Unique Nicole/Getty Images
Alyson Hannigan occupies an interesting place in pop culture. She’s been part of several well-known franchises, from nerdy high schooler Willow in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to the deeply emotional Lily in “How I Met Your Mother.” And that’s not even getting into her iconic role in “American Pie” that gave a generation of teenagers a line of dialogue they can quote until the universe collapses onto itself.
Many look at these notable roles and assume Hollywood has stopped casting Hannigan in movies and TV shows. The truth is she’s still working, albeit in a more lowkey capacity than some of her earlier hits. She’s certainly earned a break as well as the right not to have to work non-stop. Plus, she’s a mother now. It’s safe to say she’s living the dream, having attained ubiquity in pop culture and having what seems like a great home life at the same time.
But even with multiple popular TV series under her belt, working in Hollywood hasn’t always been a dream. In addition to various projects falling through, she’s also had to contend with some terrifying situations. We’re just glad we get to see as much of Hannigan as we do with everything she’s been through. Here are some tragic details about her life that you may not be aware of.
She was bullied for a commercial she did as a kid
Mediapunch/Getty Images
These days, it’s pretty common to see A-list stars in commercials, but a few decades ago, this was something people only did at the start of their careers. Alyson Hannigan is just one of many big name actors who got their start in commercials. As a kid, she appeared in a spot for Mylanta, a medication designed to relieve indigestion, and while everyone has to start somewhere, it became a mortifying experience for Hannigan.
Hannigan appeared on “The Drew Barrymore Show” in 2021 and talked about how she got bullied for the ad. “I got teased so much about that commercial that it sort of traumatized me a little bit, and I had an audition for a feminine hygiene product right after that while it was airing, and I was already so mortified,” she explained. “I was like, ‘I can’t do this.'”
If there’s anyone who can relate to Hannigan’s struggle, it’s Drew Barrymore, who has some horror stories from her time as a child star (she was never the same after her breakout role in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”). However, while medication ads aren’t exactly glamorous, much better gigs were on the horizon for Hannigan.
Hannigan nearly blew her Buffy audition
The WB
Alyson Hannigan landed a recurring role on the sitcom “Free Spirit” when she was still a teenager and she had small parts on other shows like “Roseanne” and “Touched by an Angel” after that, but the role that would put her on the map and endear her to a generation of genre TV fans was mild-mannered witch Willow Rosenberg in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The series debuted in 1997 and Hannigan would be a main cast member throughout all seven seasons, appearing in every single episode of the hit show. It became her calling card — but it almost didn’t happen in the first place.
For starters, “Buffy” creator Joss Whedon wanted Melanie Lynskey for the part of Willow, but she didn’t really want to do TV. She also had visa issues considering she was living in New Zealand, so that was a non-starter. Hannigan wasn’t even next in line for the role — there was actually a different Willow in the original pilot for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Hannigan replaced Riff Regan as Willow, which came as a shock to her, because she had a terrible audition experience.
“I walked into a door and I forgot all my lines,” Hannigan told People. She revealed that by the time she had her eighth reading for the part, she was given a whole new set of lines containing mostly computer jargon that she didn’t understand: “I got to that part and the words just started swimming and I don’t think I was speaking English at one point.” Fortunately, Whedon didn’t mind her messing up the lines because he was more looking to see whether she had chemistry with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Nicholas Brendon, which she had in abundance.
She’s haunted by that classic American Pie line
Universal Pictures
“This one time at band camp” has become an iconic line for the “American Pie” generation. While Alyson Hannigan’s character Michelle offers up some pretty boring band camp stories throughout most of the movie, her final one involves something we can’t repeat here. Suffice it to say, it shows Michelle in a whole new light when she’s at a prom afterparty with Jim (Jason Biggs).
Although the line lives on in infamy, Hannigan doesn’t exactly appreciate it when fans come up to her wanting to quote it. In 2020, she appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and was asked if people still walk up to her saying it. “Yes, they do,” Hannigan exclaimed. “But I have two daughters now and when they’re with me and somebody starts saying the line, I’m like, ‘Can we just stop there?’ I get really panicked.”
Hannigan’s “American Pie” co-star Eugene Levy was also on Clarkson’s couch, and he could relate. He talked about how his then-teenage son (future “Schitt’s Creek” actor Dan Levy) was invited to the premiere of “American Pie,” but was then told by a friend he probably shouldn’t see this particular movie with his parents. There are plenty of movies no one should ever watch with their parents, and “American Pie” is up there, even someone related to a cast member.
Hannigan wasn’t paid very much for American Pie
Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images
Jim rather reluctantly goes to prom with Michelle in “American Pie,” but the two end up staying together long-term, cementing their relationship in “American Pie 2” and eventually getting married in “American Wedding.” But what you might not know is that “Hannigan almost didn’t star in “American Pie 2” at all, which could’ve completely upended the trajectory of the franchise.
Hannigan might be a notable star now, but back in the 1990s, she was still making a name for herself, so she had no choice but to accept a low rate of pay for “American Pie.” The producers actually tried to make her commit to a sequel, too, but she decided that it didn’t make sense to sign on for more than one movie given her low pay rate, and that turned out to be a very wise move on her part.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m getting paid scale plus 10. I’m not going to sign for a sequel. That doesn’t make sense,'” Hannigan told Vulture. “So they took that out, which ended up being really nice for me when I did the sequel.” Hannigan played Michelle for a fourth and final time in 2012’s “American Reunion.” There are also spinoffs outside of the mainline series, but the less said about those the better.
A stalker threatened to kill her and her husband
Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images
Pay disputes and bad auditions come with the territory when you’re trying to make it in Hollywood, but one thing nobody should ever have to deal with is a stalker. Alyson Hannigan is unfortunately one of many female celebrities with terrifying stalker stories. In 2013, Hannigan got a restraining order against a 43-year-old New Hampshire man named John Hobbs after he posted a series of threatening messages online, threatening to kill both her and her husband, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” co-star Alexis Denisof. Hobbs was ordered not to get within 100 yards of the actress.
Hannigan said that she was “in severe fear for my safety and the safety of my family,” per court documents seen by the Los Angeles Times. These papers also revealed that Hannigan’s legal team read out some of the vile messages that Hobbs sent in court. In one chilling Facebook post, Hobbs wrote: “With that said, in 2013 I still can marry you tomorrow. I can kill you tomorrow too. Cause I simply like and love you as you live life. Aly…It doesn’t end. Even after death.”
She hated kissing Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother
CBS
Alyson Hannigan married Alexis Denisof in 2003. “How I Met Your Mother” premiered in 2005, with Hannigan playing Lily, the fiancée and eventual wife of Marshall (Jason Segel). One might assume there would be some awkwardness related to Hannigan having to kiss Segel since she was already married to someone else, but actually, the reason for Hannigan’s discomfort came from the fact Segel was a chronic smoker. “It’s like kissing an ashtray and he’s trying to be polite by having gum or mints, but it doesn’t help,” Hannigan explained to Digital Spy in 2008.
To his credit, Segel wanted to stop and came up with a system that would’ve ideally got him to quit on the spot. He agreed to pay Hannigan $10 for every cigarette he had, but that didn’t exactly work out well: “After the first day, he owed me $200.” It sounds like Segel was able to quit smoking for a little bit but eventually fell back on the habit. In a 2010 interview he did with GQ, it’s noted how he smokes during the chat. However, he was at least able to quit one vice. He said: “I miss smoking a ton of pot. I can’t do it anymore. I’ve got too much work.”
Hannigan had several failed pilots after How I Met Your Mother ended
Gregg Deguire/Getty Images
“How I Met Your Mother” was incredibly successful, running for nine seasons and over 200 episodes. The finale may not have been received well (here’s the ending of “How I Met Your Mother” we really wanted), but Alyson Hannigan proved once again that she could go the distance in being a valuable member of any TV show cast. That makes it all the more baffling that she had a hard time getting anything to stick once “How I Met Your Mother” went off the air.
She was initially attached to star in a comedy series titled “More Time With Family,” which would’ve been produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It was going to follow a man, played by Tom Papa, who changes his life so that he can spend more time with his wife (Hannigan) and their kids. Despite big names like Affleck and Damon behind the scenes, the show never materialized.
A couple of years later, Hannigan became attached to a TV adaptation of the 1996 film “The First Wives Club.” The show would’ve seen Hannigan star alongside Vanessa Lachey and Megan Hilty. Sadly it went nowhere, as did a pilot for a multi-camera comedy starring Hannigan called “Man of the House.” It would’ve been about two sisters who decide to raise their kids together following each of their divorces. Despite having played crucial roles in two hugely successful TV shows, lightning just wouldn’t strike a third time for Hannigan.
She suffered from a crippling migraine while on Dancing With the Stars
Disney/Eric McCandless
Despite a few failed pilots, Alyson Hannigan has still worked regularly since “How I Met Your Mother” ended. She was the host of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” where magicians try to baffle Penn and Teller, and she recently appeared in the Kevin James romantic comedy “Solo Mio.” She also had a brief stint on “Dancing With the Stars,” which she attributed to helping her lose 20 pounds. But one day on the set was absolutely brutal for her thanks to a terrible migraine. “I was in my trailer in the fetal position,” Hannigan told People. “It was awful. I was just like, I couldn’t take 10 steps without having to throw up.”
Hannigan’s dance partner, Sasha Farber, said that she had to miss rehearsal for that morning because she simply couldn’t move that much. And although she knew after the fact it was a migraine, Hannigan didn’t know that at the time because she didn’t realize migraines could get that bad: “I was just like, ‘But I didn’t have a fever. I didn’t have COVID,’ all this stuff. But, yeah, apparently migraines can get that serious. And now I know.” Hannigan and Farber still managed to secure a score of 24 to advance to the next episode and ultimately finished fifth overall in Season 32.
Hannigan was deeply saddened by the shocking death of Michelle Trachtenberg
UPN
On February 26, 2025, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Michelle Trachtenberg tragically died from complications caused by diabetes. She was just 39 years old. A generation grew up watching her, not only on “Buffy” as Dawn Summers, but also on “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” and “Harriet the Spy.” Dawn was belatedly introduced as Buffy’s sister in Season 5 and quickly became a fan-favorite. Her death struck all of her colleagues hard, including Alyson Hannigan.
Following the news of Trachtenberg’s death, Hannigan took to Instagram to pay tribute to her former co-star. “I am deeply saddened by the news of Michelle’s passing,” she wrote. “She brought a loving energy to the set of Buffy. My thoughts are with Michelle’s family and friends.” Other “Buffy” actors, from Sarah Michelle Gellar to James Marsters, also posted their tributes to the talented actor who was taken away too soon.
