Shannen Doherty Reveals Cancer Has Spread to Her Bones

“Beverly Hills, 90210” star Shannen Doherty is battling stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to her bones, but she’s doing her best to live her life.

She told People magazine, “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.”

Despite the cancer spreading, Doherty, 52, is “not done with living.” She 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.”

A few months ago, Shannen took to Instagram to reveal that the cancer had spread to her brain.

She posted a video along with the message, “On January 5th, my ct scan showed Mets in my brain… January 12, the first round of radiation took place. My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life. I am fortunate as I have great doctors like Dr Amin Mirahdi and the amazing techs at cedar sinai. But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like.”

Doherty eventually went through surgery to remove a tumor from her brain. Alongside a video of her before the operation, she wrote, “I had a tumor in my head they wanted to remove and also biopsy. I am clearly trying to be brave but I am petrified. The fear was overwhelming to me.”

She added, “Scared of all possible bad outcomes, worried about leaving my mom and how that would impact her. Worried that I would come out of surgery not me anymore. This is what cancer can look like.”

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, “I'm feeling really good right now,” adding that her illness changed her outlook. “I learned so much about myself. I learned so much about the world and the people in it. 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.”

In 2020, when she learned of the stage 4 diagnosis, she told ABC News, “It's going to come out in a matter of days or a week that I'm stage 4. So, my cancer came back, and that's why I'm here. I don't think I've processed it. It's a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”