Shannen Doherty, a TV icon of teen angst, has died. As confirmed by her publicist to People, Doherty died at her Malibu home on Saturday, July 13, after a years-long struggle with cancer. She was 53.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane said in a statement. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt, and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
Born on April 12, 1971, into a Baptist family in Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty would only spend a little time in the American South. When she was six, her family moved to Los Angeles, where an agent discovered her performing in a church play. Fortune followed her as one part led to another. She landed a voice role in Don Bluth’s The Secret Of NIHM and a guest spot on Father Murphy, a family-western drama produced by Michael Landon.
Father Murphy only lasted two seasons, but Landon hired Doherty to play Jenny Wilder on his other series, the long-running pioneer family serial Little House On The Prairie. While the show was in its final season, Little House gave Doherty the boost needed to reach the next step, personally and professionally. “That show changed my life,” Doherty told People in 1992. “Michael Landon was the one who said to me, ‘Always stick up for yourself. Never let anybody walk all over you. Be a strong woman.’” Everything about Doherty’s career indicates she took the advice to heart.
Doherty followed her early family-friendly success with a pair of cult classics, playing diametrically opposite characters. As Maggie in 1985’s Girls Just Want To Have Fun, she played Lee Montgomery’s annoying little sister, frequently interrupting Sarah Jessica Parker’s make-out sessions. Three years later, she would shed the innocent kid-sister act with Heathers, a film that solidified her bad-girl archetype. Heathers’ moodiness and biting humor seemed suited to Doherty. As the unflappably evil Heather Duke, she provided a steely balance to the film’s satiric darkness, playing an easily detestable villain that makes a couple of violent teen killers look preferable by comparison.
In 1990, she joined Beverly Hills, 90210, and soon became the most hated star in America. For the first four seasons, Doherty starred as Brenda Walsh, the new girl at school and audience surrogate for those outside the incredibly luxurious zip code. But Brenda was not a static character. After getting comfortable in Beverly Hills, Brenda shifted from an innocent fish out of water to the target of fan outrage. The “I Hate Brenda” backlash coincided with several tabloid stories reporting alleged hostile behavior from Doherty on set.
The “I Hate Brenda” movement was brief but furious. There was a “Brenda Snitch Line,” a hotline that received as many as 10 calls a day from fans annoyed with Brenda. There were t-shirts, newsletters, and bumper stickers, but the backlash had little to do with her leaving the show and only bolstered its reputation. Brenda and Dylan’s breakup would become one of Entertainment Weekly’s greatest TV breakups, and early episodes, referred to as “The Brenda Years,” would remain the series’ high point.
Though allegations of bad behavior on set continued to follow her, Doherty’s 90210 boss, TV megaproducer Aaron Spelling, denied that being the reason for her exit. “I tell ya the truth, all those stories about Shannen were so overblown,” Spelling told The L.A. Times in 1998. “Was she late on the set a couple of times? Sure, but who isn’t? Shannen was not fired from 90210. She had received some TV movie offers, and we sat down and talked about it, and she made the decision. If I had a problem with her, why would I hire her for Charmed?”
After starring in Mallrats, Kevin Smith’s teen comedy that went from box office bomb to generation-defining cult classic, Doherty returned to television and Spelling. On Charmed, she played the eldest weird sister, Prue, the strongest and wisest of the show’s three witches. But rumors of onset friction between co-stars continued to dog Doherty, and though the character and her performance were well received, she left the show after three seasons. Doherty said she left due to “too much drama on set,” and the stars would continue litigating their issues for 25 years.
Doherty continued working in the 2000s, mostly in smaller productions and TV movies. Proving “The Brenda Years” still mattered to the actor, Doherty appeared in spin-offs, sequels, and reimaginings of her most famous works, appearing in the 2008 and 2019 reboots of 90210 and the 2019 Heathers TV series.
In 2015, doctors diagnosed Doherty with breast cancer. Following a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment, the actor announced the cancer was in remission in 2017. Three years later, she reported the cancer returned and spread to her spine. Doherty continued documenting her treatment and life via a podcast, Let’s Be Clear.
“I don’t want to die,” she told People last year. “I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better […] “I’m just not — I’m not done.”
“People just assume that it means you can’t walk, you can’t eat, you can’t work. They put you out to pasture at a very early age—‘You’re done, you’re retired,’ and we’re not,” she said of being a cancer patient. “We’re vibrant, and we have such a different outlook on life. We are people who want to work and embrace life and keep moving forward.”
Doherty is survived by her mother, Rosa, and brother Sean.