Shannen Doherty has died at the age of 53.
The “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed” actress passed away Saturday after a years-long battle with breast cancer.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” her publicist, Leslie Sloane, said in a statement to PEOPLE on Sunday.
“On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Sloane continued. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
Doherty was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, enduring a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.
“When I dropped down to 92 pounds from chemo and was incredibly dehydrated, I had to still get out of bed,” she reflected on her health battle on her podcast in December 2023.
“My husband at the time [Kurt Iswarienko was] sort of begging me to keep going, and my mom [was] literally trying to pick me up out of bed and get me to the doctor. … At that point in time, I thought that I wouldn’t survive it.”
She announced she was in remission in 2017, but in February 2020, shared she was battling Stage 4 breast cancer.
Doherty told fans she was “fighting to stay alive” during a virtual appearance on “Good Morning America” in October 2021.
“I never want to operate [like I’m dying],” she explained.
In November 2023, Doherty revealed her Stage 4 breast cancer had spread to her bones after having previously spread to her brain.
“I don’t want to die,” she heartbreakingly told People at the time.
“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better,” Doherty continued. “I’m just not — I’m not done.”
A month later, Doherty revealed that she learned her ex-husband, Kurt Iswarienko, had been cheating on her for two years just hours before undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor, which she named Bob.
“Bob had to get removed and dissected to see his pathology and then i had to do some more brain radiation,” she told the magazine in November 2023. “It’s been a journey. Definitely one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through in my entire life.”
Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 12, 1971.
She started acting on TV in the early 1980s with credits on “Father Murphy” and “Voyagers!” before landing a star turn as Jenny Wilder on “Little House on the Prairie.”
Her career gained steam with the 1988 black comedy “Heathers.” She played Heather Duke, who sits pretty in Westerburg High School’s most powerful clique.
She landed her breakout role, a four-season gig on FOX’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” shortly thereafter.
She played Brenda Walsh, a brunette teen thespian trying to find her place in blonde Beverly Hills after moving from Minnesota with her twin brother, Brandon, and their parents, Jim and Cindy.
Brenda was sent to London indefinitely at the end of her freshman year in college.
Co-star Tori Spelling revealed in 2015 that she played a big part in Doherty getting fired from the show in 1994.
Spelling claimed that she went to her dad, Aaron Spelling, who co-created and executive produced the series, to tell him that Doherty and co-star Jennie Garth weren’t getting along to the point they almost had a physical fight.
“I felt like I was a part of something… a movement… that cost someone their livelihood,” Spelling explained on “Celebrity Lie Detector.” “Was she a horrible person? No — she was one of the best friends I ever had.”
Doherty would later admit that despite the money and fame, she was unhappy during filming.
In 2000, Doherty told Entertainment Weekly that it seemed like “too large” of a “sacrifice” at the time.
“The sacrifice of a camera pointed in my face 24 hours a day while I was desperately trying to grow up, to figure out my spirituality, to figure out my boyfriends. I mean, I was a teenager,” she recalled.
(NY Post)
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