Shannen Doherty had specific instructions for funeral and burial before death at 53
Shannen Doherty revealed what she wanted for her funeral and burial arrangements months before her death at age 53 on Saturday.
Doherty died over the weekend after a years-long battle with cancer. Her passing was confirmed by her longtime publicist, Leslie Sloane, on Sunday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” Sloane said in a statement to People.
“On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Sloane continued. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
In January, Doherty — who was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 — revealed on her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast that she wanted her loved ones to distribute her ashes “in a healthy mixture.”
“I want [my remains] to be mixed with my dog, and I want it to be mixed with my dad. I do not want to be buried and not cremated,” she said at the time. She also suggested scattering her and her father’s ashes in Malibu, Calif., where they spent “precious time” together or using her remains to “grow them into a tree.”
Doherty stayed good friends with several of her “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-stars. But for her funeral, she hoped it would be a smaller affair.
“There’s a lot of people that I think would show up that I don’t want there. I don’t want them there because their reasons for showing up aren’t necessarily the best reasons, like, they don’t really like me and, you know, they have their reasons and good for them, but they don’t actually really like me enough to show up to my funeral,” she explained.
“[They’ll show up] because it’s the politically correct thing to do, and they don’t want to look bad, so I kinda want to take the pressure off them and I want my funeral to be like a love fest,” she went on. “I don’t want people to be crying or people to privately be like, ‘Thank God that bitch is dead now.'”
The late actress announced she was in remission in 2017, but revealed in February 2020 she was battling Stage 4 breast cancer. One year later, she said she was “fighting to stay alive” during a virtual appearance on “Good Morning America” in October 2021.
“I never want to operate [like I’m dying],” she explained at the time.
In 2023, her cancer spread to her bones. Her marriage to ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko also ended as she filed for divorce that April and alleged that he cheated for two years. She said she discovered the alleged infidelity right before she underwent brain surgery.
On June 14, she filed paperwork in LA requesting a monthly spousal support payment of $15,343. She also requested that Iswarienko, 49, contribute $9,100 to her attorney fees and costs.
“As a result of my recurrent health issues, I have been largely unable to work and have no future employment prospects. Today, virtually all of the income I earn is residual income from work that I performed prior to marriage,” Doherty said in court docs obtained by People. “The majority of my residual income is from a television show called Charmed. I recently learned that ‘Charmed’ will no longer be streaming on any major streaming platform after June 30, 2024. As a result, my future residual income will dramatically decrease.”
“It is simply not right that Kurt be permitted to prolong our divorce in hopes that I die before he is required to pay me while he continues to live his life and shirk his responsibilities to his dying wife of more than 11 years,” she added in her filing.
A lawyer for Iswarienko slammed the claims, alleging he wanted to finalize the divorce in September 2023. He allegedly offered her a settlement deal, but she denied at the time.
“Kurt is not ‘simply wait[ing] for Shannen to die,” Katherine Heersema wrote, per the docs. “He wants the best for Shannen and he wants both of them to be able to put this case behind them and move forward.”
Two months before the filing, Doherty revealed in April that she was selling her personal possessions “just in case.”
“The cancer, for me, has really made me take stock of my life and shift my priorities, and my priority at the moment is my mom,” she said on her podcast. “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 because I have a furniture obsession.”
“I’m not enjoying it and others aren’t enjoying it, and do I really need any of it? Do I need to have three dining room tables? The answer is no, none of us really need all the stuff that we have, and we could all do with a little bit of downsizing and not be a hoarder, which I was becoming with all my furniture,” she continued. “It feels like you’re giving up on something that was very special and important to you. But you know that it’s the right thing to do and that it’s 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.”
Several of Doherty’s former co-stars and friends paid tribute to her on Sunday, including “Charmed” star Rose McGowan — who called her a “warrior” — “Beverly Hills, 90210” stars Jason Priestley, who played her TV brother, TV mom Carol Potter, Brian Austin Green and Gabrielle Carteris.
Carteris, 63, shared an Instagram photo of the sky and honored Doherty by also remembering late co-star Luke Perry, who died from a stroke at age 52 in 2019. Perry and Doherty famously played couple Dylan McKay and Brenda Walsh, respectively, on the series, which ran for 10 seasons from 1990 to 2000.
“So young – so sad. May you RIP Shannon,” she wrote. “I know Luke is there with open arms to love you.”