Shannen Doherty, 53, died of cancer on Saturday. She was best known for her performances in blockbuster TV dramas such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” her publicist, Leslie Sloane, said in a statement. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt, and friend was surrounded by her loved ones, including her dog, Bowie.”
Doherty’s acting career spanned over four decades. She is best known for playing Brenda Walsh on four seasons of 90210, a series that followed a group of Beverly Hills teenagers dealing with relationship and family issues. Her performance earned her several award nominations.
She reprised her role as Brenda in the 2008 reboot of the series, where her character had grown up to become a theatre actress.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015, Doherty underwent a mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy. In 2017, she reported that she was in remission, but two years later, the cancer reappeared.
Doherty was open about her battle with cancer, documenting her journey on social media. In a June 2023 Instagram video, she revealed that the cancer had spread to her brain. Despite the spread to her bones, she remained committed to fighting the disease.
“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating,” she said to People magazine in November 2023.
Born in Memphis, Ms. Doherty began acting as a child. She appeared in several television shows, including Voyagers, Our House, and Father Murphy, before playing Jenny Wilder in Little House on the Prairie when she was 11 years old.
Three years later, in 1985, she landed her first significant film part in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, co-starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt.
Ms Doherty co-starred with Winona Ryder, Lisanne Falk, and Kim Walker in the legendary teen picture Heathers, released in 1988.
The actress battled with her youth and fame at the time, garnering a reputation as a troublemaker on the set of 90210.
“I was very confused back then about what I wanted for myself, and the attention was way too much,” she said. “I didn’t always handle it that well.”
She later starred in Charmed, a show about three sisters who are witches.
Doherty also had roles in North Shore, set in a Hawaiian hotel, and the offbeat comedy film Mallrats.
The actress was married twice before marrying her current husband, photographer Kurt Iswarienko, in 2011.
In the 2010s, she ventured into reality TV, appearing on Dancing With The Stars and the US version of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Doherty was a passionate animal rights activist. Her semi-autobiographical book Badass, released in 2010, encouraged young women to live life with attitude and confidence.
