SELA WARD - SELA WARD'S DESPERATE REGRET

Emmy-winning actress SELA WARD has become the latest star to claim she turned down the chance to take on TERI HATCHER's role in the hit TV show DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.

At the start of the year (05), PAMELA ANDERSON claimed that she rejected playing single mother SUSAN MAYER in the ratings juggernaut - but the show's creator MARC CHERRY immediately shot down her allegations.

And Ward has now stepped forward to declare that she was offered the role of the divorcee but couldn't accept.

She says, "I was sent the script... it was the Teri Hatcher role. I just couldn't sign a six-year contract. I had just finished (TV show) ONCE AND AGAIN, and my mother had died. It was a very difficult time."

Ward, 49, passed on the part but says that it wasn't a firm offer, adding, "It wasn't, 'Here's the money, here's the deal.' It was a feeler.

"I regret not being on a show that successful."

Ward later landed a recurring part on HUGH LAURIE's hit medical drama HOUSE.