Former Beverly Hills, 90210 Star Shannen Doherty Has Died At 53
After first getting diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2015, People has confirmed that Shannen Doherty has passed away. In an exclusive statement to the magazine, her longtime publicist Leslie Sloane said, “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 fighting the disease.” She was surrounded by her loved ones and her beloved dog, Bowie.
A Somewhat Charmed Life
Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 12, 1971, to Rosa Doherty, a beauty parlor owner, and Tom Doherty, who worked at a bank. She had a brother Sean. The family moved to Los Angeles when she was 7. A role on Father Murphy when she was 10 in 1981 sparked her desire to pursue acting. Reportedly, Michael Landon saw her performance and that was why a year later she was cast as Jenny Wilder on Little House and the Prairie. She had a long prolific career.
Diehard soap fans probably discovered her in 1986 when she co-starred with Days of our Lives legend, Deidre Hall (Marlena) in the series Our House as Hall’s daughter, Kris Witherspoon. But it was in October of 1990 when she was cast as Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210 that the rest of the world caught on to the immense talent she possessed.
The actress was featured in Soap Opera Digest’s Scene & Heard section in the August 27, 2019 issue reflecting with pride in how 90210 dealt with social issues. “For me, now, and maybe I was too young to understand the full impact that that episode would have — was obviously the breast cancer scare for Brenda,” says Doherty, who had openly talked about her own cancer battle at the time. “It was then impactful but even more so now, because people refer to it quite a bit with my own personal cancer journey. I was proud of it then, but I’m incredibly proud of it now. Again, [it’s] a testament to the show back then, and to all of us and to our writers and our producers, of how willing they were to address issues in a day and age where not a lot of shows were addressing such serious issues, and we were. I always say that it allowed 90210 to be that show that families could sit down and watch, and it opened up the conversation for the parents to have with the kids — and that is something that I think every single one of us can be very proud that we were part of. It was a show that changed things in many ways for TV.”
Unfortunately, she departed the series after Season 4 amid rumors of conflict on the set. History would repeat itself when she was cast as Prue Halliwell on Charmed alongside Holly Marie Combs (Picket Fences), Alyssa Milano (Who’s the Boss?) and also Greg Vaughan (Eric, DAYS) in 1998. At the end of 2022, Vaughan spoke with Digest and avoided dishing too much dirt about the somewhat-combustible Charmed set (read: the alleged antics of Shannen Doherty), but did admit the experience “had its highs and lows. Everybody was preparing me for the worst before I went in, but I’m a very open-minded person.” Doherty left in 2001 after three seasons.
Ted King (Jack, Bold and Beautiful) played Andy on Charmed and was paired with Doherty’s Prue. He shared a picture of the two on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “We created a special television couple for the ages. My heart goes out to your family. Rest in Peace Shannen, rest in peace. #charmed #andyandprue.”
In 2015, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went into remission.
Fans were thrilled in 2019 when she was part of the revival of 90210 — a hybrid reality project called BH90210 where the actors played heightened versions of themselves. Yet her return was not without its drama as well, which the actress addressed and Digest covered at the time: “Being a part of TV history is an honor but it also comes with some massive backlash,” Doherty posted on Instagram. “There [have] been many stories floating around about this show and me. One of the reasons I hesitated to say yes was for this crap.” The actress, in remission at the time, went on to say, “The only thing I’m a control freak over is my health. Trying to stay healthy and positive … I have a fear of doing what I love because of headlines like this. Not only because there is zero truth to it but because it lessens me and my journey, battle, experience with cancer. Why should I be scared to work?” Doherty attributed the drama to sensationalistic members of the media, stating, “Why aren’t people held accountable for their fabricated stories? I refuse to be cast in the same villain role because ‘journalists’ lack imagination and I certainly refuse to be cheapened as a survivor and as a woman by them. Yes, I am a strong woman. I have been thru hell and back. I am compassionate and caring. I’m multi faceted and not someone to be pigeon holed. I am a woman with my own story. Please stop trying to tell your wildly inaccurate, exaggerated story of me. I promise… you don’t know me.”
Doherty learned that the cancer had returned at Stage 4, but she did not immediately reveal the news. It was important to her to keep working. She explained why when she went public on Good Morning, America and in an interview shared, “One of the reasons, along with Luke — that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody [about the diagnosis] because I thought, people can look at that other people with stage four can work too. Like, you know, our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do,” she said.
On the personal front, Doherty married Ashley Hamilton at age 22 on September 24, 1993. The couple divorced in 1994. Another brief union was with Rick Salomon almost a decade later when they married on January 25, 2002. By May 16, 2003, they had it annulled. She married Kurt Iswarienko on October 15, 2011, and while they were legally still married upon her death, they had filed for divorce.
Digest sends condolences to the family, friends and fans of Shannen Doherty during this very difficult time.
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