(WatchDogReport.org) – Actress Shannen Doherty died on July 13 in a health center in Malibu, California, at the age of 53, after a breast cancer she had been battling for years.
In a statement sent to PEOPLE, Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed her death and said that the actress of Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210 was surrounded by her family and loved ones, including her dog Bowie. She added that the actress’ family wanted privacy so they could grieve her “in peace.”
Doherty, who critics considered Hollywood’s iconic “bad girl” of the 1990s, started her career in the 1980s on the TV shows Voyagers! and Father Murphy, where she showed not only her charisma but also her acting skills. Her success in both shows was so great that she eventually landed on Little House on the Prairie, where Doherty played the role of the iconic Jenny Wilder in what ended up being her star turn.
Doherty’s career reached one of its highest points in 1988 with Heathers and her most famous role as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210, where she became one of the renowned TV figures of the moment. Her firing from the show in 1994 was one of the most significant controversies in the TV industry as she was one of the fans’ favorite characters, and she had four successful seasons. While the reasons behind her firing were a mystery for years, Doherty’s colleague and the show’s co-star Tori Spelling admitted during an interview in 2015 that played a major role in Doherty getting fired.
That same year, Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer, announcing in 2017 she was finally in remission. However, she said in February 2020 that she was going through Stage 4 breast cancer and admitted she was “fighting” to survive. Doherty eventually told her fans in November 2023 that her cancer had spread to her brain and bones. At the time, she told PEOPLE that she didn’t want to die, as she felt she wasn’t done with loving and living.
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