Shannen Doherty talks coping amidst battle with stage 4 breast cancer
Shannen Doherty is sharing new details about her life after revealing earlier this month that she is battling stage 4 breast cancer.
"I want to thank all of you for your love, prayers and support," she wrote in a recent Instagram post. "It’s an odd time right now and I find my feet not completely underneath me."
"To say I have stress is an understatement," she added. "To say that I’m struggling is mild."
The 48-year-old, who was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015 and announced she was in remission in 2017, said she is still hopeful despite her cancer returning.
"I believe that I will find my footing," she wrote. "I’ll dig deep for the inner strength I need to face it all. I pray I do it all with dignity and grace."
She also shared that she plans to open up more as she has "so much to say."
"For now ... please know how much you all help lift me," she wrote.
Earlier this month, Doherty told ABC News' Amy Robach in an interview that aired on "Good Morning America," "I don't think I've processed it ... it's a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways."
"I definitely have days where I say why me," she continued. "And then I go, well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do."
Many of Doherty's friends and former co-stars reached out to her to express their well-wishes after her announcement. Actor Jason Priestley, who starred alongside Doherty in "Beverly Hills, 90210," told People magazine that Doherty was a "big part of my life."
"I'm very heartbroken about the news and I wish her and her family the best in this very difficult time," he said.
Doherty told ABC News that although she chose to keep her diagnosis extremely private, she decided to tell her "90210" co-star Brian Austin Green.
"I had moments of great anxiety where I thought, 'I can't really do this,' and Brian was the one person who -- of that group of people that knew -- that I told, like, pretty quickly and said, 'Here, the -- this is what I'm dealing with,'" she said about enduring long days on set in the wake of her diagnosis.
"So prior to shooting he would always call me and say, 'Listen, you know, whatever happens, I have your back.' He would look at me and be like, 'We got this, kiddo'... so Brian helped me through a lot," she added.
