The story behind a famous photo Hart took with Britney Spears in which her smile, she now says, was entirely forced.

Why Melissa Joan Hart was left crying at Drive Me Crazy premiere: ‘One of the worst days of my life’

The story behind a famous photo Hart took with Britney Spears in which her smile, she now says, was entirely forced.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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December 31, 2025 4:00 p.m. ET

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Melissa Joan Hart at the premiere of her movie 'Drive Me Crazy'. Credit:

Charles Sykes/Shutterstock

What should have been a crowning moment turned out to be one of the worst of Melissa Joan Hart's life.

The *Sabrina the Teenage Witch *star and millennial icon recently reflected on the highs and lows of her career — and one moment that encapsulated them both.

"Aw! Me and [Britney Spears]! This is at the premiere of *Drive Me Crazy *in New York," Hart recalled, while musing over a photo of herself with the legendary pop star, in which Spears is all smiles, yet Hart seems to strain to appear pleased.

Britney Spears and Melissa Joan Hart at the premiere of 'Drive Me Crazy'.

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

"If you look at my eyes, they're very bloodshot because this was what I would consider, if you read my book, one of the worst days of my life at the time," she revealed.**

The 1999 romantic comedy costarred Hart and Adrian Grenier, and took its title from the song of the same name by Spears, released earlier that year.

"We did the press together, and then we went inside to watch the movie, but I was actually flying to Vancouver to shoot the movie *Scary Movie*," she explained. "I was supposed to be the small part in the beginning, that's like the Drew Barrymore knockoff part."

The first *Scary Movie *film parodied a panoply of recent horror releases, including *The Blair Witch Project*, *I Know What You Did Last Summer*, and *Scream*, which famously opens with the shocking murder of Barrymore's Casey Becker.

The satiric version of Casey was meant to be played by Hart, but the role eventually went to Carmen Electra.

"They decided when I did the fitting that I didn't have big enough boobs," Hart explained.****

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"I'm driving to the airport, and back in those days, you had the cell phone in the limo, and I got a call, and it was like, 'Turn around, go back to your premiere. You've been fired from the movie.' And I was like, all right, at least I get to hang out there," Hart reasoned.

The teen star had "just been crying" in anticipation of parting from her family, so when she returned to the *Drive Me Crazy *premiere, "my lawyer meets up with me first and says, 'Because of your cover of *Maxim *magazine, you're being fired from your show.'"

Hart could not believe she was about to lose out on the role that had made her a global star: the title role in the WB supernatural sitcom *Sabrina the Teenage Witch*. In fact, the *Maxim* scare proved to be just that, and she continued on with *Sabrina *for another four years.

But believing then it was all over, "I really start crying, and then my dad comes and hugs me. I don't see my dad often, so for him to hug me? I was like, 'Oh my God, my dad's hugging me.' It was just a dramatic night."******

Melissa Joan Hart in 'Drive Me Crazy' (1999).

20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

*Sabrina *went on as planned and *Drive Me Crazy *grossed nearly triple its budget. The end of the millennium was not unkind to Hart.

But she never made it into the *Scary Movie *franchise, which helped make stars out of Anna Faris, Regina Hall, and more.

In August, Faris and Hall revealed they signed on to return to the franchise, which has been dormant since 2013's *Scary Movie 5*. *Scary Movie 6 *will also see the return of original co-writer and star, Marlon Wayans, who teased to * *in September that the latest sequel will be "no holds barred" and aim to "make everybody laugh."**

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