Shannen Doherty's Last Interview Was Tragically Predictive

Hollywood lost a legend on July 13, 2024 when Shannen Doherty died at the age of 53. The star's publicist shared with People that Doherty "lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease," adding, "the devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie." While it's sad enough to lose a beloved actor like the "Charmed" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" star, what she revealed in her final interview makes her passing even more heartbreaking.

According to Doherty, her "expiration date" made it difficult to find love. On June 26 — less than three weeks before her death — the star appeared on Kelly Ripa's podcast, "Let's Talk Off Camera." When the topic of dating came up, Doherty said, "I think it's hard for somebody like me, because it's hard to go into dating someone when you know they might have an expiration date." She also noted that she didn't "think men handle death and illness ... as well as women do. So, I think I'm a very hard sell." Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. The cancer went into remission in 2017, but it returned in 2020 and spread to her brain.

While Doherty was single leading up to her passing, she experienced a lot of love over the course of her life. Between 1993 and 1994, she was married to Ashley Hamilton; she then wed Rick Salomon in 2002, but they split the following year. After three years of dating, she and celebrity photographer, Kurt Iswarienko, got married in 2008. While they seemed to have a happy marriage for over a decade, the couple split in April 2023 while Doherty was living with cancer. 

In December 2023, on the first episode of her podcast "Let's Be Crystal Clear With Shannen Doherty," she revealed the traumatic circumstances that led to her heartbreak. "I went into [brain] surgery early in the morning and I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years," Doherty said, per Us Weekly. She added that she "couldn't go into that surgery with him there. I felt so betrayed." Despite Iswarienko's alleged indiscretions, Doherty believed that her cancer played a role in the collapse of their marriage. "I do not take responsibility for the demise of our marriage; I take responsibility for some of the issues in our marriage," she explained. "I take responsibility not only because of how I was but because of how cancer impacted my marriage and how it impacted him the second time around."

Just about a month before her death, Shannen Doherty filed a declaration with the Los Angeles Superior Court. On Doherty's behalf, her legal representation wrote, "Our assets are neither difficult to characterize nor divide. Our divorce should not be complicated. It is abundantly clear to me that Kurt is intentionally delaying settlement in hopes that I will not survive the divorce proceedings" (via Today).

On the June 24 episode of her podcast, the star addressed the status of her divorce and the public attention that it received. Doherty shared that she didn't know why fans took such an interest in the details of her split. "It's really hurtful," she said, "and unfortunately there was no way for me to do it more privately. It is what it is." Clearly, the pain of Doherty's divorce was still affecting her. "Obviously a divorce is not easy, especially when you really loved someone," Doherty explained. "I did love my husband, and when you get so hurt by their actions, you just feel betrayed and like a sucker."