Shannen Doherty Dead at 53 After Cancer Battle

Hollywood has lost a legend. 

Actress Shannen Doherty, best known for her roles in Beverly Hills, 90210, Charmed and Heathers, died July 13 after battling stage 4 breast cancer. She was 53 years old. 

"On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease," her publicist Leslie Sloane told People July 14. "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's passing comes nearly eight months after she shared that her cancer had metastasized to her brain and later spread to her bones. She was previously diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and went into remission in 2017.

However, in February 2020, she revealed it had returned.

"I don't think that I've processed it," Doherty told ABC News about her diagnosis that month. "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 beside me deserves this?' None of us do."

The Memphis native—who filed for divorce from Kurt Iswarienko in April 2023 after 11 years of marriage—added, "I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how am I going to tell my mom, my husband."

At the time, the Heathers star explained that she had been privately battling her cancer for nearly a year before deciding to share the news with the rest of the world. Her decision to open up about her health came amid her insurance lawsuit with State Farm, in which she claimed they owned her more money for damages that were caused to her house during the Los Angeles wildfires. (A Los Angeles jury awarded her $6.1 million in 2021.)

"I don't want it to be twisted," she told ABC News on why she spoke out about her cancer recurrence. "I don't want it to be a court document. I want it to be real and authentic. I want to control the narrative. I want people to know from me."

"You know, I enjoy working and working gives me just another reason to wake up every morning," she continued. "It's another reason to fight to stay alive."

She also noted that the situation was bigger than just her in more ways than one.

"I want to make an impact," Doherty said. "I can make that impact through this lawsuit and by saying enough is enough with big business and corporations running the little person over. It's not fair and I'm taking a stand for all of us."

Despite everything, though, she continued to celebrate her wins and focus on the positives.

As Doherty—who was filming a comedy-drama series with her Beverly Hills, 90210 costars around the time she learned of her diagnosis—explained, she was determined more than ever to fight as she continued on with her career.

"It's a hard one because I thought when I finally do come out I would have 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,'" she shared. "Our life doesn't end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do."

Doherty's career began in 1982, when she appeared as a child actress on shows like Father Murphy, Voyagers! and Little House on the Prairie. Three years later, she landed a co-starring role in the 1985 rom-com Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. But it was her first major onscreen role in the 1988 movie Heathers that propelled Doherty into stardom.

From there, her résumé continued with roles in a slew of TV shows like including Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed. She would go on to appear in nearly 20 films and 40 television shows throughout the course of career.

And though she didn't plan on documenting much of her personal health battle on social media during the latter years of her life, she opened up about her journey in an effort to inspire others.

"I want to be a beacon of light for other people or at least somebody that people can relate to and that we can have an honest conversation and talk about how hard it is," she explained to ABC News. "I do want to be raw and honest about it."

Keep reading for a look back at her life.

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