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. She was later revealed to be the friend mentioned in the Season 2 episode Morality Bites who was supposedly murdered by Cal Greene, though in this timeline she was only brutalised.

Biography
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.

Discovering Phoebe's secret


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 the sisters put a spell on Elise to make her appear to be brutalised; how she 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. The plan required Phoebe to reveal her secret to Elise.

In Cupid's Harrow, Elise appears for the first time since finding out about Phoebe. Elise claims that she is still coming to terms with the existence of magic, but assists Phoebe in looking into Coop's past.

During the magical switch in The Old Witcheroo, Elise tells Piper that all her paper has reported on recently is magic. Elise is included in the family meeting Piper calls and discusses what action they should take to try and rectify the situation. Elise helps the sisters to cover up the fact that they no longer have powers by using her newly acquired ability to manipulate plant life to help Henry redecorate the front of The Manor, giving it "a magical look" that fits in with the rest of the magical neighborhood.

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 and turning more chestnut as the series progresses but typically fluctuates in terms of length. Since she was a boss at the Bay Mirror, she is almost always seen in semi-formal clothing. She also wears glasses when reading.

Nature Enhancement
During the magical switch in "The Old Witcheroo", Elise somehow received the power to make plant life grow on command. She is first seen using this to enlarge a bunch of flowers that she brought for Phoebe so that they would fit in the vase. Elise also used this, along with the help of Henry Mitchell, to decorate the outside of Halliwell Manor in order to give it a more "magical look" to fit in with the rest of the newly empowered neighborhood.

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 4 issues of the Charmed Comics.

{{Scroll box
 * width=100%
 * content====Charmed Season 2===
 * "Morality Bites" (Referred to but not mentioned)

Charmed Season 4

 * "The Fifth Halliwheel"
 * "Long Live the Queen"

Charmed 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"

Charmed Season 6

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

Charmed Season 7

 * "A Call To Arms"
 * "Extreme Makeover: World Edition"
 * "Show Ghouls"
 * "Charmageddon"
 * "Show Ghouls"
 * "Scry Hard"
 * "Freaky Phoebe"

Charmed Season 8

 * "Still Charmed and Kicking"
 * "Generation Hex" (Flashbacks)
 * "Kill Billie: Vol. 2"

Charmed Season 9

 * "Morality Bites Back"
 * "Cupid's Harrow"
 * "The Old Witcheroo"
 * "Reversal of Misfortune"}}