Actor Shannen Doherty Dies at 53

Actor Shannen Doherty, of Beverly Hills 90210 fame, has died at age 53 after nearly a decade-long fight with cancer, reports People. "It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty," Doherty's publicist Leslie Sloane said in a statement. Calling her a "devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend," Sloane said that Doherty "was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie," when she passed away Saturday. Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, which was revealed in a lawsuit she filed against her business managers, alleging that they allowed her health insurance to lapse, reports the AP. Afterward, Doherty was public about her health struggles, chronicling her radiation and mastectomy. In 2020, she said that the disease had returned at a stage four level.

Doherty moved to Los Angeles at age 7 with her family and her acting career began a few years later, per the AP. "It was completely my decision," she told the AP in 1994. "My parents never pushed me into anything. They support me. It really wouldn't matter if I was a professional soccer player—they'd still be as supportive and loving." That interview came four years after she scored her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in 90210, but she had previous roles in Little House on the Prairie, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Heathers. (More Shannen Doherty stories.)