Shannen Doherty is continuing to open up about her battle with stage 4 cancer.
Shannen Doherty is continuing to open up about her battle with stage 4 cancer.
The 48-year-old former Beverly Hills, 90210 star recently sat down with ABC News' Amy Robach, and the second part of the interview aired on Wednesday's Good Morning America. Although Doherty's breast cancer had gone into remission in 2017, starting a year ago, she said she began to feel aches in her body.
"I started feeling some very odd aches, so, I called my oncologist," Doherty recalls, fighting back tears. "And he said, ‘All right, let's just get you in.' I think in the back of your head, you are always suspecting that this is going to happen. But I had definitely, in another way, convinced myself that I had beaten it. I was the true warrior. I was the true survivor."
Doherty also explained why she kept her cancer return a secret, noting that she didn't want people to start treating her differently and that she wanted to still work. She previously shared that she only told her BH90210 co-star, Brian Austin Green, about her diagnosis during filming of the 90210 reboot, and that he helped her immensely.
"They look at you like you're a dead man walking, basically, and that they need to say their goodbyes to you or something," Doherty says. "And also, work dries up. You know, I enjoy working and working gives me just another reason to wake up every morning. It's another reason to fight to stay alive."
The actress eventually disclosed her cancer return due to her lawsuit against State Farm -- she sued the insurance company after her California home was damaged in the Woolsey fire in 2018 -- which details her health issues. In court documents obtained by ET, Doherty filed a motion in her lawsuit which bluntly begins, "Plaintiff Shannen Doherty is dying of stage 4 terminal cancer." In the docs, Doherty's attorney claims that the actress is unable to live out "her remaining years peacefully in her home" because State Farm has not agreed to cover the entire cost of repairs to her home following 2018's Woolsey fire.
In the court docs, State Farm claims they paid Doherty over $1 million to clean and repair her home and personal property as well as for temporary housing and furniture rental. Doherty says she is entitled to additional benefits under her homeowner's policy.
State Farm said in a statement to ET on Tuesday, "We empathize with Ms. Doherty's health issues and wish her a full recovery. We strongly believe we have upheld our commitment to our customer and have paid what we owe on this claim. We are prepared to defend our position in court."
State Farm also filed an opposition to Doherty's Ex Parte Application. In court documents obtained by ET on Wednesday, the insurance company argued that Doherty's home did not suffer any fire or structural damage and that the company's Certified Industrial Hygienist deemed the place safe to live in.
"Although State Farm paid over $1 million to plaintiff so she can have her home professionally remediated (including a new HVAC system), have all contents professionally cleaned, and live elsewhere for over one year, plaintiff improperly claims she is entitled to have her entire home rebuilt at a cost of $2.7 million because she has breast cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ("COPD")," the documents read.
Doherty previously explained in her interview with Robach that she chose to come forward with the news herself to control the narrative surrounding her cancer. She also acknowledged being "petrified" and "pretty scared" of the health battle ahead of her, but that she wanted to show that she could still work while battling stage 4 cancer.
"I want to make an impact," she said.
Watch the video below for more:
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