Shannen Doherty and her mother Rosa. Courtesy of Shannen Doherty/Instagram
Shannen Doherty and his mother, Rosa Dohertyalong with her lifelong friend Anne Marie Kortrightreflect on the moment they realized how “brave” the late actress was during her battle with cancer.
Nearly a month after Shannen’s death, Rosa, 77, and Kortright, 42, took over the podcast “Let’s Be Clear” to honor his legacy and share stories about the beloved star of Beverly Hills, 90210including the time they helped her shave her head in 2016.
“I called you because she called me,” Rosa told Kortright. “I was there with her, and she was like, ‘OK, Mom, I want you to cut my hair. ’ I was like, ‘What? ’ Because at that point I was losing some hair, but I still had quite a bit. And she was like, ‘No, come with me,’ and she took me into the bathroom and put her hair in a ponytail and she was like, ‘Cut this ponytail now. ’ And I cut the ponytail. And then we looked at each other like, ‘Now what are we gonna do? ’”
Rosa went on to recall that after Shannen insisted they needed to “do it all now,” she called Kortright for help because they were out of razors.
“For those of you who are going through this, you know it’s not as easy as it looks. You really need some training,” Kortright explained. “So I got some training quickly. But you know what, seriously, it was a big moment. I didn’t realize until later how brave it was. Like, how truly brave it was to bare it all and share it with you guys, and you know, the outpouring of love that came after that post.”
Noting that the trio went “back and forth” before sharing the shaving process via social media, Kortright said they knew they made the right decision after seeing the overwhelmingly positive response from fans.
Shannen Doherty LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images
“Finally, when we saw the response, we were like, ‘This is the right thing to do because there are so many people out there going through this alone,’” she added. “She really gave them the courage to just, like, do it and come out and talk about it. And also raise all the awareness. She really, on her own, raised a lot of awareness about breast cancer. She did a lot of work on her own.”
Shannen, who openly documented her cancer diagnosis and shared her daily life with fans, passed away in July after a long battle with cancer. She was 53.
“It is with a broken heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of battling the disease,” said Shannen’s publicist, Leslie Sloanein a statement to Us Weekly at the time. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
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Rosa broke her silence about her daughter’s death days later.
“She is my beautiful girl and my heart,” he told People “Our family would like to thank everyone who has shown love and support to our Shannen throughout her life. We are truly grateful.”
Shannen was first diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2015. After going into remission, the cancer returned, prompting the actress to go public with her illness in 2017. In November 2023, she shared that the disease had spread to her bones and eventually her brain.
