If there's anything that's going to make you feel old, it's finding out that Melissa Joan Hart was recently cast as a grandmother.
Hart, best known for her previous stints in Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, recently took on the role of Ella, the grandmother of 11-year-old Mary, who murders her abusive stepfather on behalf of her mother, in a true crime case titled Would You Kill for Me? The Mary Bailey Story.
Even though the movie dropped on Lifetime back in October, it's only just gone viral after fans noticed the 47-year-old features in it as a grandma, when most people would remember her as a teenage actor.
Taking to Twitter, better known now as X, people expressed their shock at the sudden realization of how fast time has flown.
"Melissa Joan Hart is four years older than me and getting cast as a grandma so I just need to lie down for a minute," wrote one user, while another added: "Everyone check on your fellow elder millennials. We are not ok."
A third even questioned what that made them, writing: "What does that make me? A great-grandmother? A ghost?"
And this user was also having a difficult time dealing with the shock: "This broke me. Just absolutely wrecked me."
Addressing the online reaction, Hart told HuffPost that it was "fun" to see her feature go viral.
"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)," the actor told the outlet in an email Friday. "I’m proud of my performance in the film and it’s fun to see it go viral."
On Friday, the star also took to Instagram to post a similar message, but also added: "I guess now Clarissa can Explain AARP or play the Middle-Aged Witch."
And of course, more millennial fans gathered under that post to also mourn the loss of their youth.
"When they said 'grandma' in the trailer I immediately died, like, aren’t we still 25?" asked one user.
"You are still a teen!! I cannot accept this," another added.
And this user put the blame on Hollywood for excluding women after they reach a certain age.
One wrote: "This isn’t on you, btw, super proud you’re in a role. BUT this sounds like a Hollywood trope that’s getting old fast. Once women reach 40 that does not mean they can only play moms and grandmas. If men like Bradley Cooper & Cary Grant play leading roles in romances to someone half their age so can women. Amy Adams doesn’t have to be a villain for Disenchanted, you don’t have to be a grandma etc. Get it together HOLLYWOOD!"
Would You Kill for Me? The Mary Bailey Story is available to watch now.
