Shannen Doherty Afraid No One Will Date Her Because of Her ‘Expiration Date’ Amid Cancer Battle

The actress chatted about her fears as a single woman — who also happens to be a Stage 4 cancer patient — with Kelly Ripa on the latter’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, in the episode dropped on Wednesday. There she shared that her possible “expiration date” could deter men.

“Listen, I think it’s hard for somebody like me, in my personal opinion, because it’s hard to go into dating someone when you know that they might have an expiration date,” she explained.

In particular, she noted, “I don’t think men handle death and illness — most men I don’t want to generalize and say all men — but they don’t handle that as well as women do.”

She also shared that she’s been extremely vigilant herself when it comes to prospective partners, sharing with Ripa that she quickly ended things recently with a man because she “within 30 minutes saw a red flag.”

Ripa quickly sold her on a match of her own, without naming names — though it also could have been a made up individual.

“He’s a New Yorker though but he’s rich — that’s what you need!” Ripa told her. “You need a rich, financially stable, not threatened by your fame, not intimidated by your fame. He’s older, he’s established. He presents very normal and I’ve never seen a dark side to this guy.”

She said that this man had plenty of “cheese” to cover any elective procedures Doherty might mean, to which the Charmed alum replied she was “sold.”

Mostly, right now, Doherty said she’s looking for “companionship.” She also opened up about dealing with body insecurities after the various health procedures she’s undergone.

“I have so many scars from surgery that it’s like, how do you explain that ‘No, that isn’t from giving birth, that’s from reconstruction surgery,'” she shared. “You just start to feel, as a woman, I think very insecure about yourself.”

The 53-year-old said that the last time she felt good in her body (and about her body) was when she was in her 30s and working hard to stay in shape. But then, “it all fell apart again” when she hit her 40s.

The Charmed actress was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. While she was believed to be in remission in 2017, in 2019 she learned her cancer had metastasized as Stage 4 in her brain and bones.

As she prepares for another round of chemotherapy, Doherty spoke earlier this week about her anxieties about the procedures, which she joked is them “throwing the kitchen sink” at her disease during the latest episode of her own Let’s Be Clear podcast.

“It’s wrecked me in the sense of like,” she explained. “Yes I knew I had Stage 4, yes I knew it was really serious, but when you have to go to the hospital and you have to, you know, get put under and a port put in you, it becomes very real in a an incredibly different way.”

Along with beginning chemotherapy again, she is also dealing with her tumultuous divorce from Iswarienko. Doherty is seeking spousal support from the Hollywood photographer, according to the legal filing viewed by TooFab. She is also accusing him of delaying the legal process “in hopes” she “will not survive the divorce proceedings.”

However, Iswarienko’s lawyer is disputing that claim, stating that the 49-year-old “wants the best for Shannen” and hopes “to put this case behind them.”