Melissa Joan Hart reflects on her nude photo scandal, calls new 'Sabrina' sex scenes shocking

Carly Mallenbaum
Updated
Melissa Joan Hart says her "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" was much tamer than Netflix's new version of the series.

Melissa Joan Hart is acutely aware of how the rules for playing Sabrina, the teenage TV witch, have changed over the years.

Back in the '90s, when her ABC series aired, "I wasn’t allowed to sit in a car without a seat belt on, I wasn’t allowed to cross a crosswalk without it having the proper lines," Hart, 42, tells USA TODAY ahead of her next project, Netflix's "No Good Nick."

These days, Netflix's more adult-themed "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," starring Kiernan Shipka ("Mad Men") in the title role, shows characters not only breaking laws, but also "having sex scenes in a cave!"

"This is a little different," she says.

Actress Melissa Joan Hart attends Lupus LA's 2017 Orange Ball: Rocket To A Cure at the California Science Center on April 22, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. / AFP PHOTO / VALERIE MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT: 1 ORIG FILE ID: AFP_NS05L
Actress Melissa Joan Hart attends Lupus LA's 2017 Orange Ball: Rocket To A Cure at the California Science Center on April 22, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. / AFP PHOTO / VALERIE MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT: 1 ORIG FILE ID: AFP_NS05L

Hart recalls a time in 1999, at age 23, when nude photos got her into trouble, and the publisher of "Sabrina" comics tried to sue her for posing in Maxim.

"Archie Comics had a contract that I would never play (Sabrina) naked. But then I did the cover of Maxim magazine, and for some reason – no idea how this happened – Maxim had the cover say 'Sabrina' instead of 'Melissa,'" Hart recalls. ("Sabrina: Your favorite witch without a stitch.")

"It was a big press scandal at the (same) time my movie 'Drive Me Crazy' was coming out. And so I wasn’t really able to enjoy the movie launch, because I was so focused on (whether) I was gonna get fired."

She wasn't; Hart stayed on the show until it was canceled in 2003.

The new "Sabrina" is "not really my thing," says Hart, who calls it "too mature" for her sons "and too young for me."

Hart is more into Netflix's "Stranger Things," which stars her "No Good Nick" TV husband Sean Astin.

"No Good Nick," Hart and Astin's dramedy, arrives on Netflix on April 15.

More: Melissa Joan Hart wrestled with faith, acceptance when son had question about Jewish friend

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melissa Joan Hart reflects on her nude photo scandal, calls new 'Sabrina' sex scenes shocking