Tori Spelling is opening up in detail about the ‘shocking moment’ in which she learned her friend and Beverly Hills, 90210 costar Shannen Doherty had died at 53.
Spelling, 51, spoke about the mournful moment on her misSPELLING podcast Sunday, which aired just more than two weeks after Doherty died on July 13 following a yearslong battle with breast cancer.
Spelling, who played Donna Martin on the 90s Fox staple, said she was napping with her children early on July 14, a Sunday, when her phone persistently ‘kept buzzing,’ alerting her to the bad news.
‘It kept going off,’ the Los Angeles native said. ‘I checked the time, and it was 7 a.m., and I knew immediately.
‘I was I was like, “Oh my God. Somebody’s passed, somebody important has died.” And I took that moment not to go on social media.’
Tori Spelling, 51, is opening up about the ‘shocking moment’ in which she learned her friend and Beverly Hills, 90210 costar Shannen Doherty had died at 53. Pictured in NYC in 2022
Doherty died on July 13 following a yearslong battle with breast cancer. Pictured in 2019 in LA
Spelling said that she ‘pulled up Google’ and ‘saw that Shannen had passed on Saturday night, and it was shocking.’
Doherty was initially diagnosed in 2015 with breast cancer, which went into remission before returning as stage four cancer in 2017 and spreading to her brain last year.
Spelling on her podcast Sunday praised Doherty for using her platform to spread awareness and hope to her fans, and said that she was grateful to have known her.
‘For everyone around the world that was going through something, whether it was cancer or any other kind of disease or ailment or connected to a hard time they were going through … they really did look to her for inspiration and power to carry on in the moments when they felt they couldn’t,’ Spelling said. ‘And I got to see that in person. I got to see that in person her whole life, which is beautiful.’
Spelling said she was 15-years-old when she first crossed paths with Doherty when they shot the pilot for the popular TV show, which was executive produced by her late father Aaron Spelling.
‘I think Shannen and Brian [Austin Greene] were the first people that I met on set, and they were really, really welcoming,’ Spelling said. ‘She immediately took me under her wing … she gave me a big hug, walked me around, took me into the makeup trailer.’
Spelling said that her relationship with Doherty had its peaks and valleys, and there were some ‘lost years,’ but they eventually reconciled from previous ‘misunderstandings’ and had been on good terms in recent years.
‘Ultimately, we got that time to go back and say, “None of that matters,”‘ Spelling said. ‘What matters is that core friendship that we had and we were able to get back to that.’
In the immediate aftermath of Doherty’s death, Spelling took to Instagram Stories with a selfie of the pair with the caption: ‘I don’t have outward words yet … but WE knew and that’s what matters’
The Beverly Hills, 90210 costars were pictured in 1991
Spelling described Doherty as a ‘beacon’ in her life who left a lasting legacy for her fans and the public for her performances, as well as the courage she displayed amid her health crisis.
‘She will live on in her work and in the people that loved her and the things she stood for,’ Spelling said.
In the immediate aftermath of Doherty’s death, Spelling took to Instagram Stories with a selfie of the pair with the caption: ‘I don’t have outward words yet … but WE knew and that’s what matters.’
Spelling subsequently took to the platform July 15 with a more comprehensive statement in the wake of Doherty’s death.
‘F*** them… is what Shan would say if I told her I felt pressure to have to summarize via social media a 36 year relationship and the grief I feel for a fire who’s flame went out too soon,’ Spelling said.
She said that they had become ‘fast best friends’ and ‘were each others wing women, true confidantes, support systems navigating bad relationships, roommates of sorts at times, travel buddies, and so much more.’
Spelling said that Doherty ‘always stuck up for’ her and had her back, believing in her when she ‘didn’t or couldn’t believe’ in herself.
She added, ‘We were young. We let a lot of outside and inside influences influence our friendship. In a world where we often don’t get to make up with the childhood friendships that formed so much of the adult you become, we got that chance.’
Spelling said that her relationship with Doherty had its peaks and valleys, and there were some ‘lost years,’ but they eventually reconciled from previous ‘misunderstandings’ and had been on good terms in recent years. Pictured in 2022 in NYC
Spelling described Doherty as a ‘beacon’ in her life who left a lasting legacy for her fans and the public for her performances and the courage she displayed amid her health crisis. Doherty pictured in LA in 2019
Doherty died more than five years after the death of Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry at 52 after suffering a massive stroke in March of 2019.
In the months after Perry’s 2019 death, Spelling reunited with costars Doherty, Jennie Garth, Jason Priestley, Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Carteris and Ian Ziering for the show BH90210, in which the performers played fictionalized versions of themselves.
Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane told People in a July 14 statement, ‘It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.
‘The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.’
