Amidst a battle with breast cancer, actress Shannen Doherty has revealed that she is selling her possessions “just in case.” Although Doherty has contended with stage 4 cancer since 2020, she said her first concern is her mother and she wants to make the ordeal of her passing “easier” for her.
52-year-old Doherty, known for her roles in Beverly Hills, 90210, and Charmed, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She subsequently underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, and announced that her cancer was in remission in 2017. However, in 2020 it returned and even spread to her brain. According to her podcast, Let’s Be Clear, she is undergoing intense treatment – but also preparing for the worst.
Shannen Doherty is selling her possessions to make things easier for her mother
@dndaly31
View this post on Instagram
On Monday’s episode of Let’s Be Clear, Doherty outlined more of her end-of-life plans and her concerns for those who will survive her. She has started going through her belongings, selling or donating various items and antiques she has accumulated over the years “just in case” things take a turn for the worse.
RELATED: Shannen Doherty Recalls Learning Of Husband’s Affair While Going In For Brain Surgery
“My priority at the moment is my mom,” she explained. “I know it’s going to be hard on her if I pass away before her.”
Doherty continued, “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.”
Navigating difficult emotions for all involved
While Doherty is thinking first and foremost about her mother, the downsizing process has been excruciating for her as well. “It feels like you’re giving up on something that was very special and important to you,” admitted Doherty.
Adding to that is the time she went to her Tennessee property and dismantled the place there; it had been Doherty’s dream to live on the property full-time, expand the barn, and foster horses who were “abandoned by their owners because they are too old” or “broken down” there.
“It was really hard and really emotional because to a certain extent — I felt like I was giving up on this dream of building this property out, and putting a house for me and a house for my mom and then extending the barn,” she said. “I was packing up and I started crying … 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?”
Doherty added, “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.’ I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely I can.'” A week later, Doherty returned with a U-haul to bring what was there with her to California.
Doherty noted that downsizing was the right thing to do and knew it was “going to give you a sense of peace and a sense of calm. Because you’re helping the people that you leave behind just have a cleaner, easier transition.”
