Shannen Doherty Reveals Heartbreaking Reason She Joined ‘90210’ Reboot Amid Advanced Cancer Diagnosis

Shannen Doherty recently revealed that she has been given an advanced cancer diagnosis by her doctors, and amid the tragic news, she’s also opened up about the heartbreaking reason she joined the 90210 reboot. The diagnosis came ahead of the TV event and — while speaking to Good Morning America on Tuesday — Doherty shared why she opted to return for the epic revival, saying that part of it was because of the death of her late co-star, Luke Perry.

“It’s so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go first,” said Doherty. “It was really, like, shocking. And the least I could do to honor him was to do that show. I still haven’t done, in my opinion. So it’s a hard one.”

However, that wasn’t all, as she also wanted people to see that someone “One of the reasons — along with Luke — that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody because I thought, people can look at that other people with stage four can work too. Like, you know, our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do.”

Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2015, but after treatments and surgery, she announced in 2017 that her cancer was in remission. Regarding how she’s been coping with the news that it returned, Doherty said, “I definitely have days where I say why me. And then I go, well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do. But I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how — how am I going to tell my mom, my husband.”

After only telling just a small group of close family and friends, Doherty said that her 90210 co-star Brian Austin Green was one of the most supportive people in her corner.

“I had moments of great anxiety where I thought, ‘I can’t really do this,’ and Brian was the one person who — of that group of people that knew — that I told, like, pretty quickly and said, ‘Here, the — this is what I’m dealing with,’” she said. “So prior to shooting he would always call me and say, ‘Listen, you know, whatever happens, I have your back.’ He would look at me and be like, ‘We got this, kiddo’… so Brian helped me through a lot.”

While the diagnosis is comes with a lot of stigma surrounding stage 4 cancer, Doherty asserted that she has no intentions of slowing down her life and her work right now. “I think the thing I want to do the most right now is I want to make an impact,” she said. “I want to be remembered for something bigger than just me.”