Shannen Doherty Says She’s ‘Happy’ Amid Cancer Battle and Divorce: ‘A Lot of Clutter Is Out of My Life Now’

Shannen Doherty is making lemonade out of lemons. The actress opened up about the state of her mental health in a Q&A session on her podcast, candidly addressing whether she’s “happy” at the present moment.

“I am, I am happy,” she answered. “It’s been an interesting year and a half. 2023 did not start great and I found it incredibly challenging and, you know, every day is a challenge because with cancer, things change all the time.”

The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and later went into remission. In 2020, it was revealed that Doherty’s breast cancer had returned and was at stage four. Then, over the course of 2023, Doherty said that the cancer had spread to her brain and to her bones. The same year, she also filed for divorce from husband Kurt Iswarienko after 11 years of marriage.

“I’m happy because I’m still here and I have people in my life now that truly love me and that will walk through hell with me and for me, and I was missing that for a lot of years in my life, apparently,” Doherty, 52, said on Monday’s episode of Heart’s Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty. “I think none of us should waste time because life is incredibly precious, particularly when you have cancer.”

She added, “I feel like a lot of clutter is out of my life now and things are much more clear and focused, and I know what I want for myself and I know how I want to wake up every morning.”

Doherty said that the last year and a half was “hell” for her, but she’s “100 percent turned a corner and I am happy.”

She continued “I can say that I’ve had a really blessed life and I’m an incredibly lucky human being.”

The Charmed star continues to address her health and history on her weekly podcast, and recently told ET how she hopes to make a difference by sharing her story.

“I just hope that any industry — whether it be the entertainment industry, whether it be banks, whether it be where people are getting jobs — not look at people with stage 4 cancer, with which whatever kind of cancer it is, and count them out and say, ‘Well, they’re gonna get too tired,’ or ‘They’re not gonna remember this,’ or ‘They’re gonna make mistakes,'” Doherty told ET of the goals for her podcast.

“I hope that they realize that people with cancer, really with any terminal disease, there’s a level of appreciation for every second of every day of your life that you pay attention to detail even more,” she continued. “I hope that they realize that… people that are sick like I am need to work desperately, because it’s what helps us keep going forward.”