For Shannen Doherty, it’s important to be “as honest as possible” as she continues her fight against cancer. The actress battled breast cancer between March 2015 and April 2017, and she revealed in February 2020 that the illness has returned.
“It’s going to come out in a matter of days or a week that — I’m stage IV. So my cancer came back. And that’s why I’m here,” the 48-year-old told Good Morning America’s Amy Robach, who has had her own experience with breast cancer. “I don’t think I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”
Doherty explained that her latest diagnosis came about a year ago, four months before the untimely death of her Beverly Hills, 90210 costar Luke Perry. “It’s so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go first,” she said. “It was really, like, shocking. And the least I could do to honor him was to do [reboot BH90210]. … One of the reasons, along with Luke, that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody [was] because I thought, ‘People can look at that [and see] other people with stage IV can work too.’ Like, you know, our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do.”
The Riverdale guest star also opened up about her emotional lows. “I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’” she admitted. “And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do.”
Doherty’s GMA interview wasn’t the first time she got candid with fans about her health struggles. Scroll down for more quotes from her cancer battle so far.