Quote Of The Day: Shannen Doherty On Rejecting Labels

Shannen Doherty was always a fighter.

The actress, who died in February 2020 at age 53 after a public battle with breast cancer, left behind a legacy of fearlessness. She spoke truth to power, both on set and in life, and she continues to inspire millions of fans who grew up and identified with her.

That personal power extended to Doherty’s career, leading her to embody two of the boldest, most iconic TV characters of the 1990s: Minnesota native Brenda Walsh on Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” and eldest sister-witch Prue Halliwell on The WB’s “Charmed.” (Yes, we know the word “iconic” is thrown around a lot these days, but Doherty is among the culture-shaping few who genuinely deserve the title.) She had previously left her mark on the big screen as one third of the titular mean girls in 1986’s “Heathers.”

Doherty would later revisit both of her major TV roles in different forms throughout her career. She returned as Brenda for one season of The CW’s “90210” in 2008, before reimagining the character on Fox’s extremely meta (and tragically short-lived) “BH90210” in 2019. As for “Charmed,” Doherty joined the rewatch podcast “House of Halliwell” in 2024, appearing alongside co-stars Holly Marie Combs, Brian Krause, and Drew Fuller. She was only able to record five episodes before her death.

The actress previously launched her own iHeart podcast, “Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty,” in 2023, offering an honest look inside her present battles — and even a few past mistakes.

Even after going public with her cancer diagnosis in 2015, Doherty was determined to keep working.  “People just assume that it means you can’t walk, you can’t eat, you can’t work,” she told People in 2024. “They put you out to pasture at a very early age; ‘You’re done, you’re retired,’ and we’re not. We’re vibrant, and we have such a different outlook on life. We are people who want to work and embrace life and keep moving forward.”

“Labels are boring and often have nothing to do with the person; it is just the way others perceive you, or choose to perceive you.”

The above quote is from Shannen Doherty’s 2010 self-help book “Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life with Style and (the Right) Attitude.” Doherty herself described the book as being “a little tongue in cheek,” playfully addressing “mistakes that I made when I was in my 20s” and her eternal gratitude for “second chances.”

When you’re living your life in the public eye, people tend to want to put you in a box. Few celebrities understood that better than Shannen Doherty, who spent much of her career being labeled a “bad girl” by the tabloid media. Whether it was because of the frequent tardiness that allegedly led to her firing from Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” or the behind-the-scenes conflicts that reportedly resulted in her exit from The WB’s “Charmed,” the general public made up its mind about Doherty pretty early in her career, leaving little room for nuance or understanding. It also didn’t help that people had a difficult time differentiating Doherty as a person from her characters.

What Doherty learned as she progressed through life, however, is that the only people whose opinions truly matter are the ones who actually know you, and Doherty was blessed to have some really strong friends in her corner, including former “Charmed” co-star Holly Marie Combs. She was among the lucky few who knew the real Doherty — someone who was mistreated by Hollywood on multiple levels, someone who spoke openly about mental health struggles, and someone who fought tirelessly against animal cruelty.

Doherty knew who she was. Everything else was just noise.