The 'Beverly Hills, 90210' co-stars want to be there to support Doherty.
Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth couldn't be more impressed by Shannen Doherty's strength. In an interview with ET's Katie Krause, the Beverly Hills, 90210 co-stars praised Doherty and her determination amid her cancer battle.
"Shannen's just a really strong person. That's who who she is," Garth shared. "She's an Aries, she's very determined, and you don't think about cancer when you're working with her or hanging out with her. That's not what her life is. She's just Shannen, and our friend, and our castmate.
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. Two years later, she announced her cancer was in remission, but revealed in February 2020 that her cancer had returned last year, in stage 4. The actress starred alongside Garth and Spelling on 90210, as well as the show's recent reunion series, BH90210, last year.
"That she's dealing with such a heavy thing is hard, [but] you don't see it," Garth said. "She's really good about that, and [tries] to keep it private."
"She actually didn't share with us that her cancer had come back," Spelling added. "We didn't find out until after, and that's just a testament to her, because she didn't want people to feel bad for her or think she couldn't work as hard. And she worked so hard."
Spelling said she and Garth wished Doherty would have shared her battle with them, "because we wanted to be there for her during that experience." "But the fact that she didn't tell anyone speaks volumes of her work ethic and the type of strong person that she is," she added.
In addition to Spelling, Garth and Doherty, Ian Ziering, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley and Gabrielle Carteris also returned for BH90210. Fellow original 90210 castmember Luke Perry died on March 4, 2019, before filming of BH90210 took place.
The first episode of the series was dedicated to Perry, and Garth and Spelling said they'll continue to keep his memory close on their new 9021OMG podcast. The podcast will see the two actresses will revisit their old episodes and share behind-the-scenes secrets from their time on the show.
"While it'll be hard to watch, I think it'll be really great to be able to share with all our fans the amazing human [Perry] was behind the cameras," Spelling said. "Because he was this heartbreaker, obviously everyone knew he was a nice guy. Anyone that knew him -- even if he didn't know him -- you knew he was just a great person and so humble."
"He was such a jokester on set, and I'm sure a lot of the scenes are gonna be, 'OK, he looks super sexy here, but here's what he was doing behind the cameras to make us all laugh.' So it'll be nice to be able to share that side of him and to keep the spirit alive," she added.
"To be honest with you, the ones with Luke will be really difficult for me to sit through," Garth agreed. "But you know, I'll find beauty in it."
9021OMG podcast premieres Monday, Nov. 9. See more on Doherty and what she told ET about her involvement in BH90210 in the video below.
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