Entertainment
‘It’s scary, but I have hope’
Poignantly, she said she was finally “hopeful” about her chances of survival because the “molecular structure” of her cancer cells meant she had several options for medical intervention.
She said to her Let’s be clear podcast, where she documented her cancer and other battles: “I have no idea how long I’ll have to have chemo for… It’s scary, but I’m hopeful,”
The Beverly Hills, the 90210 star’s publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed the heartbreaking news in a statement on Sunday, July 14.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of battling the disease,” the announcement said.
“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend were surrounded by her loved ones and her dog, Bowie. The family requests their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane told the media.
Doherty battled breast cancer for years. Her illness was publicly exposed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former company managers, alleging that they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse.
In December 2016, she posted a photo of her first day of radiation treatment and called the treatment “terrifying” for her.
In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and that she was in stage four.
“I think cancer is one of the absolute best and one of the worst things that has ever happened to me in my entire life. It has changed me as a person,” says the Charmed actress told listeners during a recent episode of the Oldish podcast.
“It made me grow up in a completely different way,” she continued. “It made me look at life and relationships very differently. My values changed. My priorities changed. I feel much clearer [sic] and much more targeted.”
As a child star she worked steadily in TV series like Little House on the Prairiein which she played Jenny Wilder.
Doherty would go on to star in several films, such as Girls just want to have fun And heathbut in 1990 the actor scored her breakthrough role as brenda walsh in producer by Aaron Spelling hit teen melodrama Beverly Hills, 90210.
She ultimately left the hit TV show at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), reportedly removed by Spelling due to conflicts with her co-stars and chronic delays.
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Doherty became an advocate for cancer awareness and care and spoke to them the associated press in 2021 about how the years with the disease affected her life and sense of optimism.
“When you get something like cancer, your tolerance for drama is zero. I don’t like it when people waste my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s strange because I think when you look back you’re like, ‘Oh god, it’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I necessarily liked the drama. I just think if we took young 18-year-old Shannon, 19-year-old Shannon, and planted her like we do now, I’d be a nerd and no one would write about me.
