The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alumna Tatyana Ali has recalled her former Jawbreaker co-star Rose McGowan boldly defending her against an on-set bully.
McGowan, 51, led the crime comedy alongside Julie Benz and Rebecca Gayheart as a trio of high school friends, who, after accidentally murdering their friend (Charlotte Ayanna), conspired to hide the truth. Ali, now 46, was around 19 years old when she appeared in the movie as Brenda.
Reflecting on her time working on the cult classic, Ali shared a series of stills from the movie on Instagram.
“These are from Jawbreaker (1999),” she wrote in the caption.
Without naming names, she added: “I was the only one actually in high school when we shot this, and I dealt with a little bullying on set from one actress in particular.
“But one day, she tried it in front of everybody… and @rosemcgowan told her to stfu in front of everybody! I will always love her for that!” Ali said.
“I’d do it again,” McGowan responded in the comments section. “You are that forever combo — dignity, brains and beauty.”
McGowan is known for being an outspoken and passionate activist. She was among the first women to come forward with accusations against disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and accused him of raping her in 1997.
“I’m proud of how far we’ve come. How much we’ve awakened. What we know of ourselves to be true. And what we know of others to be true,” she said last April following Weinstein’s overturned 2020 conviction.
“No matter what they overturn, they cannot take away who we are, what we know, what we’ve gone through and what we can achieve in this life,” McGowan continued. “We are not victims. We are people that were injured by evil. And the evil sticks together, as witnessed and evidenced today, but we are better.”
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She has additionally shared her support for Marilyn Manson’s accusers, which included Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood.
“I stand with Evan Rachel Wood and other brave women who have come forward,” McGowan said on X in 2021. “It takes years to recover from abuse and I send them strength on their journey to recovery. Let the truth be revealed. Let the healing begin.”
The Charmed star, who previously dated and was briefly engaged to the shock rocker from 1997 to 2001, acknowledged that while Manson was “not like that” during their relationship, that had “no bearing on whether he was like that with others before or after.”
McGowan is perhaps best known for her role as Paige Matthews on the eight-season drama Charmed, about a group of sisters who discover they are witches.
Ali, meanwhile, has gone on to star in the 2006 sports drama Glory Road, the sitcom Love that Girl!, and the long-running soap opera The Young and Restless. She has most recently made recurring guest appearances as Crystal in the Emmy-winning mockumentary series Abbott Elementary.
