Months before her tragic death from cancer, Shannen Doherty admitted she would have loved the chance to be a mum.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 star died on Saturday, July 13 at 53, nine years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Shannen Doherty dies aged 53.
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Back in January, in her podcast Let’s Be Clear featuring her oncologist Dr Lawrence Piro, Doherty admitted she had been desperate to start a family with her former husband Kurt Iswarienko before a cancer relapse in 2019.
“Not only did I want a child for myself, but I wanted it for my husband. I wanted it for our marriage. I wanted him to have that part of himself fulfilled as well,” Doherty said as she chatted about her desire to have kids.
The couple met in 2011 and decided they would try IVF because of their age.
“So when it was time to have that decision, we needed IVF, and I did a bunch of rounds of it,” the star who played Brenda on Beverly Hills, 90210 said.
“I think I would love nothing more than to be a mom,” she added. “I always wanted it, and I think if I did it with my best friend or a partner, then I don’t know any amount of time … I look at kids who don’t have parents at all, and I think if I adopt a child or whatever it is, any amount of time is better than nothing. Maybe. I don’t know.”
She later stopped the IVF after her cancer diagnosis.
In 2017 the star announced she had gone into remission, only for the cancer to return in 2019 and then in 2020, Doherty told fans she had metastatic stage 4 cancer. In 2023, she announced the cancer had spread to her brain and bones.
In early 2023, she and Iswarienko split, and the star knew her chance to have children had passed.
“I have a best friend, a male best friend who we joke that we’re married, and his two kids and I have had massive breakthroughs and we just love each other and hang out, and I kind of view them as my children,” she said on the podcast.
The Charmed star’s longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed the sad news of Doherty’s death in a statement.
“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,” Sloane said.
“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.”