Shannen Doherty is sharing new details about how her marriage to Kurt Iswarienko unraveled.
During the first episode of her “Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty” podcast, released on Tuesday, December 5, the actress, 52, revealed she underwent brain surgery after finding out that Iswarienko, 49, allegedly cheated on her.
“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 claimed. “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.”
Doherty thanked her loved ones for standing by her as she weathered the breakdown of her marriage amid her cancer battle.
“At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart,” she continued. “Just to have to go through all of that while trying to figure out if you’re going to get a f—king divorce and trying to get to the truth of that.”
Doherty filed for divorce from Iswarienko in April after 11 years of marriage. At the time, her rep, Leslie Sloane, claimed that Iswarienko’s agent was “intimately involved” in the split.
“Divorce is the last thing Shannen wanted,” Sloane said. “Unfortunately, she felt she was left with no other option.”
According to documents obtained by Us Weekly, the estranged couple separated in January. Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and after two years of chemotherapy, Doherty confirmed she was in remission. When her cancer returned in 2020, Doherty revealed it was stage IV. Late last month, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum shared that the cancer has spread to her bones.
On Wednesday’s podcast, Doherty admitted that she’s been “obsessed” with finding out the truth regarding Iswarienko’s alleged infidelity.
“If you share 14 years together and you cheated, doesn’t that person deserve the absolute truth regardless of how much that hurts them?” she continued, before noting that she “also spoke to the girlfriend of two years that he cheated” on her with.
Doherty called the downfall of her third marriage “embarrassing.” (She was previously married to Ashley Hamilton for a year until 1994 and Rick Salomon from 2002 to 2003.)
“I am horrified that I can’t keep a relationship together. I think it is a reflection of me, but this one I think this one is on him. I’ve failed three times at marriage, but I still believe in love,” she explained. “I also take some responsibility for the demise of our marriage — actually that’s not true. Let me rephrase that, I do not take responsibility for the demise of our marriage, I take responsibility for some of the issues in our marriage. I take responsibility not only because of how I was but because of how cancer impacted my marriage and how it impacted him the second time around.”
Despite how her marriage came to an end, Doherty admitted she “couldn’t” walk away immediately.
“I was so confused and I was also on steroids and a lot of stuff from brain surgery because they didn’t want my brain to swell,” she concluded. “And honestly, it’s still really hard. Yes I made the decision to file for divorce, but I have a lot of memories with this person.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Kurt Iswarienko’s rep for comment.
