07/14/2024
https://lasvegasnews.media/archives/167838
Actress Shannen Doherty, best-known for her roles as Brenda Walsh on TV's original "Beverly Hills, 90210" and Prue Halliwell on the "Charmed" series, has lost her battle with cancer, she was 53.
Doherty’s death was confirmed in a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane.
"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress, Shannen Doherty. In Saturday, July 13th she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease. 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 was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. In 2016, the cancer spread to her lymph nodes. In April 2017, she said the cancer, which had been treated with radiation, chemotherapy and a single mastectomy, was in remission, but in February 2020, she revealed that the illness had returned the year prior. At the time, she said it was stage four.
In June 2023, Doherty announced that the cancer had spread to her brain and was terminal. She shared the news in an emotional video update made while she underwent treatment.
Doherty began acting as a child but became a household name in early 90s with her role as as the bright-eyed Brenda Walsh in the Aaron Spelling-produced hit teen television drama "Beverly Hills, 90210." Doherty also appeared in movies like "Heathers," "Mallrats," and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." She returned to TV in another Spelling-helmed light drama series, "Charmed," as good witch Prue Halliwell.
She left "90210" at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), reportedly removed by Spelling because of conflicts with her co-stars and constant tardiness.
Since then, Doherty had starred in a string of TV horror movies including "Satan's School for Girls" (2000), "Witchslayer Gretl" (2012) and "Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys" (2014).
Doherty returned to the role of Brenda for multiple episodes in 2008 and 2009 for CW's "Beverly Hills" revival "90210." She also appeared in 2019's short-lived "BH90210," in which her former co-stars played caricatures of themselves. The show was canceled after six episodes.
Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 12, 1971, the second child of Rosa and John Thomas Doherty. Her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was 7. Doherty nabbed her first acting gig just a few years later, appearing in two episodes of the 1981 to 1983 Western drama “Father Murphy,” created by Michael Landon of "Little House on the Prairie" fame.
At the time of Doherty’s death, she was in the process of divorcing her husband of 11 years, photographer Kurt Iswarienko.
Doherty was open about the toll that cancer was taking. She posted photos that showed the baldness that followed treatment and, in an August 2016 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” shared her fears.
“The unknown is always the scariest part,” she said. “Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work?” she said. “Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love.”
Doherty advocated for cancer awareness and care, and spoke to the AP in 2021 about how spending years with the disease affected her life and sense of optimism.
“When you get something like cancer, your tolerance for drama is zero. I don’t like people wasting my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s odd because I think if you look back, you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, it’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I was necessarily into the drama. I just think if we took young 18-year-old Shannon, 19-year-old Shannon, and we took her and planted her like right now, I would be a nerd and nobody would be writing about me.”
Earlier this year, Doherty shared a “miraculous” health update, describing a new kind of treatment that she said felt like God “is intervening”.
She told her fans on an episode of her podcast Let’s Be Clear: “I’m on a new cancer infusion and after four treatments, we didn’t really see a difference and everybody wanted me to switch, and I just kinda was like, ‘We’re gonna keep going with this and see’ And yeah, after the sixth or seventh treatment, we really saw it breaking down the blood-brain barrier.”