Elise Rothman

"I don't know if Phoebe ever thought of me as her friend... but I always thought of her as mine."

- Elise reveals her fondness for Phoebe.

Elise Rothman was the editor and boss of "The Bay Mirror", where Phoebe Halliwell worked as an advice columnist. While tough and pragmatic on the surface, Elise could also be wise and caring, leading to a dynamic which produced a close bond with Phoebe. In Season 8, when Phoebe was thought dead, she admitted to Julie Bennett, who was Phoebe in disguise that she thought of Phoebe as her best friend and the daughter she never had.

Over the Years
When she first appeared on the show, her advice columnist at the time was innocent Karen Young, who hated her and wanted to kill her while under demonic influence. With Karen, Elise was ready to fire her if she missed one column for being sick, so Phoebe took over for Karen and did her column. Afterwards, Karen told Elise the truth, as she figured would happen, Elise fired her and hired Phoebe in her place. With Phoebe, Elise was a lot more flexible and in one episode even pointed out how much leniency she gives Phoebe when she took a day off and left Phoebe in charge. She has a very difficult job as shown when she took the day off and left Phoebe in charge; Phoebe was completely overwhelmed, but managed to handle it. This also sent Phoebe the message that the difficult nature of being the editor may be at least partly responsible for her hard attitude with her employees.

In 2005, after the Charmed Ones faked their death, Elise revealed that she viewed Phoebe as a close friend and not only was she an employee, but someone she viewed as the best friend she ever had.

In 2008, Elise falls victim to Cal Greene and is brutalized by him. After it was revealed by Elise to Mika, another employee at the Bay Mirror, that the man she was dating - named Cal Greene - had anger issues and was brutalizing women Cal attacked her violently and nearly killed her but Paige Matthews healed her before she died. Phoebe wanted to kill him but her sisters calmed her down. Paige glamoured into Cal and Elise was glamoured into by Phoebe. Phoebe took on the appearance of Elise's brutalized self; how Elise appeared before Paige healed her. The attack was streamed live over the internet (Phoebe used this way as she had plans to live stream a chat for the Bay Mirror). Nathaniel Pratt charged Cal Greene.

Romantic Life
She married and divorced a man named James L. Connors. In "Scry Hard", she was seen on a date with Richard Dillard, who should have been running the paper in Elise's absence. But since he was on a date with Elise, Phoebe had to run the evening edition, making her Elise's third choice for running the paper if Elise and Richard would be sick.

In "Chris-Crossed" she revealed that she was someone who focused solely on her career, letting it get in the way of everything else, including any sort of a romantic life that she could've had, and one day she realized that all she had was her career. This could have been what led to her divorce (even though she did once describe her ex-husband as a schmuck). She explained this to Phoebe because she didn't want Phoebe to end up like her, indicating that she regretted letting it happen.

Appearance
Elise has short, light-brown hair during the series, getting gradually longer as the series progresses. Since she was a boss at the Bay Mirror, she wore semi-formal clothing.

Behind the Scenes

 * Rebecca Baldman also portrayed Aunt Jackie in the season 1 episode The Fourth Sister.

Appearances
Elise has appeared in a total of 23 episodes of throughout the course of the series. She also appeared in 1 issue of the Charmed Comics


 * Season 4
 * The Fifth Halliwheel
 * Long Live the Queen


 * Season 5
 * Siren Song
 * The Eyes Have It
 * The Importance of Being Phoebe
 * House Call
 * Sand Francisco Dreamin'
 * Baby's First Demon
 * Sense and Sense Ability
 * Oh My Goddess! Part 1
 * Oh My Goddess! Part 2


 * Season 6
 * Forget Me...Not
 * Power Of Three Blondes
 * Chris-Crossed


 * Season 7
 * A Call To Arms
 * Extreme Makeover: World Edition
 * Show GhoulsEliseComics.jpg
 * Charmageddon
 * Show Ghouls
 * Scry Hard
 * Freaky Phoebe


 * Season 8
 * Still Charmed and Kicking
 * Generation Hex - (flashbacks)
 * Kill Billie: Vol. 2


 * Charmed Comics
 * Morality Bites Back