Shannen Doherty, battling cancer, gets emotional after standing ovation at Florida 90s Con
Actor Shannen Doherty was brought to tears after getting a standing ovation at 90s Con in Tampa, Florida, amid her yearslong cancer battle.
"Shannen, I know I speak on behalf of this crew, on behalf of all of these people, how happy we are to see you here," said panel moderator and People magazine senior editor Breanne Heldman, which set off a round of applause and the standing ovation that included her former "Beverly Hills, 90210" castmates, according to video shared of the moment.
As audience members screamed, "I love you, Shannen!" she blew them a kiss and fanned her face when the tears began to well. The audience continued clapping, as did former castmates Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Gabrielle Carteris, Jason Priestley, Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green.
Doherty waved for them to sit down and wiped tears from her eyes.
"Thank you so much," she said. "You guys know how much I love crying constantly. And I do, it seems. So, thank you."
Doherty, 52, began her fight with cancer in 2015. Earlier this year she revealed her stage 4 cancer had spread to her brain.
"Obviously, I have a fight for my life that I deal with every day," Doherty said, sitting alongside her castmates at the fan convention.
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Shannen Doherty's first cancer journey
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and finished treatment in 2017.
Even in remission, she said that experience changed her.
"I don't think you're ever on the other side (of cancer)," she said in 2019. "I don't think about the fact that I'm in remission. I look at it like I'm lucky to be alive every minute, every second of the day."
It allowed her to show a softer side of herself, she said, although the disease took a toll on her body far past the end of treatment.
She said it solidified her relationship with her husband at the time, though she filed for divorce in April. "My other profession is getting engaged, married and divorced, and I'm doing that really well," she joked at 90s Con.
Doherty announced cancer resurgence in 2020
In an interview with "Good Morning America" in February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned.
"It's a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways," she told "GMA." "I definitely have days where I say, 'Why me?' And then I go, 'Well, why not me? Who else besides me deserves this?' None of us do."
She said she decided the go public at the time because the news of her cancer was set to be released in court documents from an insurance claim lawsuit against State Farm. She won $6.3 million in the lawsuit, which alleged the company did not pay sufficient reimbursement for damage done to her California house during a wildfire.
Recently, she has chosen vulnerability, sharing videos of her emotional journey when her stage 4 cancer spread to her brain in January.
"January 12, the first round of radiation took place. My fear is obvious," she said in an Instagram post. "I am fortunate as I have great doctors ... but that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like."
Contributing: Charles Trepany, Hannah Yasharoff, Anika Reed, Naledi Ushe; The Associated Press
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