Shannen Doherty, 49, is in the midst of a battle with stage IV breast cancer, and she has the full support of her Beverly Hills 90210 co-stars. “I texted with Shannen last week,” Ian Ziering told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY while promoting his show Swamp Things, which premieres on Oct. 6 at 8:00 p.m. on the CW. “We don’t always talk about, ‘How are you doing, how are you feeling?’, but I can tell from our text messages that she’s as feisty as ever and Shannen is resilient.”
Ian also explained why he feels so confident that Shannen won’t give up while fighting her disease. “Shannen has proven herself to be a fighter,” he explained. “There is a cutting edge in technology and the cutting edge of science, and I know that Shannen is right there. I feel very confident. I pray for her to be well, but I kind of deep down know that she’s going to be fine. There’s just no stopping Shannen! She’s proved that! With it being Breast Cancer Awareness month, we all acknowledge that. The cast will acknowledge that in one way or another.”
Shannen was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and it eventually spread to her lymph nodes. In 2016, she had a mastectomy, and underwent chemo and radiation to fight the illness. In March 2017, she happily announced that she was in remission. However, at the time, she also acknowledged that she knew the “next five years” would be “crucial,” as cancer patients aren’t considered “cured” until the disease is in remission for that amount of time.
Unfortunately, just two years later, Shannen’s cancer returned. However, she didn’t announce that she was sick again until Feb. 2020, a full year after she learned the news herself. Shannen appeared on Good Morning America to share the devastating diagnosis with fan. She was quite emotional in the interview, and admitted to viewers, “I don’t think that I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.”
During the GMA interview, she confirmed that she had been battling cancer when she filmed the 90210 re-boot in 2019. In fact, she got her diagnosis before the death of another Beverly Hills 90210 star, Luke Perry, in March 2019. “It was so weird for me to be diagnosed and then [for] someone who was seemingly healthy to go first,” she said. “It was really shocking.” Shannen’s cancer is now in stage IV.
