Actress Shannen Doherty, best known for TV hits Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed, has died of metastatic breast cancer. She was 53.

“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Doherty’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, confirmed in a statement to People.

Doherty, who also starred in movies such as 1988’s Heathers, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She was forced to disclose the news because she filed a lawsuit against a former business manager who had let her health insurance lapse. Initially, she went into remission, but in 2019, the cancer returned. In 2020, she announced the cancer had metastasized, or spread, and she had Stage IV cancer.

In recent years, Doherty had been very public about her cancer journey, sharing her screenings and diagnoses with her 2 million fans on Instagram @theshando and raising awareness among the general public. Last summer, Doherty posted a video of her getting radiation for brain metastasis.

She also hosted a podcast, Let’s Be Clear, which often featured celebrity guest stars, in which she shared her cancer news and discussed her history in the entertainment business. 

Numerous fans, friends and colleagues have posted their support in response to the announcement of her death. Fellow actress Olivia Munn, who recently shared her own breast cancer diagnosis, urged people to get screened.

“When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer I remembered how [Shannen] bravely let the world into her journey and reached out to her,” Munn shared in an Instagram story. “We became instant friends—which I honestly couldn’t comprehend at times because watching her on 90210 was everything to me when I was 10.

“True to form, Shannen was offering her support even though she was in the final stage of fighting this horrific disease,” Munn added. “Fly so high, my friend.”

For related articles, click the hashtag #Metastatic Breast Cancer and check out Cancer Health’s Basics on Breast Cancer. It reads in part:

What are the risk factors for breast cancer?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, besides being a woman and getting older, factors that influence the risk of developing breast cancer include:

  • Genetic mutations (including BRCA1 and BRCA2)
  • Family history of breast cancer
  • Early onset of menstruation or early menopause
  • No full-term pregnancies or first pregnancy at an older age
  • Not being physically active
  • Overweight or obesity, especially after menopause
  • Use of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy
  • Previous radiation therapy
  • Drinking alcohol.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer?

The most common sign of breast cancer is a lump or mass. A hard and painless mass is most likely to be malignant, but cancerous tumors can sometimes be tender, soft or painful. Other symptoms may include breast swelling, skin irritation or dimpling, breast or nipple pain, nipple retraction (turning inward), redness, scaliness or thickening of the nipples or skin of the breast and discharge from the nipple.

How is breast cancer treated?

Treatment for breast cancer depends on how advanced the cancer is when it is detected, including how many tumors there are, how large they are and whether they have spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body.

Treatment can be broken down into local and systemic therapies. Local therapies, such as surgery and radiation, treat cancer in the breast. Systemic treatments, which can reach cancer cells that have spread elsewhere in the body, typically cause more side effects.