Actress Shannen Doherty’s life and career were roiled by illness and tabloid stories. A child actress-turned-troubled teen, Doherty developed a reputation as "a bad girl", which three marriages and a reputation for being incredibly difficult to work with did nothing to assuage. Memphis-born Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family aged 7 and was soon in steady screen work. The 1989 black comedy
Heathers cemented Doherty as an actress of real promise, but it was her next TV role, as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama
Beverley Hills, 90210 which made her a star — and which made her rich tabloid fodder. Spelling always downplayed Doherty’s indiscretions: "We had a few bumps along the road, but golly, who doesn’t? Everything Shannen did was blown out of proportion by the rag sheet." — but he reportedly fired her in 1994 because of conflicts with her co-stars and chronic lateness. Three years later Doherty was sentenced to anger-management counselling by a Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge after she allegedly smashed a beer bottle on to a man’s windshield during a quarrel.
"I did bring a lot of it on myself," Doherty once said. "I don’t think I can point fingers and say, ‘Oh, you’re to blame’. And I don’t do that with myself, either. Because I was just growing up."
Doherty struggled to recapture her 90210 star status, but worked in big-screen films including Mallrats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and various TV movies. After a stint on the TV series Charmed Doherty returned to the 90210 universe for a sequel series and for BH90210, a one season show which reunited most of the original cast.
In 2015 the fact that Doherty had breast cancer was revealed after she filed a lawsuit against her former business managers. She later shared intimate details of her treatment following a single mastectomy and became an advocate for cancer patients. In 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and was at stage 4. She died on July 13, aged 53. — Agencies
