Shannen Doherty, a child performer who became a 1990s superstar on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” died Saturday after battling breast cancer. She was 53. After her 2015 breast cancer diagnosis, Doherty went into remission two years later.
The reprieve was brief. In a lawsuit against her insurance carrier over home damage in February 2020, Doherty alleged she was “dying” of incurable Stage 4 breast cancer because it had metastasized. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways,” Doherty told ABC’s “Good Morning America” previously.
“There are days I ask, ‘Why me?’ I think, “Why not me?” Who else deserves this besides me? None of us do.” Her heartbreaking Instagram post in June 2023 revealed that her illness had gone to her brain at the start of the year. “My fear is obvious.
Doherty stated he was claustrophobic and had a lot going on. Cancer can manifest as dread, turmoil, and timing. Doherty, born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 12, 1971, to a beauty salon owner mother and a banker father, reached Hollywood quickly.
Just three years after her family moved to Los Angeles, she made her acting debut on the short-lived series “Father Murphy” at 10. Michael Landon recognized the little actress and cast her in 18 episodes of “Little House on the Prairie” the next year as Laura Ingalls Wilder's adopted daughter. Several jobs followed, including a three-year main role in the Wilford Brimley family drama “Our House” (1986-88) and a major role.