Shannen Doherty was “devastated” by chemotherapy and was seen with friends before her death

Shannen Doherty could hardly come to terms with the idea of ​​undergoing chemotherapy again until her death at the age of 53.

The actress, who lost her years-long battle with stage four breast cancer on Saturday, spoke about her cancer treatment in one of her final podcast episodes, released on June 24.

“I have to start chemotherapy again and it’s really hard,” Doherty said on “Let’s Be Clear.”

“The thought of having to go through it all again destroyed me.”

“It devastated me in the sense that although I knew I had stage 4 and that it was really serious, when you have to go to the hospital and get anesthetized and have a port put in, it becomes very real in a whole different way,” she added.

The star of “Beverly Hills, 90210” said at the time that she had “no idea” how long she would have to undergo chemotherapy.

“I have no idea if it will take three months or six months, or if it won’t work after three months and we’ll change something again,” she explained.

“I can’t predict that,” Doherty noted. “My doctors can’t predict that. And it’s scary.”

Doherty said chemotherapy was a “big wake-up call” for her and that between her battle with cancer and her divorce from her husband Kurt Iswarienko, she felt like her life had been “unknown.”

“It’s like I have no overview and no control,” she explained. “And most people who know me know that I’m a control freak. I like to have things under control. And with cancer, there really is no control. It doesn’t matter how much research I do. It doesn’t matter how much natural and holistic I approach it, so, believe me, folks, I’ll try anything.”

“I’m a person who is open to all of that,” Doherty said. “And it doesn’t help me. And medicine and science have kept me alive and helped me the longest.”

A month before her death, Doherty was seen with her friends in Malibu in the last public photos of the popular star.

Doherty, her longtime pal Chris Cortazzo and a friend left Kristy’s waterfront restaurant on June 16. Cortazzo had his arm around Doherty.

The former “Charmed” actress wore flared jeans, an oversized button-down T-shirt and a black newsboy cap, and held a brown paper bag in her arms.

Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. Her disease went into remission in 2017, but in February 2020 she announced that she was battling stage 4 breast cancer.

In recent years she has spoken very openly about her battle with cancer.

In June 2023, Doherty shared a clip on Instagram about “what cancer can look like” before she underwent brain surgery.

“I’m obviously trying to be brave, but I’m petrified,” Doherty wrote. “The fear was overwhelming for me. I was scared of all sorts of bad consequences, worried about leaving my mother and how it would affect her. I worried that I wouldn’t be myself after the operation.”

Later that year, she said in an interview with People that she was not ready to die.

“I’m not done living. I’m not done loving. I’m not done creating. I’m not done hopefully changing things for the better. I’m just not done,” Doherty said.