“So my cancer is back, and that’s why I’m here.” These were the words that shocked every Beverley Hills 90210 fan overnight. Shannen Doherty has stage 4 breast cancer.
The 48-year-old actress made the announcement on ABC News Tuesday.
“I don’t think that I’ve processed it,” Doherty said. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways. I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do. I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how am I going to tell my mum, my husband.”
Doherty is married to photographer Kurt Iswarienko. Her most famous role was as Brenda Walsh in Beverley Hills 90210 in 1990. But she also played Maggie Malene in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985), Prue Halliwell in Charmed (1998-2001) and Heather Duke in Heathers (1998). She is currently starring in the Beverley Hills reboot BH90210.
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. In 2017, she announced that she was finally in remission.
She has always been open about her battle with the Big C, sharing photos on Instagram of the moment she shaved her head.
She told ABC she decided to go public with her latest battle because it will come up court filings for a legal fight she is currently waging against an insurance company.
“I’d rather people hear it from me,” she said.
Doherty has been receiving treatment for breast cancer while filming the Beverley Hills 90210 reboot. Her diagnosis came not long before the death of original Beverley Hills 90210 cast member Luke Perry.
Speaking with ABC, Doherty said:
“It was so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was seemingly healthy to go first. It was really shocking and the least I could do to honour him was do that show. I still haven’t done enough in my opinion.”
“It’s a hard one because I thought when I finally do come out, I would have worked and worked 16 hours a day and people can look at that and say, ‘Oh my God, she can work and other people with stage 4 can work. Our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do.”
We hope she has the strength to beat breast cancer again this year.
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