Actor Shannen Doherty passed away on Saturday after a long battle with cancer. The 53-year old was a star of shows including Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed.
She was surrounded by her loved ones and her dog Bowie when she died, according to Doherty’s longtime publicist Leslie Sloane, who released a statement shortly after.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” the statement read. “On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.”
“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.”
The actor was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and underwent a mastectomy a year later. She went into remission in 2017.
Throughout the years, she has been vocal and transparent about her struggle, including an interview with Good Morning America in 2020 when she revealed that her diagnosis was terminal, returning as Stage 4 cancer. At the time, she said that it was “a bitter pill to swallow.”
In her final Instagram post on June 26, Doherty shared a clip from her podcast Let’s Be Clear, where she described her ongoing cancer treatment.
“It’s scary, it’s a big wake up call… at the same time, there is some positivity there,” she said, adding that she was “hopeful” about the future while admitting she didn’t know how long she’d need to be on chemotherapy.
“For the first time in a couple of months, I feel hopeful,” she said. Last year, she told People magazine: “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.”
In the interview, she said, “It’s insane to me [that] we still don’t have a cure,” adding that she still wanted to work despite her cancer diagnosis.
“People just assume that it means you can’t walk, you can’t eat, you can’t work,” she said. “They put you out to pasture at a very early age —‘You’re done, you’re retired,’ and we’re not,” she says. “We’re vibrant, and we have such a different outlook on life. We are people who want to work and embrace life and keep moving forward.”
In April 2023, Doherty divorced her husband of 12 years, Kurt Iswarienko. At the time, Doherty’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, said in a statement at the time: “Divorce is the last thing Shannen wanted. Unfortunately, she felt she was left with no other option.”
Shortly after, Doherty shared on an an Instagram post that a CAT scan she underwent in January “showed Mets [metastasis] in my brain”.
“My fear is obvious,” she told her fans.
Tributes have poured in for the beloved actor from across the world, including from her co-stars and friends. Rose McGowan described her friend and former co-star on Instagram as someone with “the heart of a lion.”
“This woman fought to live,” she wrote. “Passion for craft is often mislabeled as trouble. Shannen was passion. I met her in the 90s and was awed. Getting to really know her later in life, a beautiful gift. This woman fought to live. Shannen knew how to be a star because she was one since childhood. Her work ethic inspiring to the end.”
“Shannen’s great love for directing, for acting, Holly, her friends, her parents, dog and her beloved fans was legendary. Our lives had been intertwined in a unique way. We laughed at dark forces who wanted us to hate each other, instead we chose love and respect. A soft-hearted badass as there ever was. A force of energy that will live forever in hearts.”
Fellow Charmed co-star Alyssa Milano released a statement, acknowledging the “complicated relationship” she had had with Doherty.
“It’s no secret that Shannen and I had a complicated relationship, but at its core was someone I deeply respected and was in awe of,” she said. “She was a talented actress, beloved by many, and the world is less without her. My condolences to all who loved her.”
Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Gabrielle Carteris posted a photo of a blue sky, with the caption: “So young – so sad. May you RIP Shannen. I know Luke is there with open arms to love you,” she wrote, referring to fellow 90210 star Luke Perry, who died in 2019 after suffering a massive stroke.
Jason Priestley, another Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star, said that he was “shocked and saddened” about the passing of his friend.
On his socials, he wrote: “She was a force of nature and I will miss her. Sending love and light to her family in this dark time.”
Actor Olivia Munn, who is a breast cancer survivor and had undergone a double mastectomy last year, told her fans on Instagram that she and Doherty had grown close, bonding over their shared experience.
“I am absolutely heartbroken over the passing of Shannen Doherty,” Munn wrote.
“We bonded through a shared battle and a desire to help other women. Looking back on the last text she sent me just a couple months ago, she asked how I was doing and if she could do anything for me… True to form, Shannen was offering her support even though she was in the final stage of fighting this horrific disease.”
“Cancer is really fucking scary and Shannen faced it with such dignity, strength and grace.I ‘m sending all of my love to her mother who was her best friend, hero and champion every step of the way.”
Doherty was born on April 12, 1971, in Memphis, Tennessee to a beauty parlor owner mother and a financial adviser father. She appeared in a series of Pepsi commercials at age 10 before taking on some television work as a teenager.
In 1988, she starred in the classic movie Heathers alongside Winona Ryder. Two years later, she began her role as Brenda Walsh in the show that would catapult her to worldwide fame: Beverly Hills 90210. In 1998, she found more success in the smash-hit witchcraft show Charmed. In 2008, she reprised her role of Brenda Walsh for the Beverly Hills, 90210 spin off for The CW Television Network.