Shannen Doherty is focused on gratitude after surviving a difficult year.
“This year is about just being incredibly grateful that we’re here and we get to spend time with the people that are by our sides through thick and thin, who don’t walk away, who love us unconditionally, and that have the same beliefs and morals and standards, and people who have character,” Doherty, 52, said during the Monday, December 25, episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast. “I’m just so thankful, really, to be here for it.”
Shannen, whose guest for the Christmas Day episode was her mom, Rosa Doherty, continued: “I even got to schedule my cancer infusions where I would be recovered completely from it for Christmas.”
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. After two years of chemotherapy, she confirmed that she was in remission. Her cancer returned in 2020, at which point Shannen revealed her stage IV diagnosis. The cancer later metastasized to her brain, and the actress shared last month that it has spread to her bones as well.
In addition to her health struggles, Shannen split from husband Kurt Iswarienko this year after 11 years of marriage. During a December 2023 episode of her podcast, Shannen claimed that she learned Iswarienko, 49, had cheated on her right before she underwent brain surgery in January.
“I went into that surgery early in the morning and I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years,” she alleged. “To not go in that surgery, even though, being very clear, he wanted to go, I couldn’t go into that surgery with him there. I felt so betrayed.”
After TMZ subsequently published a piece with sources close to Iswarienko claiming that the exes had been living separately for two years prior to Shannen’s brain tumor removal, Shannen fired back.
“I will address the marriage and affair further on @letsbeclearpod. In the meantime … @tmz_tv please do more due diligence and to the ‘friends/girlfriend’ who tried to put this story out, I realize you’re scared of the truth but trying to circumvent it with lies will get you nowhere. #thetruthmatters,” she wrote via Instagram.
Despite everything she’s been through recently, Shannen feels like things are looking up.
“For me, it’s been a turbulent year, some massive health struggles, some massive personal struggles, a lot of heartbreak and fear,” she said on Monday. “But with all of that, I have found … I was actually saying this to myself the other night, ‘God, I think I’m actually starting to live the happiest version of myself.’”
She continued: “Even though it’s been such a contentious year for me, for some reason it just feels it’s gotten a lot lighter lately and a lot more positive.”
Noting that she feels her heart “opening back up,” Shannen then declared, “Next year’s going to be beautiful.”
