"If I have any regrets, I wish I could have gotten to know her sooner," McGowan, 50, said on the Friday, August 23, episode of the "Let's Be Clear With Shannen Doherty" podcast. (Doherty's mother and inner circle are continuing the podcast in Doherty's honor.)
"I don't know how it would have happened, but I wish we could have," McGowan said.
McGowan referred to the late actress as "the bravest, bravest champion" she's known. "We were really pitted against each other," McGowan, who joined Charmed after Doherty's dramatic exit, continued. "I was just told she was fired and nobody talked about her."
Charmed, which ran from 1998 to 2006, originally starred Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano as witches (and sisters) who were trying to protect the world from evil. After three seasons on the series as Prue, Doherty's departure was announced. McGowan joined the series as half-sister Paige during season 4.
Doherty has been outspoken in the past about how she thought Milano, 51, was involved in her firing. Milano has denied having the power to have Doherty removed from production. Looking back at the drama, McGowan stood by her decision to never speak ill of Doherty once she joined the Charmed cast in her place.
"I refused to take the bait. They wanted me to start a war with her, and I was like, 'Absolutely not. I will not start a war with her,'" she added on Friday. "And to her credit, she absolutely did not do that either."
McGowan was grateful for the opportunity to truly connect with Doherty toward the end of her life, saying, "What a gift to be able to spend the last year and a half with her, really, really amazing gift."
She continued: "The biggest misconception about her was that she was hard. But at the same time, it was the truth, but it's not who she was natively. And I would say that was the biggest misconception about me as well. We both just like to laugh. Soft, underneath it all."
Doherty revealed her cancer diagnosis in 2015, and after two years of chemotherapy, she was in remission. The cancer returned in 2020 as stage IV breast cancer. In November 2023, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum confirmed that the cancer has spread to her bones.
"I don't want to die," she told People that same month. "I'm not done with living. I'm not done with loving. I'm not done with creating. I'm not done with hopefully changing things for the better."
Us Weekly confirmed in July that Doherty died at the age of 53. McGowan reacted to the news by writing in an Instagram comment, "I can't stop crying. A world without Shannen Doherty is inconceivable."