Why The Desperate Housewives Cast Couldn't Stand Teri Hatcher

Desperate Housewives blessed fans with eight drama-filled seasons, on-screen and off. Right from the jump, there were rumblings about the animosity between Teri Hatcher and her fellow castmates, which has been referenced many times throughout the show's run and even years after it ended. The tension between Hatcher and the rest of the cast was highlighted in a 2005 Vanity Fair article, which included a disastrous photo shoot and the coverline, "You wouldn't believe what it took just to get this photo."

Apparently, an ABC employee told the photo crew, "Whatever you do, do not let Teri go to wardrobe first," since she usually got the best clothes. However, she was the first to show up for the shoot and she reached out to the wardrobe stylist days prior to discuss her clothing options. The same employee told the Vanity Fair staff, "This is a problem. I'm getting text messages from Eva [Longoria]. Everything is not fine."

According to the article, Marcia Cross stormed off when she caught a glimpse at Hatcher's bathing suit, telling the ABC employee, "Get your f**king *ss over here now, and do your f**king job!" In addition to the wardrobe-induced issues, there was competition over who would be in the middle of the photo. Nicollette Sheridan nabbed that center spot, but Cross and Felicity Huffman could not be seen unless the magazine cover was unfolded. The cast never did a magazine shoot together after that, but the behind-the-scenes drama continued for a while.

In March 2012, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry claimed, "There was a problem going on between Nicollette Sheridan and Teri Hatcher," alleging that Sheridan "told [him] that Teri Hatcher was the meanest woman in the world because of how she was acting." In May 2012, Eva Longoria described Hatcher as "a loner." She elaborated, "Me and Marcia [Cross] and Felicity [Huffman] were a lot closer because we are just girlie girls who like to be in each other's company. Teri didn't." Longoria said, "There was no bad blood, I think that was just the way it was."

However, that wasn't the only time Longoria emphasized how much closer she was with her other co-stars than with Hatcher. Daily Mail reported that Longoria said, "'[Huffman] and I live down the street from each other. When [ex-husband] Tony [Parker] is in town, Marcia and I get together with our husbands – those two are big basketball fans. And Nicollette and I go shopping all the time."

During an April 2018 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Longoria dished on getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, sharing, "Felicity and Marcia are going to be at my star ceremony. Felicity's giving a speech." She told the host, "We're really good friends," which prompted Kimmel to ask, "All of you?" Longoria said, "No," before sharing, "99% of us are," which wasn't a blatant dig at Hatcher, but a possible reference to her.

In 2019, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry and Eva Longoria submitted letters to support Felicity Huffman as she awaited sentencing after she admitted paying to increase her daughter's standardized test scores. Longoria said she was bullied by a co-star on the set. Without saying who she was talking about, she admitted, "I dreaded the days I had to go to work with that person because it was pure torture. Until one day, Felicity told the bully 'enough' and it all stopped. Felicity could feel that I was riddled with anxiety even though I never complained or mentioned the abuse to anyone. I know I would not have survived those 10 years if it wasn't for the friendship of Felicity." 

In his letter, Cherry mentioned a "problematic cast member," who was a "big star with some behavioral problems." He wrote, "Everyone tried their darnedest to get along with this woman over the course of the show. It was impossible." He claimed this woman stopped speaking to her co-stars, but Huffman insisted on saying "good morning." Like Longoria, he didn't specify who he was talking about, but it's possible their anecdotes were about the same difficult cast member.

Huffman deleted her social media accounts in the midst of the college admissions scandal, but before that, she posted about the 14-year anniversary of Desperate Housewives, recalling personal memories shooting with Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Nicollette Sheridan — with zero mention of Teri Hatcher. 

In 2012, Celebuzz shared the card that was attached to gifts the Desperate Housewives cast got for crew members to commemorate the end of the series. According to the card, the present was from Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Vanessa Williams, who joined the show for the last two seasons. A production source told Celebuzz, "The girls don't get along with Teri [Hatcher] so they organized this and left her out." Hatcher's on-screen husband James Denton theorized, "It could be as simple as they couldn't get together on it, but Teri did do her own gift as well, so if she did get left out, she made up for it." He added, "I can honestly say I don't have any idea what the backstory is on the gift."

Hatcher told Daily Mail, "I don't really know who gave or did what. I know what I did and I can look in the mirror at myself in a good way about the people I worked with and how much respect I had for them." She insisted, "That crew knows I'd have jumped in front of a bus for them at any moment," claiming, "I was beyond generous throughout those eight years and any crew member will tell you that, so it doesn't matter what anybody writes."

In addition to not being a part of that gift, Hatcher reportedly skipped the final Desperate Housewives press day, according to HuffPost. 

In an August 2013 Daily Mail interview, Teri Hatcher was asked about her relationships with her Desperate Housewives co-stars. She said, "What I would and have always said is that the show, while it took many happenings to miraculously make it the success it was – the writing, the time of airing, the director, all that stuff – it was really the four of us in the beginning that just had some sort of magical chemistry," referring to Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman, who were on the show from the beginning. Hatcher claimed that she had "never ever wished any of them anything but greatness and will continue to do that."

She added, "What I will say is that, although she was a late addition, Vanessa Williams and me are pretty good friends. In fact, she was the one who just set me up on a blind date, the first date I've had in two-and-a-half years." Hatcher credited their friendship to having a lot in common as single mothers. She didn't mention James Denton during that interview, but in 2012, he said, "It's been the best thing. I worked with Teri almost exclusively and I learned a ton from her. She's really brilliant comedically, very underrated I think."

Fans can attest that Hatcher had an undeniable connection with her castmates on-screen, but it seems like there's no love lost in real life.