AMERICAN actress Shannen Doherty was widely known for her role as Brenda Walsh in the 90210 franchise.
Sadly, the beloved actress passed away — here we take a look at the life and death of the late Shannen Doherty.
Who was Shannen Doherty?
Shannen Doherty was an American actress born in Memphis, Tennessee on April 12, 1971. She passed away on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
Doherty got her first role in the entertainment industry as a child actress when she appeared in the 1981 TV series Father Murphy.
It wasn’t until 1988 that Doherty had her big break on the hit film Heathers as the lead actress.
She later appeared in the drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990.
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Since then, Doherty appeared in various hit shows and films including Charmed, The Rendering, and North Shore.
Throughout her career, Shannen Doherty was married three times.
In 1993, the Tennessee native married Ashley Hamilton, however, their relationship only lasted a year.
She was later married to Rick Salomon in 2002 before meeting her longtime partner Kurt Iswarienko.
The two were married from 2011 until they decided to call it quits in 2023.
What was Shannen Doherty’s cause of death?
Shannen Doherty sadly passed after a long battle with cancer.
In 2015, Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer which later spread to her lymph nodes.
After undergoing chemotherapy, Doherty revealed her cancer was in remission in April 2017.
However, the American actress revealed the cancer had returned in 2019 and is now stage four.
On January 9, 2023, Shannen underwent surgery to have a brain tumor removed.
During an interview with People on November 2023, Doherty revealed the cancer continued to spread to her bones.
“I don’t want to die,” Doherty said.
“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better. I’m just not — I’m not done.”
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Did Shannen Doherty have kids?
Throughout her successful life, Shannen Doherty had intentionally chosen not to have kids.
Due to her illness, having kids wasn’t an option because it would require Doherty to take estrogen which could’ve potentially led to a breast cancer recurrence.
In an interview with Yahoo!, Doherty said: “It’s not possible [for me to get pregnant] because I can’t get out of menopause.
“That would require estrogen, and I’m choosing not to take hormone pills — I can’t risk those levels coming up.”
At the time, Doherty was married to Iswarienko and often spoke about alternative methods.
“We’re having conversations about an egg donor, maybe adoption. But there’s fear there.
“Am I going to last five years? 10 years? I certainly wouldn’t want my 10-year-old burying a mother.
“I’ve always wanted a kid. But maybe I’m supposed to mother in a different way.”