Shannen Doherty Is Planning to Live Another '10 or 15 Years' as She Battles Stage 4 Breast Cancer

The 'BH90210' star also opens up about what it's been like battling cancer in a pandemic.

Shannen Doherty is not giving up! The 49-year-old actress revealed in February that her breast cancer had returned as stage 4, and she's now opening up to Elle about her ongoing health battle and how she's doing amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

"I haven’t sat down to write letters. That’s something I need to do,” she tells the magazine of facing her own mortality. “There are things I need to say to my mom [Rosa]. I want my husband [Kurt Iswarienko] to know what he’s meant to me.”

Doherty adds that she's also considered making videos for her loved ones to watch after her death. 

“But whenever it comes time for me to do it, it feels so final. It feels like you’re signing off, and I’m not signing off,” she says. “I feel like I’m a very, very healthy human being. It’s hard to wrap up your affairs when you feel like you’re going to live another 10 or 15 years.”

Kurt Iswarienko/Elle

As she continues to fight for her life, Doherty is enjoying life's simple pleasures while in quarantine. 

“I try to treasure all the small moments that most people don’t really see or take for granted,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 star shares. “The small things are magnified for me. We have this endless well within us, and it’s just about continuing to dig in that well for the strength to face adversity—and so that we can also see all the beauty.”

Doherty is currently working on developing several projects and serving as an advocate for other metastatic breast cancer patients. 

“It’s like anybody with Stage IV faces this sort of thing, where others want to put you out to pasture,” she says. “I’m not ready for pasture. I’ve got a lot of life in me.”

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