Shannen Doherty Downsizes Belongings Amid Cancer Battle to Help Mom After She’s Gone

Shannen Doherty is selling and giving away her possessions as she battles stage 4 breast cancer, which has now spread to her brain and bones.

The actress shared the update on her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, explaining she wants to downsize in hopes of helping her mom, Rosa Doherty, after she’s gone.

Doherty revealed that her love of antiquing resulted in storage units full of furniture, but now she’s ready to part with her precious collection.

“My priority at the moment is my mom — I know it's going to be hard on her if I pass away before her,” the actress said. “Because it's going to be so hard on her, I want other things to be a lot easier. I don't want her to have a bunch of stuff to deal with. I don't want her to have four storage units filled with furniture.”

While the 52-year-old said it feels like she’s “giving up” something “special,” she knows, “It’s the right thing to do.”

“It's going to give you a sense of peace and a sense of calm,” Doherty shared. “Because you're helping the people that you leave behind just have a cleaner, easier transition.”

The “Beverly Hills, 90210” alum said of the items in storage, “I'm not enjoying it and others aren't enjoying it, and do I really need any of it? Do I need to have three dining room tables?”

She insisted, “The answer is no, none of us really need all the stuff that we have, and we could all do with a little bit of downsizing and not become a hoarder, which I was doing with all my furniture.”

Shannen said she is excited to use the money she earns to take her mom on vacation… without touching her estate.

“It’s just stuff,” Doherty said. “I don't need this, it doesn't really bring me any great joy, but what does bring me great joy is taking my mom to the places that she's always wanted to go to.

“I get to build different memories. I get to build memories with the people I love.”

She added, “I get to take my mom on vacations because I have all this extra play money lying around and I'm not digging into the money that's in my estate that's going to make sure that everybody in my life is taken care of once I'm dead.”

The star insisted that memories “are the things that matter the most — not your possessions, not what you have.”

Shannen has been candid about her journey, telling People magazine in November that she’s “not done with living.”

She shared at the time, “I don’t want to die. I think I would be afraid of death if I wasn’t a good person, but I am. I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to die, like, ever.”

Doherty emphasized, “I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better. I’m just not — I’m not done.”

Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, but went into remission. She revealed in 2017 that the cancer had returned.

In 2019, she told “Extra’s” Renee Bargh that her illness changed her outlook. “I learned so much about myself. I learned so much about the world and the people in it,” she said. “You learn to be soft, and you still learn to cut through the B.S. and get straight to the point because you're thinking for the rest of your lifetime is precious, time is short and you don't want to waste it, and I think that's something that is really beautiful. You really learn to appreciate the moments that need to be appreciated.”