Shannen Doherty's doctor and close friend says the “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” star “wasn't ready to go” in the moments before her death.
Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who has also appeared on television and in film, was the late actress’s trusted advisor during her battle with Stage 4 breast cancer and became a close friend who frequented her lively dinner parties, according to People. He said he was among the loved ones who were by her side when she died Saturday at age 53 after a nearly decade-long battle with cancer.
“We kept going until we couldn’t anymore,” Piro told the outlet. “In the last conversation we had, she was in the process of realizing that things had taken a pretty significant turn. The conversation was about love, support, affection and continuing to fight. She wanted to keep getting treatment and keep fighting, even though her physical condition had gotten a little worse. And so we did.”
Without giving details as a medical professional because it would violate privacy laws, Piro said Doherty faced “a situation of limited options” because of her condition in recent weeks. Nonetheless, he said, she remained an active participant in her medical care and focused on what she could do within those limitations. He described her as “an incredible warrior in everything she did.”
The struggling actress publicly announced her diagnosis in 2015, and in a lawsuit against her former management firm revealed that her health insurance had lapsed in 2014, affecting her ability to access timely treatment. She has chronicled her diagnosis, remission and relapses since then, and revealed last summer that the cancer had spread to her brain and, in November, to her bones.
“In the last few hours, she was in a place where she was very comfortable, sleeping and transitioning, and she was surrounded by some of her closest friends” and her dog Bowie, Piro said. “The room was surrounded by a select group of friends who were providing her with so much care and support. It was somber and sad, but beautiful and loving.”
“The hardest thing about this was that she wasn’t ready to leave because she loved life.”
Piro, who has appeared on Doherty’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast as well as “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” “The Doctors” and “This Is Farrah Fawcett,” said the actor’s “love of life and desire to have more life” are what kept her going, but that it was “incredibly painful for her not to be able to do that.”
As Doherty’s battle to survive intensified in recent weeks, she also faced the final stages of contentious divorce proceedings with ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko, whom she separated from in January 2023 and from whom she separated in April 2023 after 11 years of marriage. Doherty signed the divorce agreement the day before she died, relinquishing her and Iswarienko’s rights to spousal support, according to a judgment filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Iswarienko signed the agreement on the day of his death, according to the judgment.
Piro said she never felt like the emotional challenge of divorce was draining her ability to keep fighting “from a medical standpoint.” But it made it “harder,” she said.
However, he hoped the actor's legacy would be one of treating others with kindness.
“This tremendous love of life was inspired by a love of people and a love of being treated well,” she said. “And I think that came from being in the public eye from a very young age and feeling misunderstood for most of her life.”
