Shannen Doherty Is ‘Downsizing’ Her Belongings Amid Breast Cancer Battle: ‘It’s Just Stuff’
Shannen Doherty is continuing to open up about the difficult decisions that come with battling stage IV breast cancer.
Doherty, 52, revealed on the Monday, April 1, episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast that she’s begun “downsizing” her possessions. “It doesn’t matter if you have a terminal disease or whatever, I believe, yes, obviously, you should live life to its fullest and embrace life while you’re alive,” she shared. “But I guess it’s the cancer, for me, that has really made me take stock of my life and shift my priorities, and my priority at the moment is my mom.”
Her downsizing process has included letting go of a Tennessee property, which she described as “really hard” and “really emotional,” as well as going through her storage units with friends.
“It feels like you're giving up on something that was very special and important to you,” Doherty said of letting go of her items. “[But] you know that it's the right thing to do and that it's going to give you a sense of peace and a sense of calm because you're helping the people that you leave behind just have a cleaner, easier transition.”
‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Alum Shannen Doherty’s Cancer Battle in Quotes
Doherty went on to poke fun at herself, saying that she was a “hoarder” for collecting lots of furniture she doesn’t need. “None of us really need all the stuff that we have, and we could all do with a little bit of downsizing and not become a hoarder, which I was doing with all my furniture,” she added.
Though she’s “not enjoying it,” parting ways with some of her stuff has opened the door to share new experiences and travel with her friends and family. “I don't need this, it doesn’t really bring me any great joy, but what does bring me a lot of joy is taking my mom to the places that she’s always wanted to go to and building those memories with her,” she stated.
Doherty continued: “I do have a ticking time clock over me, so I’m not interested in lies. I’m not interested in anything but spreading my truth, being truthful to myself, being truthful to the people around me, being truthful to the fans and just living the most authentic life that I possibly can while I’m still here.”
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. Three years after she entered remission in 2017, Doherty revealed that her cancer had returned and had developed to stage IV. In November 2023, she announced that her cancer had spread to her bones.
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“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving,” she told People at the time. “I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better.”
Earlier this year, Doherty told her podcast listeners that she was seeing positive results after switching to a new cancer infusion treatment. “For me, that happens to be a miracle right now,” she said in January. “That I sort of rolled the dice and said, ‘Let’s keep going.’”
Doherty recently shared her support for Princess Kate Middleton after the royal announced last month that she had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer. “Princess Kate, I admire your strength [through] the endless onslaught you’ve been under while going [through] cancer,” Doherty wrote via Instagram on March 22.
