How Gen X lost it when they saw this actress playing a grandmother

"I just saw a clip of a movie where Melissa Joan Hart was playing a grandma," a distressed 40-something wrote on social media. "My brain said: 'cannot compute'... no way I’m that old."

Fans of the TV show 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch,' broadcast in the 90s and early 2000s, were genuinely confused to discover someone their age could play a grandmother.

It all started when a scene of a Lifetime drama, premiering in October 2023, began circulating on X (formerly Twitter). The movie is called 'Would You Kill for Me? The Mary Bailey Story.'

Photo: @melissajoanhart / Instagram -

Based on a true story, the film recounts how a mother asked her 11-year-old daughter to kill her abusive father. Melissa Joan Hart has a supporting role as the grandmother of the family.

Photo: @lifetime / Instagram

In the scene, one of the children tells the former teen star about his meal: "It's perfect, Grandma." And that's where certain fans of Melissa Joan Hart started freaking out.

Photo: @VirginiaBrasch / X

Yes, Melissa Joan Hart was the protagonist of 'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch' from 1996 to 2003. And now she's a grandmother in a movie. Some people's minds were blown.

Many from the tail end of Generation X, people who were teenagers in the 90s, are just beginning to realize that they've reached a certain age.

Melissa Joan Hart is currently 47 years old. She was born in 1976. When she played a 'teenage witch,' she was already 20. To many viewers at the time, however, she was just a kid.

The recognition of Melissa Joan Hart reaching the age that she can play a Grandma caused shocking and funny responses on social media. First of all, Virginia Brasch, one of the first who shared the video, said: "I present to you Melissa Joan Hart as a grandmother," knowing that the last word of the sentence would cause a riot.

Photo: @lifetime / Instagram

"Someone hold me, I am unwell," 30- and 40-somethings wrote on social media in response to the video. Or: "I feel attacked! Melissa Joan Hart is a grandmother? I’m pretty sure she’s my age."

The realization of time passing also occurs when we look at other former child or teen stars. Macaulay Culkin, even younger than Melissa Joan Hart, shook followers on Twitter one day when he announced he had passed the age of 40.
"Wanna feel old?" he wrote. "I'm 40. You're welcome."

Famous from the 'Home Alone' movies in 1990 and 1992, the actor now has two children of his own to take care of.

Regarding Melissa Joan Heart, many fans realized that, in 2024, it will be 28 years since 'Sabrina' was released. Those years seem to have flown by for everyone involved.

Melissa Joan Hart is the mother of three boys, ages 17, 15, and 11. She had those children with musician Mark Wilkerson. Considering the boys' ages, it seems that she won't become a grandmother in real life any time soon.

She takes it quite well, actually. After saying she's proud of her performance in the movie, she adds: "I couldn't be more flattered that people don't think of me as a grandmother (no matter how possible it is at the age of 47)."

In addition, she says: "It's also refreshing to go viral for my work and not something controversial."

Photo: Lifetime

And we have to agree with her. The shocked reactions on the internet are not a bad thing. They actually show how great of an actress Melissa Joan Hart is. She demonstrated her versatility in a wide range of roles, including that of a grandmother. Well done!