Secrets from the Peach Pit! Shannen Doherty opens up about the real drama behind her farewell to Beverly Hills, 90210, and it’s not what you think.
“I went through a lot of growing pains on that show,” Doherty, 52, said on the Monday, January 22, episode of her “Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty” podcast in a conversation with costar Jason Priestley. “There [were] beautiful and tough moments for me.”
Shannen Doherty, the actress who rose to fame as Brenda Walsh on the hit TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210”, has revealed the shocking reason behind her departure from the series after its fourth season in 1994.
In a candid conversation with her former co-star Jason Priestley on her podcast “Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty,” she admitted that her personal life was in turmoil at the time, affecting her work ethic and professionalism.
Doherty, who is currently battling stage 4 breast cancer, said that she was in a “really horrible marriage” with actor Ashley Hamilton, who was a “massive drug addict.” She said that she was consumed by fear and anxiety for her husband’s well-being and that she also had to deal with her father’s illness.
She said that she wished that the show’s producers had intervened and given her a warning before firing her, but she also took responsibility for her actions.
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“I don’t blame anyone,” she said. “I certainly wish I had sat down and looked at it and said, ‘Listen, the result is going to be this: You are going to get fired because none of us is willing to put up with it anymore. And I understand that you have an issue in your personal life, but that also can’t bleed into work; you also have to get your s**t together.’”
Priestley, who played her brother Brandon Walsh on the show, said that he was unaware of her struggles and that her exit saddened him. He said the show was about the Walsh family and that losing one of its members was challenging. He also wished he had compassionately cared for his on-screen sister.
The two actors have since reconciled and remained friends, and Doherty even reprised her role as Brenda Walsh on the “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot in 2008. She said she was grateful for the opportunity to work with her former castmates again and that she had grown and matured since her tumultuous days on the show.
“I was a teenager,” she said. “I was desperately trying to grow up, to figure out my spirituality, to figure out my boyfriends. I mean, I was a teenager.”
