Death is never a taste one gets used to. No pallet can be acquired for it without some serious causes for concern. Some deaths are sudden, which can be traumatic for the people left behind. But, some are gradual, like cancer, eating away at life one bit at a time. Shannen Doherty has been no stranger to cancer, but when she thought her remission was here to stay, her cancer returned in full force. It has been seven years since her first diagnosis. She is now in stage four of her breast cancer.
Shannen Doherty opens up
The Charmed star interviewed with ABC news, which Good Morning America aired on February 20th, 2020. There, she opened up about her cancer returning. She was sure people would find out someway or the other, so she beat them to the punch.“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. I don’t think I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”
Shannen is 50 years old this year, and 48 at the time her cancer returned. She spoke about her process of dealing with the return of the disease, and how she is mentally coping. “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,” she said. “But I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how — how am I going to tell my mom, my husband.”
Back in 2015, Shannen Doherty found a lump in her breast. Fearing the worst she went to get it checked up by the doctor who delivered the terrible news. The Riverdale actress then went on hormone treatment in the hopes it would correct the problem but, soon after she had to undergo chemotherapy, radiation, and a single mastectomy.
Documenting her journey
Since her diagnosis, Shannen Doherty has been very present on her social media platforms. She has been documenting her journey with cancer, all while balancing a working life as an actress. At first, she didn’t disclose her cancer returning, and simply went to set everyday to shoot Reboot ‘BH90210’. Shennen spoke about Luke Perry’s passing, and how she found it strange that he died before her when she is the one with stage four breast cancer. “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.”
She went on to say she thought it would able a great way to honor her co-star from Beverly Hills 90210 even in death. “The least I could do to honor him was to do “Reboot BH90210″… One of the reasons, along with Luke, that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody [was] because I thought, ‘People can look at that [and see] other people with stage IV can work too.’ Like, you know, our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do.”
Shannen Doherty got help from her co-stars
Working on a film set is no joke, and Shannen was struggling with stage four breast cancer. So, her other co-star, Brian Austin Green, helped her through the 15-16 hour shooting days. “I had moments of great anxiety where I thought, ‘I can’t really do this,'” said Shannen. “And Brian was the one person who (of that group of people that knew, that I told) like, pretty quickly and said, ‘Here, the — 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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Sources
- “‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Alum Shannen Doherty’s Cancer Battle in Quotes.” US Weekly. Dan Clarendon April 12, 2022.
- “Shannen Doherty shares she has stage 4 breast cancer: ‘I’d rather people hear it from me’. ABC News. Angeline Jane Bernabe, Eric Jones, and Amanda McMaster. February 4, 2020.