Shannen Doherty Has ‘No Idea’ How Long She Will Undergo Chemotherapy for Stage 4 Breast Cancer
Shannen Doherty has “no idea” how long she will undergo chemotherapy as her breast cancer battle continues.
The actress offered a major health update during her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast on Monday, June 24, revealing that she’s gearing up for another round of chemo — and has to get a port this time around.
“It's really hard. Like, the idea of going through that all over again has wrecked me,” she admitted. “When you have to go to the hospital and you have to, you know, get put under [and] a port, put in you, it becomes very real in an incredibly different way.”
If after three months, the chemo isn’t working, Doherty said that the plan will have “to change again.”
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“That's not something that I can predict. It's not something my doctors can predict. And it's scary,” she continued. “It's like a big wake-up call.”
Doherty initially revealed her cancer diagnosis in 2015. She has continued to update fans on her cancer journey after the disease returned in 2017 following years of remission. In November 2023, Doherty shared that the cancer had spread to her bones.
“At the same time, I got to say that there is some positivity there,” she said on Monday’s podcast. “And the positivity is that because my molecular structure of my cancer cells changed recently, it means that there's a lot more protocols for me to try.”
She admitted this was the “first time in a couple months” that she felt hopeful.
Amid her ongoing health battle, Doherty is also going through a divorce from husband Kurt Iswarienko. The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum filed for divorce from Iswarienko in April 2023 after 11 years of marriage.
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“I start chemo probably a couple of days after this episode is out. I go in for my first round of chemo. And to just be walking into the unknown, I just feel like my life has been unknown for over a year now,” Doherty added. “Between divorce and cancer, it's like I have no grasp on it and I have no control. And most people who know me know that I'm like a control freak. I like to control things.”
With her cancer, specifically, Doherty noted “there's really no controlling it,” despite how hard she tries.
“It doesn't matter how much research I do. It doesn't matter how much, like, natural, holistic, like, believe me, you guys, I try everything. I'm very much a person who is open to all of that. And it doesn't help me. And medicine and science has kept me alive and helped me the longest,” she said. “Sometimes you're like, ‘Oh, again, I don't want to lose my hair. I don't want to be sick. I want to be a normal person.’”
