© 2026 ABC News

She said she is still not sure how much of her current battle with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer she will share publicly.

\"I don't know. I don't know. I also don't wanna be a bummer,\" she said, with a laugh. \"Yes I want to be positive and yes I want to be a beacon of light for other people or at least somebody that people can relate to and that we can have an honest conversation and talk about how hard it is.\"

\"I do want to be raw and honest about it,\" Doherty said.

The actress revealed it was \"odd aches\" that ultimately led to her second breast cancer diagnosis. She described accepting that she now faced a second fight with breast cancer as \"hard.\"

\"I started feeling some very odd aches so I called my oncologist and he said, \"All right, let's, you know, let's just get you in,'\" Doherty recalled. \"I think in the back of your head you are always suspecting that this is going to happen because you do hear of a lot of cases of women having re-occurrences.\"

\"But I had definitely also, in another way, convinced myself that I had beaten it,\" she said. \"You know, like, I was the true warrior. I was the true survivor. I was the cancer slayer.\"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ShannenDoherty (@theshando) on Dec 5, 2019 at 9:17am PST

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the US

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Breast cancer survivors face the highest risk of recurrence during the first two years after treatment. The type of cancer that Doherty has, metastatic breast cancer, occurs when the cancer has spread beyond the breasts, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), a Maryland-based hospital system.

The most common sites of metastasis with breast cancer are the brain, bones, lung and liver, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton.

Metastatic breast cancer is not curable and is instead managed as a chronic disease, according to Ashton.

\"You're still taking care of the patient and the patient is still fighting,\" she said Wednesday on \"GMA.\" \"Every patient, every person will have their own experience and there is always, always reason for hope.\"

Doherty has not revealed details of her treatment. She said she is focused now on living her life to its fullest and encouraging other breast cancer patients to do the same.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ShannenDoherty (@theshando) on Feb 4, 2020 at 7:29am PST

\"Our life doesn't end the minute we get that diagnosis,\" she said. \"We still have some living to do.\"

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/shannen-doherty-explains-stage-breast-cancer-diagnosis-secret/story?id=68771653","legacySlug":"/culture/story/shannen-doherty-explains-stage-breast-cancer-diagnosis-secret-68771653","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"15:20","publishDate":"02-05-2020","updatedTime":"00:24","updatedDate":"02-08-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Actress Shannen Doherty discusses her stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis with ABC News' Amy Robach in an interview that aired on \"Good Morning America.\"","credit":"ABC News","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/shannon-abc-er-200205_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"2/5/2020 15:20:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":68771653,"headline":"Why Shannen Doherty kept cancer diagnosis a secret","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_SHANNEN DOHERTY CANCER PART 2_200205","description":"\"[People] look at you like you're, you know, dead man walking basically.\"","duration":"4:56","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/02/200205_gma_robach_0741_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["57793384","68737604","64779292"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"September 13, 2018","headline":"Shannen Doherty on what she's learned while battling cancer","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/shannen-doherty-opens-battle-cancer-made-human-57793384","id":57793384,"image":{"alt":"Shannen Doherty on what she's learned while battling cancer","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/shannen-doherty-abc-ml-180913_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"ABC News","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"February 4, 2020","headline":"Shannen Doherty reveals stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/shannen-doherty-shares-stage-breast-cancer-id-people-68737604","id":68737604,"image":{"alt":"Shannen Doherty reveals stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/shannen-doherty-gty-jc-200203_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Neilson Barnard/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"August 5, 2019","headline":"Shannen Doherty talks '90210' revival without Luke Perry: 'You're missing some heart'","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/shannen-doherty-talks-90210-revival-luke-perrys-death-64779292","id":64779292,"image":{"alt":"Shannen Doherty talks '90210' revival without Luke Perry: 'You're missing some heart'","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/shannen-doherty-abc-ml-190805_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"ABC News","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Why Shannen Doherty kept cancer diagnosis a secret","description":"\"[People] look at you like you're, you know, dead man walking basically.\"","duration":"4:56","uploadDate":"02-05-2020","publication":"02-05-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/02/200205_gma_robach_0741_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/02/200205_gma_robach_0741_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/shannen-doherty-explains-stage-breast-cancer-diagnosis-secret-68771653"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132675442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132665875","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132628890","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"Why Shannen Doherty kept cancer diagnosis a secret","pubTime":"10:20","pubDate":"02-05-2020","modTime":"19:24","modDate":"02-07-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":68771653,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Why Shannen Doherty kept cancer diagnosis a secret","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_SHANNEN DOHERTY CANCER PART 2_200205","videoId":68771653,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/shannen-doherty-explains-stage-breast-cancer-diagnosis-secret-68771653"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/68771653","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/68771653","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};