Shannen Doherty revealed Tuesday that the breast cancer she has been battling for several years has spread to her brain in an emotional post on Instagram.
“On January 5th, my scan showed Mets in my brain,” Doherty, the “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” actress, captioned a video of her receiving radiation.
“My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life,” said Doherty, 52. “But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like.”
The announcement was met with an outpouring of support and encouragement from other stars and cancer survivors alike.
Actor and longtime friend Selma Blair commented on the post: “This is a lot to take on, still again. And I am wishing for all the wise peace you have learned to find you in the terror moments. To know we are holding you. Love. All love.”
“You are a warrior,” wrote Sarah Michelle Gellar, another close friend of Doherty’s.
Doherty has battled breast cancer since 2015, when she received her first diagnosis. She said she underwent a mastectomy and received chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Doherty announced she was in remission in 2017.
But in 2020, she went public with a second diagnosis of breast cancer, this time stage 4.
Throughout the years, Doherty has candidly documented her journey living with cancer.
In October 2021, she posted a selfie of her lying in bed with a shaved head and a nosebleed.
“For breast cancer awareness month, I’d like to share more of my own personal journey from my first diagnosis to my second. Is it all pretty? NO but it’s truthful,” she wrote.
“I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you.”
