Shannen Doherty Revealed the Sweet, Family-Focused Way She Spent Her First Big “90210 ”Paycheck

The actress died at the age of 53 on Saturday, July 13, following a years-long cancer battle

Shannen Doherty’s family was always at the top of her mind — even when she was just starting out in show business.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star, who died at the age of 53 on Saturday, July 13, previously revealed that when she earned her first big paycheck from the show she didn’t spend it on herself but rather her father, John Thomas Doherty Jr.

“I paid off some of my dad’s hospital bills,” Doherty shared during a 90s Con panel in Tampa, Florida, last September.

“I want to hear what you splurged on,” her 90210 costar Ian Ziering said in response. “That’s a beautiful thing, but — ”

“That was a splurge,” Doherty said. “We were eating rice and beans for the majority of my life. So when you can actually afford to start paying for something like that so that your dad is not getting phone calls every single day, and it’s making him panic, that’s a splurge.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer??, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Related: Shannen Doherty Said She Was Going Through the 'Hardest Time' She'd 'Ever Had' Prior to Her Death from Cancer

The Heathers actress previously shared on her Let’s Be Clear podcast that her father had been “in and out of the hospital” for years after having a “heart attack in his 30s.”

She recalled that her dad “must have had like 10 strokes, 11 heart attacks, [or] something like that” before his death in November 2010 at the age of 66.

Doherty, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and revealed in a November 2023 PEOPLE cover story that the cancer had spread to her bones, shared that her father and mother Rosa taught her to be strong, which helped her throughout her own cancer journey.

"I think I was always a fighter,” she previously recalled of her childhood, crediting her parents for her tenacity: “I was raised that way to be very strong and that I could do anything that I put my mind to."

Related: Shannen Doherty's Mother Speaks Out After Actress' Death: 'My Beautiful Girl and My Heart' (Exclusive)

The actress said that her father continued to be a big influence on her life, so much so that she revealed in a January podcast episode that she had instructed her burial arrangements be entwined with his.

"I want [my remains] to be mixed with my dog, and I want it to be mixed with my dad. I do not want to be buried and not cremated," Doherty said at the time, adding that her loved ones should distribute her ashes in "a healthy mixture" of ways.

Doherty's longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed the Charmed star's death in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Sunday, July 14.

"The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie," Sloane said, in part. "The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.