‘90210’ Star Shannen Doherty Dies at 53

“I have a rep,” she continued. “Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after a while you sort of try to shed that rep because you're kind of a different person. You’ve evolved, and all of the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”

Doherty, whose other roles included Kris Witherspoon in Our House (1986–88), witch Prue Halliwell in Charmed (1998–2001) and Heather Duke in Heathers (1988), underwent a unilateral mastectomy in May 2016. But doctors discovered that the disease had spread to her lymph nodes and beyond. She received chemotherapy and radiation, and her cancer went into remission the following year. Still, she was guarded, writing on Instagram, “As every single one of my fellow cancer family knows, the next five years is crucial. Reoccurrences happen all the time. Many of you have shared that very story with me. So with a heart that is certainly lighter, I wait.”

In early 2020, she announced that her fears had come true: Her cancer had returned. She had kept mum about it while shooting BH90210, a revival of Beverly Hills, 90210, for Fox. Now, she said, speaking with emotion in her voice on Good Morning America, “I want to be remembered for something bigger than just me.” On social media, she encouraged women to get mammograms and regular checkups “to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you.”  

The Beverly Hills, 90210 cast poses for a portrait on set, September 1991 in Los Angeles, California. Left to right: Jennie Garth, Gabrielle Carteris, Luke Perry, Jason Priestley, Brian Austin Green, Shannen Doherty, Tori Spelling and Ian Ziering.

Mark Sennet/Getty Images

Controversy followed Doherty throughout her career. An early beau, Max Factor heir Dean Jay Factor, took out a restraining order against her in 1993. In 2015, she sued her former business managers, claiming their mismanagement of funds caused her health insurance to lapse, forcing a delay in treatment that allowed her cancer to spread. The suit was settled the following year. In 2018, she lost her house in California’s Woolsey wildfire and filed a lawsuit against an insurance company over a dispute on her claim;.she was awarded $6.3 million in 2021.

Doherty was married three times. She wed her final husband, Kurt Iswarienko, in 2011. During her illness, she often thanked him publicly for his “unwavering” support and said on Instagram that they were “stronger than ever. More in love than ever.” But in 2023, she filed for divorce.

Cancer was a teacher, she told Health magazine. “I was always used to being the strong one, and … every wall I’d built up in my life came down. I also had a lot more time to look at myself and say, ‘I’m a pretty OK person’ and cut myself some slack. I’ve had a lot of those epiphanies. It’s OK to stumble.”