Shannen Doherty death: Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210 star dies, aged 53

Actor was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015

Charmed and Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty has died, aged 53.

The American actor died of breast cancer on Saturday (13 July) after being diagnosed with the disease in 2015.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” her publicist, Leslie Sloane, said in a statement, confirming the cause of her death.

“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie,” Sloane added in a statetemt shared with People. “The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”

Doherty went into remission in 2017 but in February 2020, she confirmed the cancer had returned to stage four.

In June 2023, the actor shared a video of the brain radiation treatment she was receiving, revealing her cancer had spread to her brain.

Five months later, Doherty told her fans the cancer had spread to her bones, but said that she would keep fighting the disease through treatment because “I’m not done with living”.

Doherty’s career was launched when she was 11 after being cast in short-lived series Little House on the Prairie in 1982, playing Jenny Wilder.

That same year, she voiced a character in animated film The Secret of NIMH and, later that decade, appeared opposite Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker in Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Reese Witherspoon in the family drama series Our House.

After a role in the 1988 cult film Heathers, Doherty shot to global fame when she was cast as Brenda Walsh in teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210. Brenda and her brother Brandon (Jason Priestley) were introduced as the main characters of the show, which depicted their experiences with a new group of teenages after being moved from Minnesota to California.

Shannen Doherty in ’Beverly Hills, 90210’ (Fox)

Also starring in the drama were Tori Spelling, Luke Perry, who died of a stroke in 2019, and Brian Austin Green, whom Doherty revealed she once briefly dated after she had left the show.

Doherty quit the series after four seasons in 1994 and, in 2008, was cast in a reboot produced by The CW. It was reported Doherty was paid up to $50,000 per episode; she featured in seven in total.

Another of the actor’s defining roles came courtesy of Beverly Hills, 90210 producer Aaron Spelling in 1998: Prue Halliwell in Charmed, a series about three sisters who are witches.

It was claimed that Doherty’s departure from the series, after three seasons, was due to behind-the-scenes tensions with her co-star Alyssa Milano.

In February 2024, their co-star Holly Marie Combs claimed that Doherty was fired after Milano issued an “ultimatum” to producers – something that Milano denied.

Shannen Doherty in ‘Charmed’ (The WB)

“I’m the most sad that a show that has meant so much to so many people has been tarnished by a toxicity that is still to this day, almost a quarter of a century later, still happening,” Milano said, adding: “And I’m sad that people can’t move past it. And I’m sad that we all can’t just celebrate the success of a show that meant so much to all of us.”

However, Doherty said that, in light of her health issues, “it is also incredibly important to me that the truth actually be told as opposed to the narrative that others put out there for me”.

During the 1990s, Doherty regularly made headlines due to her alleged off-screen reputation. Addressing these claims in 2010, the actor said: “I have a rep. Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after a while you sort of try to shed that rep because you’re kind of a different person. You’ve evolved and all of the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”

Doherty had a one-year marriage to Sunset Beach actor Ashely Hamilton in 1993 and a nine-month marriage to Rick Salomon in 2002. Salomon is a high-stakes poker player, who went on to marry Pamela Anderson twice – both marriages of which lasted for just one year.

At the time of Doherty’s death, she was in the process of divorcing her husband of 11 years, photographer Kurt Iswarienko.

Shannen Doherty has died, aged 53 (Getty Images)

Earlier this year, Doherty shared a “miraculous” health update, describing a new kind of treatment that she said felt like God “is intervening”.

She told her fans on an episode of her podcast Let’s Be Clear: “I’m on a new cancer infusion and after four treatments, we didn’t really see a difference and everybody wanted me to switch, and I just kinda was like, ‘We’re gonna keep going with this and see’ And yeah, after the sixth or seventh treatment, we really saw it breaking down the blood-brain barrier.”