Loretta Devine Reveals Her ‘Mixed’ Experience Working with Jennifer Love Hewitt on ‘The Client List’

Loretta Devine is opening up about her time working alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt on the short-lived Lifetime drama The Client List—and let’s just say, it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

In a new interview with People published on Tuesday, February 18, Devine, 75, admitted that her experience with Hewitt, 45, was “mixed,” largely due to Hewitt’s creative influence behind the scenes.

“You know what? She decided to rewrite the entire angle of the show right in the middle,” Devine revealed, referring to Hewitt’s role as both the series’ star and executive producer.

The Client List, which premiered in 2012, followed Riley Parks (Hewitt), a mother abandoned by her husband who takes a job at a day spa with some X-rated “extras,” run by Devine’s character, Georgia Cummings.

Despite its intriguing premise, the show was canceled after just two seasons in 2013. At the time, Entertainment Weekly reported that creative disagreements over the storyline for a potential third season played a major role in the decision to end the series.

The series also starred Cybill Shepherd, Rebecca Field, and Colin Egglesfield.

This isn’t the first time Hewitt has been the subject of on-set drama rumors. Back in the ‘90s, speculation swirled that she and Sarah Michelle Gellar clashed while filming I Know What You Did Last Summer. Some even theorized that Hewitt had a hand in Gellar’s character, Helen Shivers, being killed off—a claim Hewitt denied during a December 2024 episode of the I’ve Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDario

“I was 18. They were not taking script notes from me,” she said, shutting down the rumors. “All of us were in that experience together, figuring it all out.”

While Gellar won’t be returning for the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot set for July 2025, both Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. (who met Gellar on the 1997 film’s set and later married her) will reprise their roles. The new cast includes Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, Jonah Hauer-King, Lola Tung, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, and Austin Nichols.

As for Devine, her career was already well-established before The Client List. She famously starred alongside Whitney Houston in Waiting to Exhale and originated the role of Lorrell Robinson in Broadway’s Dreamgirls. She also earned an Emmy Award in 2011 for her role as Adele Webber on Grey’s Anatomy—just a year before The Client List hit the screen.

Despite her “mixed” experience, Devine has continued to thrive in Hollywood, proving that no single project can define a legendary career.