Shannen Doherty Says She Is ‘Very Much Alive and Very Active’ Despite Stage 4 Breast Cancer
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Shannen Doherty is starring in a new Lifetime movie titled List of a Lifetime, about a woman with breast cancer—her first acting project related to the condition.
The Heathers actress, 50, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and announced it went into remission in 2017. Last year she said it had returned as stage four.
“It’s part of life at this point,” Doherty told reporters. “My husband says that you would never know that I have cancer.”
Shannen Doherty has always been open about her long battle with breast cancer. Now, her newest project delves deeper into the reality of living with the condition—and she’s revealing even more about what it’s like to live with cancer.
At a virtual panel on September 14 promoting her upcoming Lifetime movie List of a Lifetime, (about a woman making a bucket list after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis) Doherty, 50, got candid about life with stage four cancer: “I feel like I have a responsibility ... to talk about cancer and perhaps educate people more,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 actress told reporters, per People. “People with stage four are very much alive and very active.”
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, sharing in 2017 that she had gone into remission. But the actress announced in February 2020 that her illness had returned as stage four breast cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, stage four cancers have metastasized, or spread to other parts of the body than where they originated. Breast cancer commonly spreads to the bones, liver, and lungs, according to the American Cancer Society, and cancers at this stage are considered “incurable.” However, treatment can shrink tumors, or at least slow their growth.
“I never really complain. I don’t really talk about it. It’s part of life at this point,” Doherty said at the panel. “My husband says that you would never know that I have cancer.”
When asked if she keeps a bucket list like the protagonist of List of a Lifetime, the Heathers actress had a thoughtful response. “I just think a bucket list is odd in my particular situation, because it means that I’m sort of trying to check things off before my time runs out,” she said. “If I had to say one, it would just be living. That’s the only thing on my list at this point.”
Doherty is focusing on living despite the stage four cancer. “I feel like I’m a very, very healthy human being,” Doherty told Elle last year. “It’s hard to wrap up your affairs when you feel like you’re going to live another 10 or 15 years.” It’s clear that the actress isn’t done working—or educating others about what it’s actually like to live with so-called terminal cancer.
“It’s like anybody with stage four faces this sort of thing, where others want to put you out to pasture,” Doherty continued in the Elle interview. “I’m not ready for pasture. I’ve got a lot of life in me.”
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