Melissa Joan Hart admits that the premise for a scrapped 'Clarissa Explains it All' revival wasn't her 'favorite way in' to the story
Taylor Hill/Getty Images; Paramount+/Nickelodeon
- Melissa Joan Hart said she'd rather revive "Clarissa Explains It All" than "Sabrina The Teenage Witch."
- She said women shouldn't believe they "don't belong" in a "male-dominated world."
- Hart regularly partners with the AHA to promote heart health.
In a recent interview with Insider, Melissa Joan Hart recalled the details of a since-defunct revival of the beloved Nickelodeon series "Clarissa Explains It All," in which she played a quirky teenager navigating high school.
"I believe it was that Clarissa is divorced and moving to California with her two kids and living on the beach in California with her aunt," Hart said of the scrapped reboot, which The Hollywood Reporter first reported on in 2018. "So I don't know. It wasn't my favorite way in."
Although there isn't currently another revival in the works, Hart would rather revive "Clarissa Explains It All" than her other beloved series, "Sabrina The Teenage Witch."
"Of course whatever I say I'm going to piss off half the people," Hart acknowledged, adding that she thinks revisiting Clarissa's life would be "more fun" because the Nickelodeon show's ending was more ambiguous.
Nickelodeon
"I do feel like 'Sabrina' wrapped up really nicely with her riding off on the motorcycle with Harvey. I think that ending on 'Sabrina' was so iconic that I don't want to go back and try to recreate that and have another good ending," she said, reflecting on the ABC series she starred in from 1996 to 2003.
More recently, Hart has been promoting her partnership with CycleBar and the American Heart Association and encouraging women to keep their hearts healthy even after American Heart Month, which ended in February.
The actor and director's connection to heart health awareness goes beyond her last name. Her niece and nephew both had open heart surgery at a young age, and she's thankful they're both happy and healthy today.
"The American Heart Association says that nearly 80% of Americans don't get enough exercise," said Hart, citing a statistic confirmed by the CDC in 2013. The CDC also reported that cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for many communities in the United States, women included. "Let's take care of our hearts, ladies!" said Hart.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for AHA
Part of maintaining her health while working in the entertainment industry involves maintaining her mental wellness, too. Hart said she regularly vents to friends over coffee on days they've dubbed "Women's Wellness Wednesday."
"We're very real and authentic with each other and that gives us that freedom to understand each other better and feel like there's a safe place and kind of vent some of the things going on in our lives," she said, admitting that she usually ropes them into a workout before the chat.
When she's not in front of the camera, Hart directs and produces projects through her and her mother Paula's company, Hartbreak Films.
She encourages women trying to take steps forward in their industries to remember that "everyone has impostor syndrome" instead of thinking "it's a male-dominated world and I don't belong here."
"If you prepare properly and someone feels like you deserve that job then you deserve to be there and you just focus on doing the best job you can," she said.