Shannen Doherty Shares That She Has ’10 Or 15 Years’ Left Amid Cancer Battle

Published on September 30, 2020.

Shannen Doherty has opened up about her ongoing health battle and how she’s handling the current global health and safety concerns.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress revealed in February that her breast cancer had returned as stage 4. “I haven’t sat down to write letters. That’s something I need to do,” Doherty told Elle. “There are things I need to say to my mom [Rosa]. I want my husband [Kurt Iswarienko] to know what he’s meant to me.”

“But whenever it comes time for me to do it, it feels so final. It feels like you’re signing off, and I’m not signing off,” she says. “I feel like I’m a very, very healthy human being. It’s hard to wrap up your affairs when you feel like you’re going to live another 10 or 15 years.”

As she continues her battle, Doherty shared that she is enjoying life’s simple moments while at home in quarantine. “I try to treasure all the small moments that most people don’t really see or take for granted,” she shared. “The small things are magnified for me. We have this endless well within us, and it’s just about continuing to dig in that well for the strength to face adversity—and so that we can also see all the beauty.”

Doherty also shared that she is currently working on several projects and is working as an advocate for other metastatic breast cancer patients. “It’s like anybody with Stage IV faces this sort of thing, where others want to put you out to pasture,” she says. “I’m not ready for pasture. I’ve got a lot of life in me.”