Tuesday, former 90210 and Charmed star Shannen Doherty revealed to ABC News’ Good Morning America that she is once again battling a second diagnosis of breast cancer which is now Stage 4. The actress says she has decided to go public because it would have been revealed in a, “matter of days or a week.”
Doherty, 48, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and underwent treatment for about two years before announcing in 2017 that she was in remission.
In yesterday’s interview, Doherty said that after both the initial diagnosis and the more recent one, “my first reaction is always concern about, ‘How am I going to tell my mom? My husband?'”
“I don’t think that I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways,” Doherty said. She added, “My mom is a ridiculously strong, courageous human being. So is my husband, but I worry about him. I’m petrified. I’m pretty scared. There are definitely days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Why not me? Who else?'”
After confiding her condition to co-star Brian Austin Green during last year’s 90210 reboot, Doherty kept filming, working 16-hour days, to prove she “can work, and other people with stage 4 can work, too.”
“You know, our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do,” Doherty explained. But still, “I had moments of great anxiety where I thought I can’t really do this.”
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State Farm Lawsuit
Doherty added she knew her most recent diagnosis would be made public soon because her health struggle is mentioned in a lawsuit she has filed against the insurance company State Farm.
“I communicated with my insurance company. I called. I got passed around from claims adjuster to claims adjuster, so I ended up suing State Farm,” Doherty said. “And the result has been one of the most horrific processes I have ever been through.”
Doherty says in her lawsuit that the insurer denied claims she made after her house was damaged in the Woolsey Fire, which devastated parts of Southern California in 2018.
State Farm released a statement to NBC News that the company empathizes with Doherty’s “health issues, and wish her a full recovery,” but “we strongly believe we have upheld our commitment to our customer and have paid what we owe on this claim. We are prepared to defend our position in court.”
Doherty said she is taking on State Farm because “I want to be remembered for something bigger than just me.”
“I’m taking a stand for all of us,” she said, “through this lawsuit and by saying enough is enough, with big business and corporations running the little person over.”
As a fan of Doherty, Reel 360 hopes she beats this.
SOURCE: NBC NEWS
