Shannen Doherty revealed that she has been diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. The news comes nearly three years after she went into remission.
“It’s going to come out in a matter of days or a week that — I’m stage IV. So my cancer came back. And that’s why I’m here,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, 48, told Amy Robach on Good Morning America on Tuesday, February 4. “I don’t think I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015. She finished chemotherapy in February 2017, and announced two months later that she was in remission. Through it all, she documented much of her battle on social media.
The actress said on GMA that this time around, she initially kept the news of her recurrence to herself. She even continued working on the revival of her Fox teen drama, BH90210, despite the diagnosis, which came four months before the untimely death of her costar Luke Perry from a stroke 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. And the least I could do to honor him was to do that show. … 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.”
Doherty revealed that her costar Brian Austin Green “was the one person who … I told, like, pretty quickly,” and he helped her get through 15-to-16-hour days on set.
“Prior to shooting he would always call me and say, ‘Listen, you know, whatever happens, I have your back,’” she recalled. “He would look at me and be like, ‘We got this, kiddo.’”
Now, the Charmed alum is trying to keep a positive mindset as she fights the disease a second time.
“I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’” she admitted. “And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do.”
