Shannen Doherty isn't afraid to get candid about cancer . Ever since she was first diagnosed with the disease in 2015 , the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum has been outspoken about the ups and downs of her health journey. And even when her breast cancer returned as stage 4 in 2019 after entering remission two years prior, she continued to share her story.
Whether it's documenting her hair loss from chemotherapy treatments or detailing her brain surgery , Shannen has been an open book through it all. Why? "My hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like," she wrote in a 2021 Instagram post marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month. "I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you.
" And in driving her own narrative, Shannen also hopes to disprove assumptions around cancer patients. "I want people to not hear stage 4 cancer and think of the person that is gray and falling over," Shannen—who has been actively working in Hollywood amid her health struggles—once told friend Sarah Michelle Gellar in an Entertainment Tonight interview , "and they can't move and they're going into hospice." She continued, "You get written off so quickly, even though you're vital and healthy and happy and wanting to go out there and work.
" In fact, Shannen is determined to not let her diagnosis put a damper on her zest for life. “I’m not done with living," she shared wit.