Shannen Doherty’s breast cancer is back, and it is stage 4. The actress announced in 2017 that she was in remission for breast cancer that had been diagnosed in 2015.
The 48-year-old actress said that for more than a year now, she has been quietly battling cancer again, while continuing to work, filming the “Beverly Hills” reboot, “BH90210.”
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She revealed that she was dealing with the devastating news in 2019 while also mourning the death of Luke Perry, her former “90210” costar. She told ABC News:
“It’s going to come out in a matter of days or a week that I have stage 4. So my cancer came back and that’s why I’m here.”
“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 honor 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.”1
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Doherty, who has been married to photographer Kurt Iswarienko since 2011, commented that it has not been easy for her to process that the disease returned, saying:
“I don’t think that I’ve processed it. 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. I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how am I going to tell my mom, my husband.”
Doherty is in a legal battle with an insurance company. The court filings, which include her current health status, are set to be released this week. Because of this, she decided to share her diagnosis. She said:
“I’d rather people hear it from me.”1
