Molly Ringwald admits she regrets turning down role that went to another Brat Pack star in major Oscar-winning movie

Joey NolfiWed, August 5, 2026 at 6:13 PM UTC

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Molly Ringwald and Demi MooreCredit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty; John Shearer/WireImageKey Points -

Molly Ringwald shocked the Watch What Happens Live audience upon revealing she regrets turning down a major movie role.

“Whoa, Molly!” fellow interview guest Kristen Kish exclaimed, while host Andy Cohen threw his head back in surprise.

Ringwald opened up about declining the part, which eventually went to fellow Brat Pack star Demi Moore: “She did a great job!”

The ghosts of actress Molly Ringwald’s Hollywood past have come back to haunt her.

Ringwald shocked Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live studio audience during a Tuesday night interview, drawing an audible gasp from the crowd when she responded to the host’s inquiry about one past project she still regrets turning down.

“Ghost,” Ringwald replied, which also elicited a stunned response from both Cohen — who tilted his head back in his chair — and fellow interview guest, The Traitors alum Kristen Kish.

Whoopi Goldberg and Demi Moore in ‘Ghost’Credit: Paramount/ Everett

“Whoa, Molly!” Kish exclaimed, while Ringwald indicated that the role she turned down eventually went to her fellow Brat Pack member and eventual Ghost star, Demi Moore.

Ringwald stressed that “Demi’s great in it, so, good for Demi” and that her industry peer “did a great job” opposite Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg in the supernatural-tinged, Oscar-winning 1990 hit.

“Not to make this worse for you,” Cohen added, “But, like, that would’ve changed the entire trajectory of your career.”

Ringwald estimated that “it was just not meant to be” at the time, before the conversation Cohen moved along to other topics.

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Moore famously starred in Ghost as a woman who, with the help of a medium (Goldberg), reconnects with her murdered boyfriend (Swayze) as he attempts from the afterlife to protect her from a criminal plot.

Goldberg also won an Oscar for her supporting performance in the film, and frequently references it from her post as moderator of The View.

Goldberg also recently opened up about initially being passed over for her role in Ghost,claiming on the most recent episode of Keke Palmer’s podcast that the behind-the-scenes team initially felt that her star power would be too much for the character.

The actress also said that she started to take on parts that white stars had rejected.

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“They wrote that for Bette Midler. That wasn’t mine,” Goldberg told Palmer about Sister Act. “I didn’t take it. I was looking for work!” (Midler previously addressed turning down Sister Act in a recent interview with Rolling Stone: “I turned down Sister Act because I said, ‘My fans don’t want to see me in a wimple.’ And Whoopi said, ‘Bring on the goddamn wimple.’”)

Watch Ringwald — who stars in One Night Only, in theaters Friday— discuss turning down Ghost in the video above.

on Entertainment Weekly

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