Shannen Doherty gets emotional after standing ovation at '90s Con: 'I have a fight for my life'

The 'Beverly Hills, 90210' star provided the update for fans during a reunion with her castmates.

ByAngeline Jane Bernabe ABCNews logo
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Shannen Doherty gives update on cancer battle
The "Beverly Hills, 90210" star provided the update for fans during a reunion with her castmates over the weekend at 90s Con.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Shannen Doherty shed some tears over the weekend after she received a standing ovation while participating on a panel at '90s Con with her fellow 'Beverly Hills, 90210' cast members.

The actress, who starred in the hit '90s show with Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Jason Priestley, Ian Ziering and the late Luke Perry, thanked fans in the audience as they and her castmates applauded her. Garth, Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Carteris, Priestley, Ziering and Spelling were present at the event.

'Thank you so much,' she said. 'You guys know how much I love crying constantly. And I do, it seems. So, thank you.'

Breanne L. Heldman, the senior editor of TV at People, who was in attendance and moderated some of the panels at the convention, said the energy in the room was 'outrageous.'

'Both the actors and the fans got up and gave her this huge standing ovation,' Heldman told 'Good Morning America.' 'All the actors stood up; I stood up; the applause was loud. She got very emotional. She definitely was feeling the love and it meant so much to her. It was a really powerful moment.'

In June, Doherty revealed with an Instagram video that she had surgery in January to remove a metastatic tumor in her head.

'This is what cancer can look like,' she wrote in the caption of the post.

'I had a tumor in my head they wanted to remove and also biopsy,' she said. 'I am clearly trying to be brave but I am petrified. The fear was overwhelming to me.'

'Scared of all possible bad outcomes, worried about leaving my mom and how that would impact her,' Doherty continued. 'Worried that I would come out of surgery not me anymore.'

Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. In 2020, she told 'GMA' in an interview that the disease had spread and returned as stage 4.

Shannen Doherty has given her Instagram followers a sobering look at her ongoing battle with stage 4 breast cancer.

While stage 4 breast cancer is often not curable, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, an improved understanding of what treatments to give and when has led to increased life expectancy.

At '90s Con, Doherty didn't share a health update but told fans that she is fighting every day.

'I have a fight for my life that I deal with every day,' Doherty said. 'I think I am really great.'