Shannen Doherty Reveals Her Cancer Is Back & It's Stage 4

This is not the update we hoped to hear from Shannen Doherty.

On Tuesday, the actress revealed she has been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, almost three years after announcing she was in remission.

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Speaking to Amy Robach on Good Morning America, the 48-year-old star shared why she decided to go public with this latest health update, saying:

“It’s going to come out in a matter of days or a week that — I’m stage 4. So my cancer came back. And that’s why I’m here. I don’t think I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”

Doherty explained she’s been privately living with the diagnosis for a year, even continuing to work on the BH90210 revival. Fighting back tears, the actress admitted Luke Perry‘s untimely death following a stroke in March 2019 was part of the reason she pushed on:

“It’s so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go firs. It was really, like, shocking. And the least I could do to honor him was to do that show… One of the reasons, along with Luke, that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody [was] because I thought, ‘People can look at that [and see] other people with stage four can work too.’ Like, you know, our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do.”

But there was one co-star Shannen did confide in early on. Crediting Brian Austin Green with helping her get through those 16-hour days on set, she shared he “was the one person who … I told, like, pretty quickly.”

“Prior to shooting he would always call me and say, ‘Listen, you know, whatever happens, I have your back.’ He would look at me and be like, ‘We got this, kiddo.'”

Of course, she’s trying her absolute best to get through this battle, telling Amy:

“I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do. But I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how — how am I going to tell my mom, my husband.”

Despite being candid on social media about her breast cancer battle previously, the Charmed alum didn’t have plans to go public with this news just yet. However, an ongoing lawsuit against her home insurance company over damage from the Woolsey Fire in 2018 did make her concerned the reveal would come out:

“I’d rather people hear it from me. I don’t want it to be twisted. I don’t want it to be a court document. I want it to be real and authentic. And I want to control the narrative. I want people to know from me, I just didn’t want them to know yet.”

Our hearts go out to Shannen and her loved ones as she fights this battle. You can watch a clip from her interview (below) to hear her open up more:

.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: @DohertyShannen opens up about her private health battle. “I’m stage four – my cancer came back.”@arobachhttps://t.co/IvsAr3odaj pic.twitter.com/Amhcm7x5Q4

— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 4, 2020

[Image via FayesVision/WENN]