‘Beverly Hills 90210’ star Shannen Doherty dead at 53

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After a lengthy cancer fight, Shannen Doherty has died at the age of 53.

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“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Doherty’s longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE on Sunday morning.

“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,” Sloane added.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum — who played Brenda Walsh on the popular ’90s teen Fox series opposite Jason Priestley, who played her twin brother; Luke Perry, her love interest; and classmates Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering and Tori Spelling — was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, but she announced that she had gone into remission two years later. In 2020, Doherty broke the news the cancer had returned and was Stage 4.

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Last summer, Doherty revealed that the cancer had also spread to her brain as she tearfully posted a video of herself going through “the process of getting fitted for the mask which you wear during radiation.”

In November, the Charmed star was devastated when she learned the cancer had spread yet again to her bones.

“I don’t want to die,” she told PEOPLE that same month. “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.”

Despite her grim diagnosis, earlier this year Doherty credited her positive outlook with helping her mental and physical health as she continued to fight.

“Every day is a gift, and there are so many new things in the works that I think hope is always there,” she said. “I think it’s so important. Listen, I can die today, I can die in 20 years, I don’t know. I can die walking outside of my house and a tree falling on me or a bus hitting me, whatever. Or I can die of cancer. But all I can do is live each day in as much as a positive manner with hope as I can and embrace it and feel like, ‘Wow, I get to wake up again today, what can I do?’”

But last month, Doherty fought back tears when she revealed she was going to have to undergo a new round of chemotherapy treatment during an episode of her Let’s Be Clear podcast.

“I thought I was fine, cut to now. I am having to go back on chemo,” she said in a clip posted to her Instagram on June 24th. “I now know that I can’t do it the way that I was doing it … The idea of going through that all over again has wrecked me.”

Doherty went on to add that she didn’t know how long the treatment would last or “if after three months, it’s not working, if we’re gonna change again.”

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“That’s not something that I can predict. It’s not something my doctors can predict. And it’s scary,” she said.

But Doherty remained hopeful that her new treatment would improve her odds at battling the disease.

“I got to say that there is some positivity there, and the positivity is that because my molecular structure of my cancer cells changed recently, it means that there’s a lot more protocols for me to try,” Doherty explained (per The Wrap). “So, you know, for the first time in a couple of months, probably, I feel hopeful because there are so many more protocols now, whereas before I was hopeful, but I was still getting prepared. Now I’m like, oh, I don’t need to be prepared. I need to go on a vacation. I need to go on a boat again and explore places.”

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So she had hope, but it was “mixed with (her) own bit of sadness because … we’re kind of throwing the kitchen sink at it.”

But death was never far from Doherty’s thoughts. Earlier this year, she said she has given plenty of thought to her funeral and burial arrangements.

“This is such a morbid conversation, but it’s also so fun,” she said on an episode of her podcast. “I want (my remains) to be mixed with my dog and I want it to be mixed with my dad.”

She also knew who she wanted to attend her funeral, saying it will be a “party” and a “celebration.”

Still, the actress was hoping “to squeeze out another three to five years” predicting that advancements in cancer care would lead to longer lives and an eventual cure for the disease.

“There’s going to be a lot more options that will give another five years. Then in those five years, there’s a whole other group of options, and eventually there’s going to be a cure,” Doherty said.

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