Jesse Metcalfe Reveals What He Experienced During Rumored ‘Desperate Housewives’ Conflicts

Jesse Metcalfe has been involved in quite a bit of drama onscreen thanks to his role on Passions and part in 2006’s John Tucker Must Die. However, he’s now addressed the real-life intensity that allegedly took place behind the scenes of Desperate Housewives.

The actor, who appeared on the series for four seasons as a teenage gardener named John Rowland, talked to E! News for The Greatest Year in Pop Culture about the situation that apparently involved the show’s creator Marc Cherry and its stars, which included Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher, and Eva Longoria.

“I didn’t really experience a whole lot of drama on the show,” Metcalfe said. He then explained, “That was probably because of my naivete and just kind of being swept up in my newfound success and fame.”

Although the actor noted that he “didn’t really have the awareness to know what was going on around” him, he did point out that “apparently there was a lot of drama on the show.”

Recalling what he later learned, he continued by saying, “Apparently there was some in-fighting between some of our leading ladies and also some drama between our creator and some of our leading ladies. I certainly wasn’t part of that. I wasn’t really aware of it. But I know that it happened.”

What Metcalfe seemingly missed at the time was the fact that “behind-the-scenes conflict occasionally plagued the ABC series during its eight-year run,” according to E! News. This included “an allegedly drama-laden Vanity Fair photoshoot and rumors of on-set bullying, which Longoria appeared to confirm in a 2019 character letter written for Huffman’s college admissions lawsuit.”

As if that wasn’t enough, E! News also noted that Nicollette Sheridan filed a lawsuit against Cherry for $20 million that “alleged assault and battery, gender violence and wrongful termination.” However, the legal action was eventually dismissed.