Shannen Doherty's Sad Final Words: 'I’ve No Idea How Long I'm Going to be on Chemo For... It’s Scary, but I’m Hopeful'

Cancer-stricken Shannen Doherty shared her fears and hopes about her chemotherapy therapy in some of her final words. Knewz.com can reveal the Beverly Hills, 90201 actress — who died aged 53, on Saturday, July 13 — used one of her last podcast chats to admit she had “no idea” how long the treatment would last.

Poignantly, she said she was finally “hopeful” about her chances of survival as the “molecular structure” of her cancer cells meant she had a variety of options for medical intervention. She said on her Let’s Be Clear podcast, on which she documented her cancer and other battles: "I’ve no idea how long I'm going to be on chemo for... It’s scary, but I’m hopeful," The Beverly Hills, 90210 star's publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed the heartbreaking news in a Sunday, July 14, statement. "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," the announcement read. "The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie . The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace," Sloane told outlets.

Doherty battled breast cancer for several years. Her illness was publicly revealed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse. In December 2016, she posted a photo of her first day of radiation, calling the treatment “frightening” for her. In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned, and she was at stage four.

"I think that cancer has been one of the absolute best and one of the worst things to ever happen to me in my entire life. It changed me as a human being," the Charmed actress told listeners during a recent episode of the Oldish podcast. "It made me grow up in a totally different way," she continued. "It made me look at life and relationships very differently. My values shifted. My priorities shifted. I feel much more clearer [sic] and much more focused."

As a child star, she worked steadily in such TV series as Little House on the Prairie , in which she played Jenny Wilder. Doherty would go on to star in several films such as Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Heathers , but in 1990, the actor scored her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama Beverly Hills, 90210 . She ended up leaving the hit TV show at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), reportedly removed by Spelling because of conflicts with her co-stars and chronic lateness. Doherty became an advocate for cancer awareness and care and spoke to the Associated Press in 2021 about how spending years with the disease affected her life and sense of optimism. “When you get something like cancer, your tolerance for drama is zero. I don’t like people wasting my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s odd because I think if you look back, you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, it’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I was necessarily into the drama. I just think if we took young 18-year-old Shannon, 19-year-old Shannon, and we took her and planted her like right now, I would be a nerd and nobody would be writing about me.”