The late Shannen Doherty was a television and movie icon; she’ll forever be known as Brenda Walsh in “Beverly Hills, 90210,” but she was also in a handful of cult classic movies like “Heathers” and “Mallrats.” Despite her Hollywood success, Doherty had no shortage of on-set drama that nearly ruined her career more than once. The star was no stranger to negative headlines and feuds with co-stars over the years, but she still managed to push past and continue a thriving acting career.
She started acting as a child
After a childhood in Tennessee, she started in plays before her family moved to LA when she was seven, and she landed TV roles with “Little House on the Prairie” and other projects. Her career exploded at age 19 with “90210,” which changed everything for Doherty. Her life would never be the same.
She wasn’t prepared for the fame that “Beverly Hills, 90210” caused
This teen drama brought a new kind of fame (and pressure) to Doherty, who said she was “accosted in malls” and had the role take over her life. Her character was stuck-up, and people couldn’t separate the role from the human, taking a toll on the actor who constantly dealt with negative feedback from the public and in the tabloids.
A bad reputation earned on set
Many were confused when Doherty left “90210” at the peak of its popularity, but she was so miserable, she didn’t feel as though she had a choice. She told Entertainment Weekly that the “sacrifice of a camera pointed in my face 24 hours a day” was simply too much. She also wasn’t happy with the new scripts, leading her coworkers to call her “callous.” Doherty also had several run-ins with the law throughout her career, was required to attend anger management counseling, and often wrote bad checks.
Tension on the set of “Charmed”
In 1998, Doherty joined “Charmed,” which lasted eight seasons, but she left after three. She was portrayed as the villain in the situation, just like in the last show she was on. She went after a co-star (reportedly Alyssa Milano) and said that despite the job being easy and paying well, all she did was complain. Milano later took responsibility for much of the tension, saying it stemmed from a competitive mindset rather than from the sisterhood mentality the show was about.
Shannen Doherty’s foray into reality TV
Like many stars with a bad rep, Doherty tried her hand at reality TV. In 2006, she launched “Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty,” which was an epic fail and was based on the premise of helping women end bad relationships, either platonic or romantic. Next, she joined “Dancing With The Stars” in 2010 but was the first contestant eliminated. Finally, she struck reality TV gold in 2014 with “Off The Map With Shannen & Holly,” a road trip show with her “Charmed” co-star Holly Marie Combs.
She dabbled in writing
Shannen Doherty embraced her bad girl persona with her memoir “Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life with Style and (the Right) Attitude.” The book focused on Doherty’s evolution over the course of her career and how she turned from a bad girl to a compassionate person who learned from her mistakes and made the most of the second chances she got in life.
Going public with her cancer journey
Doherty faced many battles, but the biggest was a breast cancer diagnosis in her early 40s. She went public in 2015 and revealed she had undergone chemo and a mastectomy, sharing that the disease had spread to her lymph nodes. While she was in remission after chemo and radiation, it came back, and in 2020, she shared that she had stage four breast cancer, telling followers on Instagram she hoped it would encourage others to get regular mammograms and checkups.
The tragic reason Doherty never had children
Doherty’s love life was just as tumultuous as her career, with her first two marriages ending just months after they started. She found her happy ending with photographer and cinematographer Kurt Iswarienko, but struggled with fertility as the meds she went on forced her to enter menopause. Instead of going on estrogen to remedy that, which could lead to cancer returning, she considered other avenues, but didn’t want her child to end up having to bury their mother.
The queen of the reboot — against her will
Given her on-set experiences, many were surprised that she came back for a reboot of “Heathers.” She previously refused to take part in a remake, but after reading the script, she changed her mind and made a cameo. Then, she was approached about showing up in the 2019 “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot, and while she initially turned it down, the death of her co-star Luke Perry inspired her to take the role and honor him.
She wouldn’t let cancer slow her down
After she shared the fact that she had stage four breast cancer with the world, she spoke to Variety about how her type of cancer could be treated but not cured. Still, she didn’t let fear take over. Instead, she remained dedicated to her passion: acting. She told Variety, “The best example that I can continue to set for other people with cancer, and to the outside world who doesn’t have cancer, is to show them what a cancer patient looks like. We are employable.”