Shannen Doherty is speaking out about her diagnosis of stage four cancer. The 90210 star first battled breast cancer in 2015. Shannen, 48, went into remission in 2017. Now, she’s revealed that in early 2019 her cancer returned, and she’s now battling stage four of the disease.
She opened up to Good Morning America. She told Amy Robach, “It’s going to come out in a matter of days or a week that — I’m stage four. So my cancer came back. And that’s why I’m here.” She added, “I don’t think 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 besides me deserves this? None of us do,” the Charmed star explained. “But I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how — how am I going to tell my mom, my husband.” Shannen married photographer Kurt Iswarienko in 2011.
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Shannen explained that she found out about the recurrence before her 90210 cast member Luke Perry died in March 2019. “It's so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go first,” she said. “It was really, like, shocking.”
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She decided that the “least [she] could do to honor him” was to
appear on the 90210 reboot that aired in summer 2019. It also gave her a chance to prove she was still able to work.
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Photo credit: INSTARImages
“One of the reasons, along with Luke —
that I did 90210 and didn't really tell anybody 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 explained.
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Shannen admitted that one of the few people she did tell was her
90210 costar
Brian Austin Green, who helped her during the long days on set.
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"I had moments of great anxiety where I thought, 'I can't really do this,' and Brian was the one person who — of that group of people that knew — that I told, like, pretty quickly and said, 'Here, this is what I'm dealing with,'" she said. "So prior to shooting he would always call me and say, 'Listen, you know, whatever happens, I have your back.' He would look at me and be like, 'We got this, kiddo'... so Brian helped me through a lot."
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Photo credit: Jim Smeal/Shutterstock
Shannen said she decided to come forward publicly now because she’s currently suing her insurance company State Farm over damage to her home caused by
the 2018 Woolsey Fire. “I'd rather people hear it from me. I don't want it to be twisted. I don't want it to be a court document. I want it to be real and authentic,” she said.
Shannen was diagnosed in the beginning of 2019 but she decided to keep the news private. During her first battle with the disease,
she often documented her treatments on Instagram.
Shannen explained that she found out about the recurrence before her 90210 cast member Luke Perry died in March 2019. “It's so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go first,” she said. “It was really, like, shocking.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
She decided that the “least [she] could do to honor him” was to
appear on the 90210 reboot that aired in summer 2019. It also gave her a chance to prove she was still able to work.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“One of the reasons, along with Luke —
that I did 90210 and didn't really tell anybody 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 explained.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Shannen admitted that one of the few people she did tell was her
90210 costar
Brian Austin Green, who helped her during the long days on set.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
"I had moments of great anxiety where I thought, 'I can't really do this,' and Brian was the one person who — of that group of people that knew — that I told, like, pretty quickly and said, 'Here, this is what I'm dealing with,'" she said. "So prior to shooting he would always call me and say, 'Listen, you know, whatever happens, I have your back.' He would look at me and be like, 'We got this, kiddo'... so Brian helped me through a lot."
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Shannen said she decided to come forward publicly now because she’s currently suing her insurance company State Farm over damage to her home caused by
the 2018 Woolsey Fire. “I'd rather people hear it from me. I don't want it to be twisted. I don't want it to be a court document. I want it to be real and authentic,” she said.
Photo credit: Jim Smeal/Shutterstock
