Why This Photo of Alyssa Milano and Brett Kavanaugh Is Going Viral

It's a throwback to Milano's 'Charmed' days.

Alyssa Milano, Brett Kavanaugh
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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You weren't at Brett Kavanaugh's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, but you better believe Alyssa Milano was a decent stand-in. The actress and activist spent the day shooting daggers at the Supreme Court nominee, trying to film proceedings until a guard literally ordered her to stop, and holding up a booklet reading, "I BELIEVE SURVIVORS." One photo in particular began making the rounds on social media Thursday night, largely thanks to Entertainment Tonight staffer Meredith Kile's comment on Twitter: "I've never wished so hard that Alyssa Milano was a real witch."

Milano, like her fellow #MeToo leader Rose McGowan, famously spent eight years playing a witch in runaway hit Charmed. (And she's not super happy about how the CW's reboot is going, if you were wondering.) A lifelong activist, Milano became one of the faces of the #MeToo movement when she reignited Tamara Burke's decade-old hashtag in light of the accusations against Harvey Weinstein in 2017. She's amped up her political activism in the 18 months since Trump was elected, coming out against Steve Bannon and many of Trump's policies and lending a hand in local Democratic races.

Last week, Milano went public with her experiences of sexual assault in a Vox essay, writing:

Let me be as clear as possible: I believe Christine Blasey Ford, and I demand that our senators vote to reject Brett Kavanaugh as the next justice on the Supreme Court. Every person who refuses to loudly and openly reject Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination is telling every generation of Americans that an alleged abuser’s career is more valuable than a survivor’s humanity. And the highest court in our land is no place for an alleged sexual offender to sit.

On Thursday, Milano attended the hearing as a guest of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and openly glared at Kavanaugh throughout his testimony.

Meredith Kile's observation is spot-on: Milano does look as though she's trying to will Kavanaugh out of the Supreme Court, either by sheer force of mind or...witchcraft. For anyone who grew up watching Milano cast spells and team up with her sisters to defeat evil forces, the latter feels more fitting.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Senate Judiciary Committee could hold a vote to clear Kavanaugh's nomination, setting the stage for a showdown Senate vote, as early as today.

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Jenny Hollander
Jenny Hollander
Digital Director

Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013 and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. Working closely with Marie Claire's exceptional editorial, audience, commercial, and e-commerce teams, Jenny oversees the brand's digital arm, with an emphasis on driving readership. When she isn't editing or knee-deep in Google Analytics, you can find Jenny writing about television, celebrities, her lifelong hate of umbrellas, or (most likely) her dog, Captain. In her spare time, she writes fiction: her first novel, the thriller EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, was published with Minotaur Books (UK) and Little, Brown (US) in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia, which she was diagnosed with when she was nine.