UPDATE 03/20/2023:
Shannen Doherty attended the 2nd annual 90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut over the weekend where she and some of her former co-stars from the 90s supernatural series, Charmed, gave an update on her health regarding her ongoing battle with breast cancer.
Doherty sat down for a panel at the convention alongside Rose McGowan, Brian Krause, Dorian Gregory, Holly Marie Combs, and Drew Fuller, per People.
Regarding how she was doing, Shannen responded, “I’m feeling great, thank you!”
She went on to talk about the impact her character from Charmed, Prue Halliwell, had and still has on women everywhere and the symbol Shannen believed her character represented among the young women who watched the show.
“Prue was a very, very, very strong woman,” Doherty explained. “I was a really strong woman. I played her as that. And I think that did have a definitive impression upon a lot of younger women who were watching the show, to grow up with that sort of inner strength and to help their families and take care of their families. We’re very much about empowering women and empowering women within the show.”
Shannen was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 before entering remission two years later. But in 2020, her cancer returned and was diagnosed as stage 4.
Her co-stars, Brian Krause and Drew Fuller shared with E! News how they feel about Shannen’s bravery in fighting her cancer for all these years.
“She’s amazing. She’s a f–king warrior,” Drew declared. “She is so cool and calm and powerful. I’m in awe of her strength, and I’m constantly inspired by her.”
Brian talked about what he’s learned from Shannen’s strength, saying she taught him how to “keep throwing punches”.
“I think she’s underestimating how strong she is and strong-willed and determined,” Brian said. “She’s an inspiration, for sure.”
Not only has Shannen continued her career in entertainment, but she has also used her social status as a way of spreading awareness for breast cancer.
“I feel like I have a responsibility in my more public life, which I separate from my acting life … to talk about cancer and perhaps educate people more and let people know that people with stage 4 are very much alive and very active,” she said in a 2021 panel for her Lifetime movie, List of a Lifetime, per People.
“My husband [Kurt Iswarienko] says that you would never know that I have cancer,” she added. “I never really complain. I don’t really talk about it. It’s part of life at this point.”
She shared the reason for her spreading awareness on an Instagram post in October 2021, writing, “Is it all pretty? NO but it’s truthful and my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like. I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: It’s not easy to be a #cancerslayer, and Shannen Doherty isn’t afraid to say it.
This past March, the 51-year-old Charmed star shared a series of powerful photos amid her battle with breast cancer, with which she was diagnosed in 2015.
“Early morning doctors visit for scans. Blurry eyed. Hair askew but the new bandage wraps made me smile! #cancerslayer,” she wrote in the caption of the series of two Instagram photos. One image shows a fresh-faced Doherty smiling softly beneath a mask at a doctor’s office. The other is a close-up shot of a pink bandage wrap with purple hearts, presumably covering an IV in her arm.
In 2017, the actress shared that she had entered remission. But just a couple of years later, in 2020, Doherty revealed in an emotional interview on Good Morning America that her cancer had returned, and it had reached stage IV.
“I definitely have days where I say ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do,” she told GMA at the time.
Through the ups and downs of her fight, Doherty has never shied away from bringing her supporters along. In October 2021, the actress shared emotional details of her years-long reality, along with a series of photos taken along the way.
“For breast cancer awareness month, I’d like to share more of my own personal journey from my first diagnosis to my second,” Doherty wrote in the caption. “Is it all pretty? NO, but it’s truthful, and my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like.”
Part of that hope, Doherty says, is that her story will motivate others to look after their own health in ways they might have previously turned a blind eye to.
“I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut [through] the fear and face whatever might be in front of you,” she wrote.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), stage IV breast cancer is considered “incurable” after spreading to other areas of the body. But, Prevention explains, treatments such as chemotherapy and hormone therapy can slow and even shrink tumors.
A positive attitude and a bit of laughter can’t hurt, either.
“I cheered myself up by putting on funny pajamas that my friend Kristy gave me. Did they actually cheer me up? Yes!!” Doherty continued. “I looked ridiculous, and in that ridiculousness, I was able to laugh at myself. Finding humor helped get me [through] what seemed impossible. I hope we all find humor in the impossible.”
Updated Sources:
https://people.com/health/shannen-doherty-feeling-great-90s-con-appearance-charmed-cast/
