(Los Angeles) Shannen Doherty, the star of Beverly Hills, 90 210 whose life and career were devastated by illness and tabloid reports, has died at the age of 53.
Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane, provided to the magazine. People. She had been suffering from breast cancer for years.
Her illness was publicly revealed in a 2015 lawsuit against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and failed to provide her health insurance. She later shared intimate details of her treatment following a breast mastectomy. In December 2016, she posted a photo of her first day of radiation therapy, calling the treatment “scary” for her.
In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and that she was in stage four. She said she spoke out because her condition could be revealed in court. The actress had sued insurance giant State Farm after her California home was damaged in a fire in 2018.
PHOTO KEVORK DJANSEZIAN, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Shannen Doherty, in 2016
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family at age seven and within a few years became an actress.
“It was completely my decision,” she told The Associated Press (AP) in a 1994 interview. “My parents never pushed me to do anything. They supported me. It really didn’t matter if I was a soccer player — they would still support me and love me.”
As a child actress, she worked regularly in television series such as Little House on the Meadowin which she played Jenny Wilder. As a teenager, she took a detour to the big screen in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) and Heathers.
In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actress landed her role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teen melodrama, set in upscale Beverly Hills. She and Brenda’s twin brother Brandon, played by Jason Priestley, were Midwesterners in need of direction.
However, Doherty’s fame came with intense media scrutiny and reports of her excesses, drinking and impulsiveness, particularly after a very brief marriage to George Hamilton’s son.
She left 90210 at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), with her role reportedly being cut by Spelling due to conflicts with her co-stars and chronic lateness.
But in her 1994 interview with the AP, Doherty described her life as peaceful. But in 1997, she was ordered to undergo therapy to control her temper by a Beverly Hills court after she was accused of smashing a beer bottle through the windshield of a vehicle during an argument.
Spelling rehired Doherty in 1998 for the fantasy series Charmed with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milan. She left the series in 2001.