The '90210' actor fought like hell to survive

Shannen Doherty, the star of “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Heathers” and “Charmed,” among others, was a talented actress who immediately commanded attention on screen. Her dark hair, green eyes and slightly crooked teeth made her stand out, even as a child: No one looked like her. And her delivery of her lines, with an energetic, sometimes awkward cadence, made viewers lean in to listen. Doherty often looked angry; it was easy to assume she was irritated.

Gen X lost an icon this weekend with Doherty’s passing at age 53. She is the second “Beverly Hills, 90210” cast member to die, following Luke Perry who died of a stroke in 2019 at age 52. It’s two too many, of course, but devoted listeners of Doherty’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, myself included, may be feeling especially confused and bereft today. I was listening not only as a journalist, observer and fan who had found her fascinating since her explosive fame in the early ’90s, but also as an acquaintance of Doherty’s who had discussed cancer with her on a more personal level, having lived through my own cancer nightmare, with ovarian cancer.

On the June 23 episode of “Let’s Be Clear” (just three weeks ago), an emotional Doherty spoke about having to take a new chemotherapy drug, an IV, after years of taking pills. Fighting back tears, Doherty spoke candidly about how scared she was. But she also spoke about her hopes, because her cancer cells had changed and there might be other protocols to try. “For the first time in probably a few months, I feel hopeful?” Doherty said cheerfully. “Because there are so many more protocols now. Whereas before, I was hopeful, but I was still preparing.”

Doherty’s hard-earned optimism made the news of her death all the more shocking. Her breast cancer returned in early winter 2019, this time as stage 4 metastatic cancer, which is very serious; she had even had brain surgery last year to remove lesions there. But despite the gravity of her situation, Doherty continued to move forward in her career: Last week, she and her former “Charmed” castmates Holly Marie Combs, Brian Krause and Drew Fuller announced that she would be joining their podcast rerun of the show’s “House of Halliwell,” and that they would be rebooting it with her.

The questions about Shannen Doherty’s cancer treatment are details to be considered in the grand scheme of life. But they’re the ones that concern me today. Because Shannen Doherty didn’t expect to die.

She leaves behind a considerable legacy. Doherty's family moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to Los Angeles when she was 7, and she began auditioning. Her first major role was on the final season of “Little House on the Prairie” at age 11, and she worked tirelessly from there.

In 1988's “Heathers,” a film that has become so cult classic that it's hard to remember what a hit it was, Doherty played Heather Duke, who would snap at Winona Ryder with lines like, “Veronica, why are you pulling my dick?” And when Veronica, played by Ryder, asked her why she had to be a “mega-bitch,” Doherty responded with her trademark smirk, “Because I can be.”

But it was “Beverly Hills, 90210,” which aired in 1990 to an initial audience of zero, that launched Doherty into the stratosphere. The Fox teen soap opera, a novelty at the time, revolved around Brenda Doherty and her twin brother Brandon (Jason Priestley) moving from Minnesota to Beverly Hills — and the culture shock that came with it. Brenda and Brandon were our guides into this opulent world of excess and breakups that teens and young adults would watch together every week for years, like a ritual. Brenda’s lament over losing her virginity in Season 1 to Perry’s character, Dylan McKay, made national headlines and was seen by some (hilariously!) as a breakdown-inducing end of civilization.

Overall, “90210” made superstars of its cast, and while I’m sure it wasn’t easy for any of them, the press focused particularly on Doherty. She was probably doing what most other twentysomething women were doing at the time, but she became a tabloid fixture, a notorious celebrity in the pre-Internet world: She was a real pest, and it was literally spectacular to watch. She came of age just as the paparazzi and gossip press, which a decade later would hound Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears, among others, were starting to create recurring narratives about young women as living disasters. Following Doherty’s antics was a sport — and it was mean. Really mean.

I first interviewed Doherty for the Los Angeles Times In late summer 2008, when she was set to star in the CW’s “90210” reboot, she was hesitant to agree to the interview — she understandably hated the press — but once we were in her trailer on the set, we chatted for hours. At the time, she was riding a wave of nostalgia that had welcomed her back into the spotlight, having stepped aside after leaving “Charmed” in 2001. (The circumstances of her departure were unclear at the time; Doherty has since made it clear she was fired.)

“90210” was filmed at a high school in El Segundo, and Doherty seemed nervous at first. But once it got going, she talked about how her father’s health — he’d suffered from various heart conditions since she was a child — had affected her just as “Beverly Hills, 90210” was reaching its peak, both in terms of “inappropriate behavior,” as she put it, and practical things, like his persistent tardiness. She went way beyond what I expected, in terms of revealing personal details, talking about her brief marriage to poker celebrity Rick Salomon, who later became a public pervert, infamous for playing and distributing her Paris Hilton sex tape “1 Night in Paris.” She brought it up out of nowhere, seeming to want to talk about it. “It ended up being very embarrassing for me, humiliating and disgusting,” Doherty said.

She seemed like she wanted to set the record straight, mentioning it before I could even think about it. She seemed to regret her early fame and the way she had handled things, without being defensive. She had tears in her eyes and choked up several times as we talked, but she was also terribly funny.

We exchanged information (her email address was her dog’s name) and went to dinner once. She had gotten involved with Pasadena magazine, somewhat inexplicably, and asked if I wanted to work there. (I didn’t, but it was nice of her to offer.) We talked about our shared passion for gambling (she was an expert craps player, she told me) and discussed the possibility of running into each other in Las Vegas someday. I had no illusions: she was Shannen Doherty! We lost touch. Obviously.

After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, I followed her treatment closely, which was easy to do since she documented it diligently on Instagram. When she announced she was in remission in April 2017, I was in my own cancer hell, having been diagnosed with ovarian cancer the previous summer. I sent her a private message when she tweeted her good news, briefly telling her about my own situation, and she responded, “I’m so sorry to hear this. Are you happy with your doctors? Mine are incredible. They’ve saved so many people. Researchers. Doctors. The best. I’d be happy to connect you.” (It was a wonderful offer that I didn’t have to accept, thankfully.)

I interviewed her again in September 2021 as part of Varieties Issue on the power of women, She remembered me being sick and we talked about cancer and chemotherapy, two indescribable experiences. The story was about how prolific she had been that year as an actress, despite her stage 4 cancer: she had been in three movies in a row and all she wanted to do was work. She had also done a PSA about breast cancer for Lifetime and had plans to do more directing.

“The best example I can give to other people with cancer and people without cancer,” Doherty said, “is to show them what a cancer patient looks like. We are employable.”

I cheered her on from the sidelines as she listened to “Let’s Be Clear.” The topics were as varied as she was, but I was interested in all of them. She asked her doctors about her treatment — which was very enlightening for those of us who don’t have that kind of access to our oncologists — and she also welcomed friends like Sarah Michelle Gellar and director James Cullen Bressack. She talked to people she’d worked with, like Priestley and Brian Austin Green of “90210,” and “Mallrats” director Kevin Smith (they seemed so fond of each other). And she had a cathartic reconciliation with Tori Spelling, during which they cleared up everything that happened on “90210,” which of course involved Spelling’s father, Aaron Spelling, the powerful producer.

Not everyone was spared: She obliquely alluded to her “90210” enemies, without naming them, but it was easy enough to guess. And on “Charmed,” Doherty blamed Alyssa Milano for her ouster, and her friend Holly Marie Combs agreed with her assessment. (Milano publicly denied having anything to do with the affair, prompting Doherty to redouble her efforts.)

Doherty would also talk to her mother, and they would discuss Shannen’s childhood, their life together, and her illness. I think especially now of her mother, whom she called Mama Rosa. Sometimes it would just be Doherty, and she would talk about how terrified and angry she was about the situation. But then she would bounce back and get back up. Her most recent guest was Katherine Heigl, and they bonded over assertiveness on set, assertiveness that was then twisted and misinterpreted to fit other people’s narratives about who they were.

It's impossible to know how to end this essay, because she wasn't supposed to die now. The world is less exciting without Shannen Doherty.