Shannen Doherty, Star of Charmed, Heathers, and Beverly Hills, 90210, Dies at 53

Shannen Doherty, the actress and ’90s bad girl who made a controversy-courting career out of playing headstrong women with attitude to spare in the cult film Heathers and television shows Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed, and, has died.

‘It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” her publicist Leslie Sloane told People in a statement Sunday. “On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.”

Doherty announced on Good Morning America in February of 2020 that her breast cancer, initially diagnosed in 2015, and in remission in 2017 after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, had returned at Stage 4, appearing in her spine.

Doherty was best known for her breakout role as the feisty Brenda Walsh, twin sister to Brandon (Jason Priestley), on the wildly popular teen soap Beverly Hills, 90210, a character she played from 1990 to 1994. Years of tabloid caricature about her alleged “difficulty” on and off set would create the impression that Doherty the person was inseparable from Brenda the character, a claim that would follow much of her career—until increased attention toward Hollywood’s sexist treatment of actresses, as well as Doherty’s own self reflection and candor, would invite a softer view.

Born Shannen Maria Doherty on April 12, 1971, in Memphis, Tenn., to Rosa and Tom Doherty in a household steeped in Southern Baptist values, she first landed roles at age 10 on TV series Little House on the Prairie, Our House, and Magnum, P.I., and the film Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

But it was not until 1989, when Doherty, with her dark mane and determined gaze, would arrive, when she appeared alongside Winona Ryder as the unexpectedly formidable Heather Duke in the dark comedy Heathers. That film, a satirical spoof of teen angst about a band of mean girls, would introduce audiences to the persona Doherty would become known for: outwardly tough woman concealing an inner wound.

While on set for Heathers, Doherty later told People, she called out a married crew member for engaging in an affair with an extra, and was rebuked. “That was the first time I was called a bitch,” she recalled. The experience would inform and foreshadow her biggest role: Brenda Walsh, who arrives on 90210 as a wholesome yet insecure Midwestern girl who’s been freshly relocated to the most desirable zip code on earth.

Doherty played Brenda with a perpetually snippy defiance and occasional tenderness that held its own among equally popular cast members Priestley, Luke Perry, and Jennie Garth. But just as Doherty and company began making a splash with audiences, the press began coming after Doherty. She was accused of lateness and making outrageous demands. She fought with nightclub patrons, crew and cast, and, according to rumor, once physically with Garth. She had to attend an anger management course after throwing a beer bottle at a car. In 1992, Doherty caused a stir when she dropped out of hosting the Emmys after learning, she said, that the rest of the cast wouldn’t be given tickets to attend. Emmy program director Walter Miller, speaking to People, called her a “colossal pain in the ass.” So extreme was the vitriol against Doherty that at one point, an “I Hate Brenda” campaign was launched by fans of the show.

“The tabloids make up stuff,” Doherty told People in response to being called a bitch. She also claimed that they enjoyed poking at her, because “I’m a strong woman.” But Doherty did cop to some of the accusations.“I’m not saying I don’t have my moments of bitchiness, because everybody has them,” she said. “But it’s never for no reason.” Still, the public perception caught up to her eventually. Doherty was fired from the show in 1994 and replaced with a new character, Tiffany Amber Thiessen’s Valerie.

In spite of her reputation, Aaron Spelling still hired Doherty back for a new WB show in 1998: Charmed, where she channeled toughness as Prue Halliwell, the ass-kicking, protective older sister in a trio of witches. The show’s popularity among young female viewers — for a time, it held the number two most-watched slot among them — was not just a turn for Doherty, but it also spawned an early-2000s witchcraft craze.

Still, after three seasons, Doherty left a popular show once again due to drama on set, this time reportedly with costar Alyssa Milano. (Spelling considered once again replacing her with Thiessen, who declined. In the end, Rose McGowan came on as a fourth sister). From there, Doherty hosted a series of short-term projects, notably the highly underrated Scare Tactics, a Sci-Fi channel prank show in which guests enlist their unsuspecting friends into hidden-camera scenarios that test their beliefs about the supernatural.

In a 2010 interview with Parade Magazine pegged to the release of her book, Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life with Style and (the Right) Attitude, Doherty again addressed rumors that plagued her. “I have a rep,” she said. “Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after awhile, you sort of try to shed that rep because you’re kind of a different person. You’ve evolved, and all of the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”

That better place was finding love with photographer Kurt Iswarienko. The two starred together on Shannen Says, a reality show in which they planned their Malibu wedding. Her cancer’s reappearance also coincided with revisiting Brenda. In August of 2019, 90210 launched a reboot called BH90210 that reunited many of the show’s characters. The flurry of press from costars Priestley, Ian Ziering, and Jennie Garth indicated that their once highly publicized feuds were now water under the bridge. Doherty sent out well wishes for the premiere, thanking her costars directly. “I love my 90210 sisters and brothers that became family to me,” she wrote on Instagram. “I will love you all forever.”

Doherty told Elle that the cancer’s return, as well as the 2019 death of Perry, prompted her to say yes to the reboot. These days, she said, she was focused on gardening, spending time with Kurt, friends, and family, and wrapping up her affairs, far from the noise of an “I Hate Brenda” media circus. In 2016, Jennie Garth had posted an Instagram photo of a bumper sticker in support of Doherty’s cancer battle, signaling a new interpretation of the character for which she would always be known: It read “Fight Like a Brenda.”