Shannen Doherty has passed away after battling cancer for 9 years, aged 53.

American actor Shannen Doherty, best known for her role as high school student Brenda Walsh on hit 1990s television drama Beverly Hills, 90210, has died after years of living with cancer, People reports.

She was just 53.

"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease," Doherty's publicist Leslie Sloane told the publication. 

Doherty had been public about her battle with breast cancer, first disclosing in 2015 that she was undergoing treatment for the disease. It became public as part of a lawsuit, filed in the middle of that year, in which she alleged that her management had failed to keep her health insurance up to date. 

The actress claimed she wasn't able to see her doctor for regular check-ups while she was uninsured, and it wasn't until she was able to re-enroll with the Screen Actor's Guild in 2015 that she could seek treatment, by which stage her breast cancer had already progressed.

"Had she been insured and able to visit her doctor, the cancer could potentially have been stopped, thus obviating the need for the future treatment (including mastectomy and chemotherapy) that Plaintiff will likely have to suffer through now," the lawsuit read.

"There was a lump, and I had a mammogram and then a biopsy," she told Health Magazine in February 2019. "When I got the results, I was in the car with my mum and I just knew. The longer I sat, the more it started sinking in. Then I started crying. I called my husband and told him. And from there, I just put together a team."

After two years of treatment, Doherty was in remission. However, in February 2020, the cancer had returned, and this time, it had progressed to stage 4.

"It’s going to come out in a matter of days or a week that—I'm stage IV. So my cancer came back. And that's why I'm here," she told Good Morning America at the time. "I don't think I've processed it. It's a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways."

In 2023, she had a brain tumour removed and revealed that the cancer had spread to her bones.

"I'm not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better," she told People at the time. "I'm just not — I’m not done... I don't want to die."

The actress, who had previously starred in the movie Heathers, gained widespread popularity on 90210 for her portrayal of Brenda, an honour roll student from Minnesota who struggled to fit in with her classmates in the wealthy zip code.

Her character on the show became entwined in a love triangle with Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) and Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth). 

In real life, Doherty clashed with Garth and other cast mates and left 90210 during its fourth season in 1994. The show continued through 2000 without her.

In 1998, 90210 producer Aaron Spelling cast Doherty in supernatural series Charmed as Prue Halliwell, the oldest of three sisters with magical abilities.

The show was a hit, but also subject to reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil.

Listen to The Spill hosts explain the Shannen Doherty story you won’t hear after her death.

People magazine called Doherty "the iconic 'bad girl' of the nineties," citing her reputation for partying, turning up late on sets and feuding with actors, and her bosses.

In 2023, on her podcast called Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty the actor said she took "full responsibility for her actions" and acknowledged her behaviour "would get a little carried away" when she was frequenting nightclubs in her early 20s.

She also said she spoke up more than other women working in television at the time, telling Spelling and others when she thought a script needed improvement.

"I was raised to have an opinion, and that my opinion should be valued, so I just kept on pressing up against that machine, up against men who didn't really want to hear my opinion," she said on the podcast.

Later, "I learned the simple art of diplomacy. I learned that there might be a nicer way to say some things," she said.

The actor reprised the role of Brenda for 90210 reboots in 2008 and 2019 and said she and Garth had reconciled leaving their teenage conflicts behind.

Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 12, 1971, and began acting as a child. At age 11, she played Jenny Wilder in the final season of TV classic Little House on the Prairie.

Doherty was married three times, most recently to photographer Kurt Iswarienko. She filed for divorce from him in 2023.

The pair first met in 2008 and married in October 2011. They would be together for 12 years, however, Doherty would later claim that Iswarienko had engaged in a two-year affair.

"Divorce is the last thing Shannen wanted. Unfortunately, she felt she was left with no other option," Doherty’s rep, Leslie Sloane, told People at the time. 

"I went into that surgery early in the morning and I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years," she said on her podcast. "To not go in that surgery, even though, being very clear, he wanted to go, I couldn't go into that surgery with him there. I felt so betrayed.

"At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart."

While Doherty filed for divorce in 2023, the final separation dragged on. 

"While I have been unable to work, incurring exorbitant medical expenses not covered by insurance to undergo experimental treatments in hopes of prolonging my life, Kurt has been utilising the airplane, spending thousands of dollars at medical spas, jewellery stores, Gucci, and on flights for his 'agent' while simultaneously claiming that he has insufficient funds with which to support me," Doherty claimed in court documents.

"It is abundantly clear to me that Kurt is intentionally delaying settlement in hopes that I will not survive the divorce proceedings.

That was just a month before her passing. 

— via AAP.

Read more on Shannen Doherty: 

• Shannen Doherty has passed away after battling cancer for 9 years, aged 53.
• Shannen Doherty battled cancer for 9 years before her death. Her ex-husband made her suffer until the end.
• Shannen Doherty says Alyssa Milano 'blocked' her visits when Holly Marie Combs was in hospital.
• Shannen Doherty was divorcing her husband of 11 years. She felt she was 'left with no other option'.

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