'Beverly Hills 90210': How Shannen Doherty and other cast members were plagued by tragedies and misfortune
In the wake of Shannen Doherty's shocking revelation about her breast cancer returning in Stage 4, fans are still left horrified by the struggles the 'Beverly Hills, 90210' star has battled in the recent past.
Her cancer battle ensued from 2015 to 2017 and has resurfaced again, more dangerous than ever as Stage 4 breast cancer is believed to have a 22 percent five-year survival rate.
The heartbreaking news that the 48-year-old actress spilled on 'Good Morning America' on World Cancer Day, February 5, is "a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways. I'm petrified. I'm pretty scared," she said.
What makes it even more terrifying is how close the tragic news comes after her fellow 'Beverly Hills' cast member Luke Perry's sudden passing in 2019 following a stroke.
However, Doherty and Perry aren't the only cast members of the iconic pop-culture classic to have undergone misfortune ever since their time on the series. Tori Spellings' money problems and Jennie Garth's marital woes rival Jason Priestley's dangerous alcoholism and Ian Ziering's troublesome playboy life.
Doherty, who played the role of Brenda Walsh on 'Beverly Hills, 90210' also discussed the 2018 tragedy of her home burning down in the Wolsely fires, as she wiped away tears on the show and talked about the incredible strength her mother and husband have as the family reels under tragedy.
Since being diagnosed in 2015, she has undergone a mastectomy, chemo and radiation. Her other woes have involved a legal battle with State Farm — the company she sued for her California home burning down in the fires — as she believes she deserved more than the $1.1 million she was paid.
Doherty's time in the entertainment industry has also been marred by controversies, with her getting fired from the teen-show post Season 3 — something that her then-costar Spelling publicly admitted to having contributed in.
After being labeled as difficult to work with and even getting involved in a fistfight with Garth, Doherty went on to be cast in 'Charmed' where she was booted off from for reportedly feuding with costar Alyssa Milano.
This was followed by several brushes with the law, from smashing a beer bottle on a car window during an argument in 1996 to getting three years probation for drinking and driving in 2001.
She even had a December 2000 arrest causing her truck to be pulled over for allegedly weaving across a highway — christening her every tabloid's fav "bad girl".
One of Doherty's closest friends was former co-star Perry, who passed away March 4, 2019, just five days after he was hospitalized for a massive stroke. Perry played bad-boy Dylan McKay on 'Beverly Hills'.
Even though Perry's career was soaring through another popular teen drama 'Riverdale' when he passed, in 2015 he had a cancer scare when doctors found precancerous growths in his colon during a routine procedure.
As for Tori Spelling, the actress is most popularly known these days for her insanely erratic financial troubles. Her marriage to Charlie Shanian was just a year old when she began her affair with Dean McDermott, who was, at the time, still married to his first wife Mary Jane Eustace.
Spelling and McDermott tied the knot less than a month after her divorce with Shanian was finalized and went on to have five children, with a relationship marred by more than just marital crises.
Owing to a long term recklessness with money, Spelling inherited just $800,000 out of the massive $600 million fortune of her father, after his death in 2006, as revealed by her estranged mother Candy.
In November 2013, Spelling admitted she was forced to curb her spending habits after her husband couldn't afford to get a vasectomy. From a canceled reality series to terrible estate decisions, Spelling's woes also included her husband's highly-publicized cheating scandal in December 2013 with a then-28-year-old Emily Goodhand.
This was followed by an eviction notice in January 2014, McDermott's rehab stint for sex addiction, their relationship troubles for his infidelity and Spelling's many health crises, including a dangerous fall on a hibachi grill at Benihana on 2015's Easter Sunday.
Spelling sued the restaurant chain in 2015 and her financial problems got worse. American Express sued her twice in 2016 for unpaid bills and so did City National Bank, for which Spelling never showed up to court.
Even McDermott was being sued by his ex-wife Mary Jo for $100,000 in child support payments in March 2017. In April 2017, the IRS drained the couple's bank accounts for unpaid federal taxes from 2014 and soon Spelling was being hospitalized for exhaustion and emotional stress multiple times.
These days she is admittedly teaching her kids how to be responsible with money.
While Spelling's money troubles were a spitting image of her '90210' character, 'Beverly Hills' nice-guy Brandon Walsh aka Jason Priestly turned out to be just the opposite.
Self admittedly, Priestley "would smoke and get drunk during every press interview" to distinguish himself from his "virtuous character". Priestly crashed his Porshe into a telephone pole in 1999 and was arrested for driving while under the influence.
Five nights in jail, a suspended driver's license, and an alcohol management program later, Priestly left the show at the beginning of Season 9 — something that he went on to regret later.
In August 2002, he had a near-fatal car accident after crashing his racecar head-on into a wall and was left with a broken back, a concussion and a broken nose, among other injuries, but he was able to make a full recovery.
Another 'Beverly Hills' alum plagued by health crises was Gabrielle Carteris, who had lied about her age to bag the role of brainy Andrea Zuckerman on the show. While filming stunts of a movie, she suffered facial nerve damage in 2008. It left her face partially paralyzed and for six months, intense spasm disrupted her speech.
For Jennie Garth, it wasn't just a health crisis following her fame on the show. She was diagnosed with a leaky heart valve in 2002, but by then, she had already braved two major heartbreaks.
Her first marriage to musician Daniel Clark fell apart in 1996 within just two years, and the second one even though lasted for a solid 11 years, couldn't survive her then-husband and actor Peter Facinelli's busy work schedule and her own anxieties as a stay-at-home mom.
She married restauranteur Dave Abrams just a year after meeting him on a blind date in 2014 but was left blindsided by him filing for divorce in 2018. They were separated for 10 months before reuniting.
That wasn't almost the case for Brian Austin Green. After dating co-star Vanessa Marcil for several years and a son, Kassius, together, their relationship ended in 2003.
Austin Green married Megan Fox in 2010 and in 2012, he tried to sue $200,000 in unpaid loans, but she fired back coming forward in a scathing Instagram post in 2018 about how he and Fox had tried to get full custody of Kassius in 2006.
Even Fox filed for divorce from Austin Green in 2015. The couple reunited a year later when she was pregnant with their second out of three kids.
For Ian Ziering, again, love was a problem. His marriage to Playboy Playmate Nikki Schieler in 1997 ended less than five years together, citing irreconcilable differences.
Sources claim Ziering couldn't cope with Nikki's blonde bombshell persona, while she was labeled as the gold digger — thus resulting in an ongoing debacle about who didn't pay the other.
Ziering then married Erin Ludwig in 2010, but announced their divorce on social media in December 2019, blaming "hectic work schedules".