Shannen Doherty, Star of ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ and ‘Charmed,’ Dies at 53 – National
Shannen DohertyTHE Beverly Hills, 90210 The star, whose life and career were devastated by illness and scandal-ridden press reports, has died aged 53.
After years with breast cancerDoherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane.
“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by loved ones and her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane said Sunday. first report by People magazine.
Her illness was publicly revealed in a 2015 lawsuit against her former business managers, in which she claimed they mismanaged her money and let her health insurance lapse. She later shared intimate details of her treatment after a single mastectomy. In December 2016, she posted a photo from her first day of radiation therapy, calling the treatment “scary” for her.
In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and she was at stage fourShe explained that she came forward because her health condition could be revealed in court. The actress had sued insurance giant State Farm after her California home was damaged by a fire in 2018.
“I have no idea how long my chemotherapy will last. It’s not something I can predict, nor can my doctors. And it’s scary, it’s like a big wake-up call,” Doherty said in an episode of his podcast released in late June. Let’s be clearadding that a recent change in the shape of her cancer cells meant there were new treatment protocols to try. “For the first time in probably a few months, I feel hopeful because there are a lot more protocols now, whereas before I was hopeful – but I was still preparing.”
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family at age 7 and within a few years became an actress.
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“It was completely my decision,” she told The Associated Press in a 1994 interview. “My parents never pushed me to do anything. They supported me. It wouldn’t have really mattered if I was a professional soccer player — they would still be just as supportive and loving.”
As a child star, she worked regularly in television series such as Little House on the Prairiein which she played Jenny Wilder. She took a detour to the big screen as a teenager in Girls just want to have fun (1985) and Heathers.
In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actress landed her role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teen melodrama set in upscale Beverly Hills. She and Brenda’s twin brother Brandon, played by Canadian actor Jason Priestley, are Midwestern fish out of water.
But Doherty’s fame came with media attention and accounts of temper tantrums, alcoholism, and impulsiveness—the latter particularly notable after a very brief marriage to actor George Hamilton’s son Ashley. Doherty’s second marriage, in 2002, was to Rick Salomon and was annulled after a year. In 2011, Doherty married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. She filed for divorce in April 2023.
She left Beverly Hills, 90210 at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the series aired until 2000), apparently canceled by Spelling due to conflicts with his co-stars and chronic lateness.
But in his 1994 interview with AP, Doherty described his life as peaceful.
“That must be the case, if you pick up the Enquirer and find out the only thing they can write about me is that I set up a pay phone next door and was seen at Stroud’s (a discount bedding and bath chain) buying $1,400 worth of bed sheets and wouldn’t go to a luxury store,” she said. “It must be quiet if they get that stuff out of their heads.”
Three years later, in 1997, Doherty was ordered to undergo anger management therapy by a Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge after she allegedly smashed a beer bottle on a man’s windshield during an argument. After a drunken driving arrest in 2001, she pleaded not guilty and was ordered to serve five days of rehabilitation in a work release program.
Doherty reunited with Spelling when he cast her in the role of Prue Halliwell in 1998’s CharmIn an interview with AP that year, the actress expressed regret about her past.
“I was responsible for a lot of those mistakes,” Doherty said. “I don’t think I can point the finger at someone and say, ‘Oh, that’s your fault.’ And I don’t blame myself for that either. Because I was growing up.”
His personality had been “grotesquely misinterpreted” by the media, Doherty added.
Spelling said at the time that their relationship was never as bad as some suggested.
“We had some bumps in the road, but boy, who doesn’t?” said Spelling, who died in 2006. “Everything Shannen did was exaggerated by critics.”
Doherty starred with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano in Charm from 1998 to 2001, when her character was replaced by one played by Rose McGowan. Doherty appeared in 90210 series continued seven years later and competed on Dancing with the stars in 2010. She also worked on the third Beverly Hills, 90210 to restart, BH90210a meta-parody that reunited most of the original cast and aired for one season in 2019.
She also appeared in a tribute episode of Riverdale dedicated to the star of this show — and to his late Beverly Hills, 90210 on-screen love interest — Luke Perry.
Doherty fought to get it back Beverly Hills, 90210 star status, but has worked in big-screen films, including The Mall Rats And Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and in TV movies such as A Burning Passion: The Story of Margaret Mitchellin which she played the Carried away by the wind author. A nadir was Blindfold: Acts of Obsessionan erotic thriller starring Judd Nelson.
Doherty’s lawsuit against her former company directors was settled in 2016. She has spoken openly about the effects of cancer, posting photos showing the baldness that followed treatment and, in an interview with Entertainment Tonightshared his fears.
“The unknown is always the scariest part,” she said. “Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work?” she said. “The pain is manageable, you know that living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how it’s going to affect the people you love.”
Doherty has been an advocate for cancer awareness and care and spoke to the AP in 2021 about how years with the disease have affected her life and sense of optimism.
“When you have cancer, you don’t tolerate drama anymore. I don’t like people wasting my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s weird because I think if you look back, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, there’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I was necessarily interested in the drama. I just think if you took Shannen, 18, 19, and you took her and you put her in the place she is now, I would be a nerd and no one would write about me.”
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Longtime television writer Lynn Elber retired from The Associated Press in 2022. AP journalists Alicia Rancilio and Mallika Sen contributed reporting.
