart revealed that while filming the first Sabrina film in 1996, she had a fling with her co-star Ryan Reynolds.

The Sabrina The set was so iconic, Hart couldn’t resist taking some mementos with her.

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Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Melissa Joan Hart has kept some props from the Sabrina set in her home. (Paramount Pictures)

In a 2019 interview with Architectural DigestHart said she still had some of the props she took from set displayed around her home, including an umbrella holder and a sign that says ‘Witches Brew’.

Much like her character, Hart is besties with Soleil Moon Frye, who played Sabrina’s college roommate Roxie King. The pair were even roommates in New York one year over the summer hiatus of the show.

The show not only came to an end in 2003, but it also apparently brought about the end of another beloved show, Boy Meets World,

In a podcast appearance, actor Will Friedle jokingly blamed Hart for the downfall of his show after Sabrina the Teenage Witch jumped ship to a different network.

Watch the video above.

“We were going to go to an eighth season if Sabrina was picked up and Sabrina was picked up, but then they jumped ship and went to another network,” Friedle, 47, explained on a recent episode of the Brotherly Love podcast.

“TGIF essentially fizzled out because Sabrina left so they canceled Boys, So if Sabrina would have stayed…It’s usually Melissa’s fault.”

scarlett johansson

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Matthew Lawrence, another cast member of Boy Meets Worldburst out laughing at the accusation before adding, “It’s always Melissa’s fault!”

Joey Lawrence, another one of Hart’s costars from Melissa and Joeyjoined in by saying, “She’s like Canada” before singing, “Blame Melissa, blame Melissa.”

The clip came to Hart’s attention, with the actress posting it to her own Instagram page.

“I’ve been trying to caption this all week,” she wrote along with the clip. “Any suggestions?” she asked, tagging all the actors.

Joey responded in the comments jokingly, ”Yep! When in doubt just blame you Melly!! ???❤”

Drive Me Crazy

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Melissa Joan Hart in Britney Spears' music video Crazy.
A film role that came with a starring cameo in a Britney Spears video. (YouTube)

At the same time she was capturing hearts as Sabrina, Hart landed the role of Nicole in the 1999 teen drama Drive Me Crazy,

Hart told US Magazine she would shoot nights on the weekend for the film before going straight back to playing Sabrina come Monday morning.

It seems romance was in the air on set as Hart began dating her on-screen love interest, actor Gabriel Carpenter, about halfway through production.

If you’re a Britney Spears fan, the film name might have rung some bells. Well, it’s no coincidence – the title Drive Me Crazy was in fact inspired by the Britney hit, (You Drive Me) Crazy,

Hart and her co-star Adrian Grenier even starred in the 1999 music video for the song.

Life after Sabrina

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Melissa Joan Hart with husband Mark Wilkerson (Getty)

The same year Hart gave up her wand and said goodbye to playing Sabrina, she tied the knot with American musician Mark Wilkerson in 2003.

Avid Sabrina fans could even watch the ceremony, which aired as a miniseries on ABC Family titled Tying the Knot,

After working on sitcoms for over a decade, the actress tried her hand at directing on her first short film, Mutein 2005.

She still took on the occasional acting role, appearing in Law & Order, She also starred in the ABC films Holiday in Handcuffs and My Fake Fiance,

In her personal life, Hart welcomed her first child with Wilkerson in 2006 and even ventured into the business world with her candy shop ‘Sweetharts Sweets’.

In 2009, Hart put on her dancing shoes and joined the Dancing with the Stars Ninth season lineup, placing ninth overall.

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The experience was apparently not so enjoyable, however, as Hart said on her podcast. Where Women Binge last year that she “hated” being on the show.

Melissa and Joey

Hart and Joey Lawrence in Melissa and Joey. (imdb)

In 2010, Hart reunited with her My Fake Fiance co-star Joey Lawrence on the sitcom Melissa and Joey,

The on-screen duo had such good chemistry on their first film that Hart revealed to Entertainment Weekly they both really “wanted to spin-off and do something in television” together again.

The series aired on ABC Family for four seasons before being canceled in 2015.

Stepping behind the camera

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Melissa Joan Hart and her son
Melissa Joan Hart and her son (Instagram)

since Melissa and Joey wrapped, Hart has jumped behind the camera to focus more on directing, working on titles such as The Watcher in the Woods, goldbergs and an episode of Young Sheldon,

She still makes the occasional appearance on screen, playing Liz in the Netflix series No Good Nick,

Hart starred in the 2022 film Dirty Little Secretbased on the true story and the book written by CJ Omolulu.

While it doesn’t look like we’re getting a Sabrina reboot starring Hart anytime soon, the actress passed over her wand to the new Sabrina Spellman, actress Kiernan Shipka, who starred in the 2018 Netflix series, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,

In a promotional video for Netflix, Hart extended her “best witches” to Shipka and while she admitted to E! News the show doesn’t really appeal to her, she “love(s) the fact that the character still lives on”.

The 47-year-old is still married to Mark Wilkerson. The couple live with their now three children at their Lake Tahoe home.

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