Jennie Garth shares the ‘90210’ group chat’s reaction to Shannen Doherty’s death

Shannen Doherty’s former “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-stars are heartbroken over her tragic death by cancer at age 53. Jennie Garth, who starred alongside Doherty on the series, opened up about the tight-knit cast’s reactions to Doherty’s death, which they shared on their group chat, on a tearful episode of her “I Choose Me with Jennie Garth“ podcast on July 18. “Jason (Priestley), of course, was the first one to reach out to everybody and just, you know, say, ‘I love you guys, and this is insane,’” said Garth. “And no more loss.”

Doherty is the second of the core “90210“ cast members to die in recent years. Luke Perry died in 2019 at age 52 after suffering a massive stroke. Garth said, with her voice breaking as she noted other “90210” family members who have passed away, such as actor Joe E. Tata, that she’s now haunted by a mental image of the show’s cast — which also included Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Carteris and Ian Ziering — that depicts Doherty and Perry “fading away.”

“Like, it’s just, I can’t really wrap my head around it,” she said.
Garth mentioned the difficulty of grieving someone who is famous because there are “visual reminders” of the person everywhere. She mentioned how emotional it’s been for her to sign “90210” photos for fans in the five years since Perry’s death.

“It‘s really, really hard to sign cast photos and see Luke not there, and now to have to sign those photos without Shannen there, it’s just, like, inconceivable,” she said.

Garth added that Perry was the first person she thought of when she heard that Doherty had died. “I thought how happy he was going to be to be with her again,” she explained.

She added, “I just know — this is going to sound very weird — but he definitely was there to catch her.”

Garth said she was shocked by Doherty’s death, which came nearly a decade after the actor was first diagnosed with breast cancer.

“It’s crazy because we all knew she was sick. The whole world knew that, and I don’t know why, but I just thought she would get better. I thought she would kick it,” she said. “She’s the strongest woman around and I just never thought that this would happen.”

Garth mentioned that Doherty sounded “hopeful” about a cancer treatment on a recent podcast.

“I could tell she was feeling nervous, but I also saw glimmer of hope in her, and that just reassured me that everything was going to be OK,” she said.

“If she was hopeful, then I could be hopeful too,” she added.

Garth said she would always remember Doherty for her strength, bravery and generosity.

“I will remember the respect that I have for her, always had for her in her willingness to voice her opinions on things, stand up for people that needed to be stood up for that couldn’t do it themselves,” she said.

“Shannen was a fighter,” added Garth.

Days earlier, Garth honored Doherty in a tribute on Instagram, writing, “She was courageous, passionate, determined and very loving and generous. I will miss her and will always honor her deeply in my heart and in my memories.”