alyssa
milano:
witchy
wonder
The sexy star spills all about the lesson she learned from her heartbreaking divorce, the good girl buried in that oh-so-bad bod, and her superscary plans for the future. By Brad Bardin
If there's one truth about Hollywood, it's that things aren't always as they appear. Take Alyssa Milano, for example. At first glance, she looks every bit the vixen. She sports six sexy tattoos (a sacred heart on her behind, a fairy on her hip, rosary beads on her back, an angel on her left ankle, a garland of flowers around her right ankle, and an on om her wrist) and one of the most awe-inspiring navel piercings around—no simple jewel for this ballsy babe, who opted for a thick-gauge barbell-style stud. She has a man-mesmerizing bod that she's happily bared in flicks such as Embrace of the Vampire and Poison Ivy II and in a controversial ad campaign for Candie's perfume that was so steamy, even The WB—the network that airs her hit show, Charmed—banned it. And then there's her quickie marriage last year to a Los Angeles rock star that ended in divorce 11 months later.
But in real life, Alyssa Milano, who plays good witch Phoebe Halliwell on Charmed, is a lot like her sweet-natured TV alter ego.The 27-year-old actress is a self-confessed workaholic who rises at five in the morning to hit the treadmill before embarking on her gruelling 14-hour day. "I work hard at being healthy," says Alyssa, who recently quit smoking and adheres to the regimented Zone diet, "but it's not really about the way I look." Her idea of getting down and dirty? Spending the day in the rose garden outside her five-bedroom plantation-style Beverly Hills home. If that's not enough to bury her bad-girl rep, check this out: She's so determined to have kids that she vows to adopt a child in the next few years—regardless of whether there's a man in her life.
But make no mistake—the tiny 5-foot-2 actress is no pushover. She's a woman who has the discipline and fortitude to achieve what only a handful of Tinseltown tykes leave accomplished before her: full-on adult stardom.
 Being Her Own Boss
The daughter of Italian-American parents—Lin, a fashion designer and Tom, a film music editor—Alyssa was born in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn and grew up in a modest house on Staten Island. One day, her baby-sitter, who was an aspiring dancer, dragged Alyssa along to an open audition for the first national tour of Annie. But it was Alyssa, not the sitter, who beat out 1,500 other wanna-be stage actresses to snag a role. So at the tender age of 7, with her mother in tow, Alyssa joined the tour as July, one of the orphans.
After 18 months on the road, Alyssa, who had begun to garner a reputation as an energetic and charismatic young actress, left Annie to be featured in off-Broadway productions and television commercials. Then, in 1983, at age 10,she landed her breakthrough role on the new sitcom Who's the Boss? as Tony Danza's saccharine-sweet daughter Samantha Micelli—a kid whose native Brooklyn accent rivaled her TV dad's. In order for Alyssa to accept the gig, the Milano family had to uproot and move 3,000 miles to Hollywood.
In 1992, Who's the Boss? ended its phenomenal eight-year run, and at the ripe age of 19, Alyssa found herself out of a job and unsure if she'd ever work again. "I didn't need to be told that child stars don't make the transition—I couldn't even get a meeting." In an effort to overhaul her innocent image, Alyssa appeared in a nude spread in Bikini magazine. The stunt seemed to have an immediate effect—soon after the magazine hit newsstands, Alyssa was cast to play Amy Fisher, the infamous Long Island Lolita, in Casualties of Love. Since work was still somewhat scarce, in 1994, Alyssa again bared her flesh in the steamy, straight-to-video movie Embrace of the Vampire and later in Poison Ivy II: Lily. "As I've said many times, I'd have loved Winona Ryder's career, says Alyssa, "but this is what I was getting offered, and I wanted to work."
One of the painful by-products of Alyssa's new sex-kitten image, though, was the presence of unauthorized—and often obscenely doctored—nude stills from her films on the Internet, which her then-12-year-old brother, Cory discovered. Alyssa's mom, Lin, was incensed by the trashy images and convinced her daughter to duke it out in the courtroom by filing seven lawsuits against the Web sites that posted the photos. Six of the suits were settled out of court when the sites agreed to remove the pictures, and one resulted in the Milanos receiving a landmark $230,000 payout. Alyssa chose to use this "bad money," as she calls it, to start the Internet company safesearching.com (which Lin now runs), which allows celebrities to place their sites in secure online environments.
The dark cloud hovering over Alyssa's career finally began to lift in 1997, when legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling (Beverly Hills 90210, Love Boat) hired her to play bitchy Jennifer Mancini on Melrose Place for most of two seasons. Spelling called again in l998 when one of the leads in his new TV series Charmed, a show involving three superpowered sisters, withdrew at the last minute. "We were looking for someone with sparkle to play the youngest sister and who would fit in visually and chemically with Shannen [Doherty] and Holly [Marie Combs], says Spelling. "Alyssa was the perfect choice."
Charmed now has the distinction of being the highest-rated debut show of any WB series and is consistently one of the top two programs on the network. The show's popularity helped Alyssa land cushy commercial deals with 1-800-COLLECT and Candie's perfume and set her high atop countless Sexiest Women lists. (Early next year, watch for her cameo in the buzzed-about film Buying the Cow, starring Jerry O'Connell.)
Love and Sex
Though her career is experiencing a lucky spell, a blissful love life has been more elusive. Who doesn't remember her long-term relationship, engagement, and then split with Party of Five's megababe Scott Wolf back in 1994? Alyssa was devastated by that highly publicized breakup, which she says took her two years to get over, during which time she claims she only went on a grand total of six dates. "Guys don't ask me out," insists Alyssa, as she reclines on an overstuffed couch in her cavernous living room. Of course, her ex-husband, Cinjun Tate, front man of the L.A.-based band Remy Zero, was an exception. Within four months of meeting the rock musician at a mutual friend's Hollywood bash, Alyssa was sporting an engagement ring. Six months later, they tied the knot on New Year's Day 1999. (Her Charmed costars were bridesmaids.) Finally, it seemed, Alyssa had it all.
Early in their marriage, Alyssa juggled her work schedule around Cinjun's constant touring. "I really liked being the wife and taking care of him," says the self-described nurturer. "And believe me, he was a handful. But it was totally worth it." At least for the time being. On December 1st of last year, Alyssa filed for divorce, citing irreeoncilable differ-knees. The disintegration of her marriage made Alyssa, whose parents have been marred for 33 years, feel like an abject failure.
"That was the worst part," she says, sounding exasperated. "It was just such a cliche—an actress who marries a musician, then gets divorced 11 months later." Pausing for a moment of reflection, Alyssa adds, "I guess I didn't think it through properly—it should have grown into a friendship and remained that, period. I knew he couldn't give me the stability that I needed, and I knew his creativity needed to flourish without the structure I was trying to impose. I mean, he was always on the road." But despite the pain, Alyssa is grateful she had the experience. "I don't have any regrets, because I learned so much from him about love and about myself. Just because it ended doesn't mean that it wasn't beautiful.
The love-scarred star says her new romance tactic is to "meet and become friends with men first, because now I know that it's such an important thing." Unfortunately, she's finding that this strategy can backfire. After she has bonded platonically with some of her guy friends, it seems it never gets to the good part. "They often tell me they don't want to mess up the friendship with a relationship," she says. So the biggest casualty of her newfound singlehood is her sex Iife. "You know the first month [of not having sex] is like torture for me, because sex is important and I like it a lot," she admits. "But my mind is crazy powerful, and if I just put it out of my brain, I'm okay with it. And anyway, what happens to me when I'm not having sex is pretty fabulous, because I become so motivated to put energy into all the other things that I love."
Potions and Future Plans
One of her beloved pastimes is indulging in holistic practices. "One day I'll go to college and study something that will put me in a position to help people, like Chinese medicine or osteopathy," says Alyssa, who for now will have to settle for the potions she mixes with oils and scents like ylang-ylang and vanilla for her cherished long soaks in the bath. "I'll sit there until I'm pruney and the water's ice-cold."
But more often, Alyssa spends her time doting on other people. Last summer, while filming the miniseries Diamond Hunters in South Africa, she spent much of her downtime in the country's poverty-stricken towns ministering to sick children. Says best friend, actor Alaa Khaled, "She has such an open heart you'd never know she grew up in this business."
But she did. And now she's solidified her position in the fickle industry again and plans to stay for a long, long time.
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