Shannen Doherty Calls Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment a ‘Miracle’: ‘I Sort of Rolled the Dice’

Amid her grueling battle with stage IV breast cancer, Shannen Doherty is finally feeling some hope. In the January 29 episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, the 52-year-old revealed that she had been undergoing a new treatment. At first, it didn’t appear to be working, but after the sixth or seventh dose, she said, the infusion began breaking down the blood-brain barrier — meaning that the medication was able to permeate the protective membrane around her brain to attack the cancer that spread there in 2023. “Everybody wanted me to switch [treatments], and I just kinda was like, ‘We’re gonna keep going with this and see,’” she shared, adding, “For me, that happens to be a miracle right now. That I sort of rolled the dice and said, ‘Let’s keep going.’”

The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. After undergoing a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, she announced she was in remission in 2017. But three years later the cancer returned — and had spread to her bones and brain. Last year, just as she was preparing to have surgery to remove a tumor in her brain, Shannen learned that her husband of more than 10 years, Kurt Iswarienko, was having an affair. After such dark times, her breakthrough feels heaven-sent. “That [the medication] is actually breaking down that blood-brain barrier is actually a miracle of that drug, a miracle of maybe God intervening and saying, ‘I’m gonna give her a break,’” the actress shared. “Sometimes you’re looking for miracles in all the wrong places, and they’re right in front of your face.”