Off The Record

Shannen Doherty, Star Of ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ And ‘Charmed’, Has Passed Away After A Long Battle

Published on July 14, 2024

The former star of Charmed and Beverly Hills 90210, Shannen Doherty, passed away. She was 53 years old.

Leslie Sloane, Doherty’s longtime publicist, confirmed the news in a statement shared with People.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.”

Doherty disclosed last year that her illness had progressed to her brain. In a tearful video posted to Instagram on June 7, the actress made the big reveal.

The footage, which was recorded on January 12, 2023, showed Doherty undergoing radiation therapy.

“On January 5th, my ct scan showed Mets in my brain,” she wrote. “January 12, the first round of radiation took place.”

“My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life. I am fortunate as I have great doctors like Dr Amin Mirahdi and the amazing techs at cedar sinai. But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like.”

After fighting cancer for years, Doherty passed away on July 13.

At the age of eleven, Doherty made her television debut. Her first television appearances were as a guest on Voyagers! and Father Murphy, both developed and produced by Michael Landon. When she was cast as Jenny Wilder on Little House on the Prairie, she would collaborate with Landon once more.

She made the switch to acting in movies in the late 1980s, appearing in the 1988 picture Heathers. She returned to television in 1990, starring in Beverly Hills 90210 as Brenda Walsh.

Before being chosen for the popular series Charmed, she starred in a number of made-for-TV films after becoming well-known.

She kept acting after Charmed finished, but the majority of the projects she did so on were reality series.

Doherty disclosed her breast cancer diagnosis in February 2015. She filed a lawsuit against her management company at the time, claiming that if her health insurance hadn’t expired, she might have gone for routine checkups and prevented the disease from spreading.

She revealed that the cancer had gone into remission two years later.

“I am blessed, I know that. But for now…. remission,” she posted on Instagram.

But Doherty disclosed in 2020 that the breast cancer had resurfaced and was now in stage 4.

“I don’t think I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways,” the actress said to Amy Robach of ABC News.

Doherty kept working despite the diagnosis, taking part in a Lifetime film, a revival of Beverly Hills 90210, and an appearance at 90s Con in March 2023.

Doherty revealed that the cancer has progressed to her brain in a devastating video that she uploaded on Instagram in June 2023.

You battled so hard and for so long, Shannen. Many people found inspiration in you. We will really miss you. Rest in peace.