Remember when Nicollette Sheridan left Desperate Housewives, and your first reaction was “Who’s Nicollette Sheridan?”
Remember that? And remember that, once someone explained to you who Nicollette Sheridan was, your second reaction was “Wait, Desperate Housewives is still going? That’s weird”? Remember that? And then, once someone explained to you that, yes Desperate Housewives was still going and that, yes, it was quite weird, remember that your next reaction was “So why did Nicollette Sheridan leave Desperate Housewives?”
And now we know. According to a lawsuit filed by Nicollette Sheridan herself, she left because producer Marc Cherry punched her in the face, then fired her when she threatened to complain about it, then said that he wished Teri Hatcher would get fatally wounded in a car accident. So, in short, Nicollette Sheridan left Desperate Housewives because Marc Cherry sounds awesome.
This is Grey’s Anatomy all over again. Back in the days when the Grey’s Anatomy cast could barely go a day without trying to kick someone else’s jaw off, it was pretty clear that what happened backstage was infinitely more interesting than anything that ever happened onscreen. And now the same could be said about Desperate Housewives.
We always had a suspicion that this could be the case. After all, past incidents on the Desperate Housewives set have included unrequested streaking and accidental rib-smashing – plus don’t forget that the average episode of Desperate Housewives is about as interesting as a 12-hour seminar on soil particles. But now it seems like that rule has been set in stone, thanks to former desperate housewife Nicollette Sheridan.
She may have left Desperate Housewives over a year ago, but Nicollette Sheridan is finally ready to reveal the truth. The hilarious truth. And she’s decided to reveal it in the most hilarious way possible – via a $20 million assault and battery, gender violence and wrongful termination lawsuit against Desperate Housewives producer and creator Marc Cherry. According to People, Sheridan claims that she was written out of the show because Cherry hit her in the face in 2008:
“When Sheridan questioned Cherry about something that was in the script, Cherry took her aside and forcefully hit her with his hand across her face and head,” the lawsuit says. A humiliated Sheridan yelled back, “You just hit me in the head. That is not okay. THAT IS NOT OKAY!” according to the lawsuit… She was informed in February 2009 that her character was being written off the show.
Sheridan also claims that this was unfair, since female characters generally don’t get written out of the show. Best of all, though, were the peripheral details of Marc Cherry’s alleged rattiness. At one point Sheridan claims that he said “I hope Teri Hatcher gets hit by a car and dies” which, if true, does seem unnecessarily cruel. Because, you know, while most people have at one point or another wished that Teri Hatcher got hit by a car and sustained painful but temporary injuries, wishing her actual death does seem to be overstepping the line a little bit.
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