Melissa Joan Hart Reveals Who She's Still in Touch with from Clarissa Explains It All (Exclusive)

Although Melissa Joan Hart has a habit of meeting her again Sabrina the teenage witch actors at 90s Con and beyond, things aren’t as familiar to her Clarissa explains everything costars.

“I don’t talk to anyone from Clarissa actors,” Hart, 48, admits to PEOPLE, noting that the show, which aired in the early 1990s, was “before cell phones, before email, before everything,” which made staying in touch even more difficult.

“The cast just went in different directions and no one stayed in touch,” she adds.

While she may not still be talking to the actors she shared the screen with on the Nickelodeon series, there are other people from that period of her life who still hold a special place in her heart.

Melissa Joan Hart in ‘Clarissa Explains It All’ 1991.

United Archives GmbH/Alamy

“I am very, very close to the girl who designed my wardrobe [on Clarissa]”, says Hart. “Michele [Roofthooft] and her husband David [Roofthooft], who was an assistant executive producer, actually got married at the end of the show. They are still my closest friends, my son’s godmother and [god]father.”

Melissa Joan Hart reveals her son’s prom date’s witchy connection to one of her iconic roles

A few years later, when Hart stepped into the role of Sabrina, she said that while “everybody had AOL addresses back then,” she got “everyone’s home address” and still sends congratulations to the show’s crew.

Although the people with whom she spent the late 90s and early 2000s while on Sabrina still remains more of a constant in her life, Hart says she felt less of a connection to the teenage witch as a character.

Michelle Beaudoin, Melissa Joan Hart, Nate Richert, Jenna Leigh Green, Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea in ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ 1996.

Bob D’Amico/Disney General Entertainment via Getty

“I had to go back and play 16 again when I did that Sabrina.” Hart says of the role she once landed in her 20s. “Not only was she younger than me, but she didn’t want the attention. She wanted to be a liquidator. She didn’t know what to do with those magical abilities. She felt very lost, and other people were trying to help her sort it out.”

“I feel like I definitely had more fun with Clarissa and who she was than with the Sabrina character, which is always shocking to people because I think people felt at home with Sabrina,” adds Hart. “I definitely struggled a little playing Sabrina.”

Melissa Joan Hart is 48 years old! Enjoy 10 perfectly magical photos of the ’90s ‘teenage witch’ in her TV prime

Clarissa, on the other hand, was an easier role for her in part because the two grew up in tandem, she says.

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“Be included Clarissa he gave me that freedom to kind of figure out who I am while she’s discovering who she is,” she says. “So the line is really blurred between me and Clarissa, we were exactly the same age.”

Melissa Joan Hart in May 2024.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Now, as a mother of three, in addition to acting, Hart has channeled some of her energy and focus into philanthropy and works with World Vision to help fight poverty, particularly in Zambia, where she has sponsored three children to date.

“I think sponsoring a child is the best thing you can do, as far as giving back. There are ways you can do it with time and there are ways you can do it with money,” says Hart, who traveled to Zambia with her in 2023 the whole family to see the work of the organization. “And if you have the money to sponsor a child, it really makes a big difference because it not only protects that child but [World Vision has] identified … you help their family, you help their community, their village.”

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Source: HIS Education