One year after Shannen Doherty died of breast cancer at age 53, fans flooded her Instagram account on July 13, 2025, to pay tribute to the actress, best known for her iconic roles on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed.”
Doherty, whose career also included many TV movies, from Hallmark Channel’s still-popular “Growing the Big One” to Lifetime’s “No One Would Tell,” was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and underwent treatment, per People. She shared in 2017 that her cancer was in remission, but it returned and spread to her bones in 2023, People reported, resulting in a stage four diagnosis.
Fans Remember Shannen Doherty in Touching Comments: ‘Your Legacy is Still Alive’
Getty ImagesDetermined to thrive as long as possible, Doherty began treatment again after her stage four diagnosis. She had just started a new type of chemotherapy weeks before her death, she shared with fans in her final Instagram post on June 24, 2024.
“I have no idea how long I’m gonna be on the chemo for,” Doherty said on the June 24 episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, which she shared a clip of in the Instagram post.
“I have no idea if it’s gonna be 3 months or if it’s gonna be 6 months,” she said. “Or if we’re gonna — if after 3 months, it’s not working, if we’re gonna change again. That’s not something that I can predict. It’s not something my doctors can predict. And it’s scary.”
Clearly, Doherty nor her fans expected that she would be gone within a matter of weeks. The shock and sadness is still fresh for many who returned to her final post on the one-year anniversary of her death to pay tribute to her bravery.
“Missing you Shannen,” one wrote. “Madly respect for your accomplishments in life and I hope you know your legacy is still alive. ❤️🕊️”
Another shared, “I’ll never forget this date. Last year we were celebrating my dad birthday July 12 and I remember waking up that next morning seeing it all down my time line Shannon Doherty passed away. I nearly dropped to the floor and it still hasn’t settled with me yet. Never will. I will always love you 🥰❤️”
“One year since you been gone,” someone else commented. “We miss you 🕊️💔I hope you are resting in peace ❤️🕊️”
“One year without you bright star, we miss you more than you will ever know,” another wrote.
Shannen Doherty’s Oncologist Said ‘She Wasn’t Ready to Leave’
GettyDoherty’s oncologist, Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, said the final moments before the star’s death were “beautiful and loving” but also heartbreaking, given that “she wasn’t ready to leave.” Piro, who became close friends Doherty while treating her for metastatic breast cancer, detailed her final days and hours in an interview with People published three days after her passing.
Doherty’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, confirmed her death in a statement to People that the actress “was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie.”
Piro, a doctor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, confirmed that detail by telling People, “The room was surrounded by a select group of friends that were giving her a lot of care and support. It was somber and sad, but beautiful and loving. The hardest thing about this was that she wasn’t ready to leave because she loved life.”
In the last weeks of Doherty’s life, Piro told People, the actress realized things were changing for her physically but he said she still didn’t want to give up on treatment.
“We kept going until we couldn’t go any more,” Piro said. “The last conversation that we had, she was in the process of realizing that things had taken a pretty significant turn. The conversation was about love and support and caring and still fighting through. She wanted to continue to take treatment and fight through, even though her physical condition had taken a bit of a downturn. And so we did.”
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Shannen Doherty’s Instagram Account Flooded by Fans on 1st Anniversary of Her Passing