Shannen Doherty is preparing to lose her hair for the third time ahead of chemo

Shannen Doherty just shared new information about upcoming cancer treatments she'll be receiving soon.

On the June 24, 2024 episode of her podcast “Let’s Be Clear,” the “Charmed” star, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and then diagnosed with stage 4 incurable breast cancer in 2019 which had metastasized to her bones and her brain, said she'll be undergoing surgery and starting a new treatment protocol.

In 2023, doctors told Doherty that her then-treatment was no longer working. “Protocols stop working,” Doherty said during the episode. “Your body adjusts to them, becomes immune to them. Your cells change. Your cancer cells adapt — the molecular makeup of them changes and then you have to go into a different protocol.”

This new protocol, she says, will require her to have a port implanted in her chest again, the same device used during her first round of chemo in 2016. The port, a small device that attaches to a vein without the need for needles, per the Cleveland Clinic, will remain implanted for as long as her treatment lasts. The last time she used one it was implanted for "a solid year," Doherty explained.

Doherty tried having her chemo administered via IV for some time, but all the treatments collapsed the veins in her left arm.

"I now know I can’t do it the way that I was doing it, that I have to get a port," she said. "And it’s really hard, like, the idea of going through that all over again has wrecked me."

Doherty went on to explain that she didn't know how long this round of treatments would last which she called scary. “I don’t want to lose my hair. I don’t want to be sick,” she said.

But, it also means that the makeup of her cells changed enough that she now has more treatment options. "Because my molecular structure of my cancer cells changed recently, it means that there's a lot more protocols for me to try," she explained.

This, Doherty says, has allowed her to look ahead in a different way. "I need to go on a vacation. I need to go on a boat again and explore places."

While she's making a bucket list, she admitted she doesn't know how the multiple chemo therapies she'll be receiving will make her feel. "There is hope mixed with my own bit of sadness," she said. She doesn't know if she'll be throwing up, "passed out on my sofa in my den with the AC blasting because I just don't feel well" or if she'll lose her hair for the third time. "I know that I'm slowly going to lose my hair again, which is horrible," Doherty revealed.

Her hair has grown back a different texture each time, and while she wears a weave made especially for cancer patients sewn into her natural hair now, she's unsure what the outcome will be this time.

Before signing off the episode because she was tired, Doherty mentioned she had an early morning for surgery the following day. And, by the time this episode aired, she said she'd be nearing the first day of her new protocol.

How is Shannen Doherty doing in 2024?

In court documents filed on June 21, 2024, Shannen Doherty revealed additional details about her terminal cancer diagnosis amidst her divorce from Kurt Iswarienko.

She said she'd undergone a host of treatments since her stage 4 cancer diagnosis, the last of which she says her doctors told her was no longer effective in 2023.

Just before a brain surgery in 2023, she knew she wanted divorce Iswarienko, she stated.

“On January 15, 2023, the day before my brain surgery, I told Kurt in no uncertain terms that I did not want him present at my surgery and that I would be filing for divorce,” Doherty said.

“I filed the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage on April 24, 2023, when I had sufficiently recovered from my surgery.”

She believes Iswarienko is stalling, waiting for her to die before providing his financial information so the divorce can proceed. “It is simply not right that Kurt be permitted to prolong our divorce in hopes that I die before he is required to pay me while he continues to live his life and shirk his responsibilities to his dying wife of more than 11 years,” Doherty’s statement reads.

In an April 1 episode of her podcast, “Let’s Be Clear,” Doherty revealed she has been cleaning out some of her storage units to make things easier on her family, particularly her mother, when she dies.

“My priority at the moment is my mom... I know it’s going to be hard on her if I pass away before her,” she noted.

The 52-year-old explained how donating and selling off some of her extra possessions, most notably furniture, will lead to less work for her mom when she’s gone.

“Because it’s going to be so hard on her, I want other things to be a lot easier. I don’t want her to have a bunch of stuff to deal with. I don’t want her to have four storage units filled with furniture,” she added.

Doherty recalled a recent trip to her Tennessee home and said she made the difficult decision to give up her hopes of fostering horses at the property.

“I was packing up and I started crying because again, I felt like I was giving up on a dream and what did that mean for me? Did it mean that I was giving up on life? Did it mean that I was throwing in the towel?’” she said. “And my mom was there and she was like, ‘Don’t get rid of this place, it’s fine. You don’t have to and you can keep going.’ And I was like ‘Yeah, absolutely I can.’”

When Doherty returned to the property a few days later, she realized that the property was a bit of a money pit since it needed a lot of repairs. At this point, she found it easier to let go.

“I think somehow the brain works in mysterious ways where even though you’re incredibly sad about something and it feels like you’re giving up on something that was very special and important to you, you know that it’s the right thing to do and you know that it’s going to give you a sense of peace and a sense of calm,” she said.

Doherty noted that the difficult work she’s doing now will help her loved ones “have a cleaner, easier transition.” Thinking this through made her reflect on all the material possessions she has.

“I’ve accumulated so much crap and it’s sitting in storage and I’m not enjoying it. And others aren’t enjoying it. And do I really need any of it?” she said.

Throughout this process, Doherty said she’s realized that the money she earns from selling some of her possessions can be repurposed in more meaningful ways.

“I get to build different memories and I get to build memories with the people that I love,” she said. “I get to take my mom on vacations because I have all this extra sort of play money lying around and I’m not digging into the money that’s in my estate that’s going to make sure that everybody in my life is taken care of once I’m dead,” she said.

In a Jan. 29 episode of her podcast, Doherty said she was responding well to a new type of “cancer infusion” treatment and called the results a “miracle,” though she did not share exactly which drug she was receiving.

“After four treatments, we didn’t really see a difference, and everybody wanted me to switch, and I just kind of was like we’re going to keep going with this and see,” Doherty said while speaking with her radiation oncologist, Dr. Amin Mirhadi.

“After the sixth or seventh treatment, we really saw it breaking down the blood-brain barrier. Do I call that a miracle? For me, that happens to be a miracle right now. That like I sort of rolled the dice and said let’s keep going,” the actor continued.

Doherty revealed in 2023 that her cancer had spread to her brain and bones. Usually, even very strong chemotherapy isn’t able to pass the blood-brain barrier and target the tumors within the brain, according to Northwestern Medicine.

She later called the effectiveness of the new treatment “a miracle of maybe God intervening and being like, ‘I’m going to give her a break,’” Doherty said. “Sometimes you’re looking for miracles in all the wrong places, and they’re right there in front of your face.”

Shannen Doherty's cancer journey

In August 2015, Doherty went public with her breast cancer diagnosis. As part of her treatment, Doherty underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and reconstructive surgery.

Two years after her initial cancer diagnosis, Doherty revealed that she was in remission.

“Moments. They happen,” Doherty captioned an Instagram post. “Today was and is a moment.”

In February 2020, Doherty announced that her cancer had returned and was stage 4. The cancer was referred to as "terminal" in court documents for her lawsuit against insurance company State Farm.

“Plaintiff Shannen Doherty is dying of stage 4 terminal cancer,” the lawsuit read. “Instead of living out her remaining years peacefully in her home, Ms. Doherty remains displaced and battling with her insurance company.”

Also in February 2020, Doherty provided an update on her health in light of publicly sharing her new diagnosis.

“I want to thank all of you for your love, prayers and support,” she wrote. “It’s an odd time right now and I find my feet not completely underneath me. To say I have stress is an understatement. To say that I’m struggling is mild.”

However, Doherty emphasized that she was hopeful for the future.

“But... I believe that I will find my footing. I’ll dig deep for the inner strength I need to face it all. I pray I do it all with dignity and grace. I have so much to say. So much to share. I will. For now... please know how much you all help lift me,” she wrote.

During an interview with Elle magazine in September 2020, Doherty reassured her fans that she didn't have any plans of quitting acting after the return of her cancer.

“It’s like anybody with stage 4 faces this sort of thing, where others want to put you out to pasture,” she said at the time. “I’m not ready for pasture. I’ve got a lot of life in me.”

While talking with People in September 2021, Doherty explained that her cancer was just "part of life at this point."

“I feel like I have a responsibility in my more public life, which I separate from my acting life … to talk about cancer and perhaps educate people more and let people know that people with stage 4 are very much alive and very active,” she said at the time.

In January 2023, the actor underwent surgery to have a tumor removed from her head because the cancer had spread to her brain.

She shared the development with her fans six months later in June 2023, when she posted a video from the hospital and revealed how she was feeling in that moment.

“My fear is obvious," she captioned it. "I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life. I am fortunate as I have great doctors like (Dr.) Amin Mirahdi and the amazing techs at cedar sinai. But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like."

In an Instagram post a week later, she shared another video of herself in the hospital from January, this time preparing for surgery to remove and biopsy a tumor in her head.

"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. Worried that I would come out of surgery not me anymore. This is what cancer can look like," she wrote.

How is Shannen Doherty's health?

The actor shared in a positive Jan. 29 update that she seemed to be responding to the new cancer infusion treatment she was receiving.

Before that, the last major update Doherty shared on her health was when she revealed in an interview with People, published Nov. 29, 2023, that her stage 4 breast cancer had spread to her bones.

“I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to die. Like ever,” she joked during her interview.

The actor said she's "not done with life" and intends to keep fighting.

"I will be on treatment for the rest of my life until one of these clinical trials goes through. ... It's about pushing through the next two, three, four, five years because in that period of time, in three to five years, there's going to be another new protocol, a new clinical trial," she said.

While sharing an update on her health journey, the former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star emphasized that she still has an optimistic outlook on life.

“We are on a really good regimen now, and it’s working well for me. So (I just take things) day by day, month by month, year by year,” she said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com