Holly Marie Combs has revealed that she has retired from acting after decades in Hollywood, explaining that family life and a lack of interesting roles changed how she viewed her career.
The Charmed star opened up about the decision on the August 25 episode of her rewatch podcast, The House of Halliwell.
She has not appeared on screen since 2019, but Combs said she still misses certain parts of acting.
Highlights
- Holly Marie Combs has confirmed her retirement from acting.
- The Charmed star said Hollywood’s shrinking role pool for women in their 40s and 50s made returning to work less appealing.
- Combs admitted she still misses acting and may reconsider retirement once her youngest son graduates high school.
"She'll always be Piper Halliwell to me,” said one commenter.
Holly Marie Combs revealed the reason why she retired from the industry
Combs explained that no single thing caused her decision.
Her family became a much bigger priority, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she had several children at home.
"It was a lot of family," she said. "During COVID, we had three teenagers. Well, it was three teenagers and a preteen in the house, and it was just mayhem and chaos."
Combs shares three sons, Finley, Riley, and Kelley, with her ex-husband, David Donoho.
Her two younger sons are still in high school, so she has chosen to be present for them rather than return to the demanding schedule that comes with acting.
But family was only part of the reason she stepped away.
Apart from family, Combs shared that the acting jobs coming her way were not giving her a reason to return
"The stuff that I was getting and coming across my desk was just nothing that I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is really great. I need to do this,'" she said.
Combs said the situation became harder as she got older.
"And being in, you know, that 40 to 50 range, the job pool gets even smaller and smaller. And I feel like the roles get a little less interesting."
Combs added that Hollywood is “not as bad with the ageism as it used to be,” but she still felt the roles available to her weren't worth putting her family life aside for.
She joked that none of them were “blowing up my skirt.”
The actress has also had friends try to convince her to return. During the podcast, guest Scout Taylor-Compton said she would only try to pull Combs out of retirement for something truly special.
"There’s something that I’m working hard on right now, but I would only pull you out of retirement if it was, like, 'This is going to be epic and worth it,'" Taylor-Compton said.
Despite retiring, Combs admitted that she sometimes misses being on a set
Even though Combs is happy with her decision, she said she misses being on a set.
"I miss it occasionally," she said.
For her, acting was more than having a job. She liked the feeling of becoming someone else and being completely focused on the scene.
"Because, as you said, there are those moments when you’re involved, and you’re acting, and you’re working that are just, I think it’s like being present," she explained.
She described acting as a form of escapism.
"That’s what escapism is," Combs said. "And we get to escape into this different character with a different set of situations than our own life."
She added that there was something peaceful about being completely inside a character, even when the scene itself was dramatic.
Furthermore, in the interview, she added that she has not completely closed the door on Hollywood.
Her youngest son, Kelley, is still in high school, and the actress said she might reconsider acting once he graduates.
"My two youngest are still in high school, [and] I think once Kelley has graduated successfully, I might consider it," she said.
She joked that she will have much more free time once he leaves home. "I’ll be sitting around with a lot more time on my hands," she said.
Outside acting, Combs has plenty of things that are keeping her busy
Combs is based in Washington state with her husband, Mike Ryan, and her children. She also has several business interests alongside her work on The House of Halliwell.
Her podcast cohost Drew Fuller joked that she is running “15 businesses.”
One of those businesses is a barbecue restaurant.
Her first major television role came in Picket Fences, the CBS drama that ran from 1992 to 1996. She played Kimberley Brock and quickly became a familiar face on television.
But her biggest role came when she joined Charmed in 1998. She played Piper Halliwell, one of three sisters who discover that they are powerful witches.
Charmed became a major hit and ran for eight seasons until 2006.
Combs became even more important to the series after Shannen Doherty left following the third season. Piper went from being the middle sister to the eldest, making Combs one of the show's central stars for its remaining seasons.
She also became a producer on the series during season 5.
After Charmed ended, Combs joined Pretty Little Liars as Ella Montgomery. Her final acting credit came in 2019, when she appeared as Heidi Peterson in Grey’s Anatomy.