Shannen Doherty

Shannen Doherty was considered by many to be one of those problem actresses. People didn’t want to hire her because there might be tension or problems on the set. Whatever. I think she’s probably okay. I’m thinking she’s just someone who speaks her mind. Nothing wrong with that.

Shannen Maria Doherty was born on April 12, 1971 in Memphis, Tennessee. Hey! She shares the same birthday with David Cassidy. Yeah, I know. Whatever. Anyway, Shannen and her family moved to la la land (Los Angeles) when she was just a young girl. Then the magic began.

Beginnings

I think most people know her as bitchy Brenda Walsh from the show Beverly Hills, 90210, but she was actually pretty successful before then. Her first TV show was Father Murphy which starred cutie Timothy Gibbs. I wonder if he and Shannen ever hooked up. They were only like eight or nine, so probably not. But you never know. Bow chick a bow wow. Brown chicken brown cow.

Michael Landon, the man who rode a horse in every single TV show he was ever on, noticed Shannen’s performance in Father Murphy and cast her in Little House on the Prairie. After that, she had many other guest spots and TV movies before landing her next series, Our House. I never watched that show but it starred Wilford Brimley, Deidre Hall, and Chad Allen.

90210

She did more stuff after this and THEN got her “breakout” role of Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills 90210. I hate when people say things like “overnight success” and “lucky break”. Shannen Doherty was not an overnight success nor did she get a lucky break. She had been a hard working actress for years before she landed her 90210 role.

Doherty did many other TV movies and shows after 90210. She did Charmed with Alyssa Milano and Brian Krause. Rumors are she left the show because she didn’t get along with Alyssa Milano. Okay. Whatever. I follow Alyssa on Twitter and she seems like a nice person but she’s a little too Mary Sunshine Up Your Butt for me. I probably wouldn’t get along with her either. It doesn’t mean she’s not a nice person.

Shannen has done other TV shows and movies since Charmed and actually has quite the resume for someone who’s not yet 50.

Trivia

• She dated Judd Nelson.
• Is close friends with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
• Is from the same city as Justin Timberlake. He’s sexy.
• She dated River Phoenix.
• She went to the same school as Jodie Foster. Is that really true? Jodie went to Yale so I’m thinking they’re talking about a different school. Jodie is a lot older than Shannen so they wouldn’t have been going to school at the same time. That might be false info. Not sure.
• Was sentenced to either 10 days in jail or 20 days of work-release duty, three years probation, and ordered to pay a $1500 fine for drunk-driving charges. Oops. Hate when that happens.
• Beat future Charmed co-star Alyssa Milano for the role of Rene in the cult film Mallrats. Ha ha. Take that Mary Sunshine.
• Shannen had her wages garnished by California United Bank when she was on Beverly Hills, 90210 because she wrote nearly $32,000 worth of bad checks. Oops again. Not all bad check writing people are crooks. Some are just really bad at math.
• Suffers from Crohn’s Disease.
• Shannon was on season 10 of Dancing with the Stars. It was sweet watching her dance for her dad. Unfortunately, she got the boot almost immediately. It was probably because of her bad girl image. You need to be American’s sweetheart to earn all the viewers votes.
• She used to have a crush on Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder.
• She was in Slaughter’s video Real Love.
• It was hard for her to play Jason Priestley’s sister on Beverly Hills 90210 because she thought he was so hot.

Badass

Regarding her behavior, she says she has regrets but no apologies. “I wish I had conducted myself better on occasion and been more private, but I would rather live my life to the fullest than constantly conduct myself in a certain way to gain approval from others.” Sounds good to me.

Shannen Doherty came out with a book in 2010 called “Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life with Style and (the Right) Attitude”. That’s a really long title. Doherty owns up to her past mistakes and admits that her “bad girl” reputation was deserved, but she also insists she’s evolved into a badass — a woman of integrity who is strong, confident, self-aware and compassionate.

I think she is a bad ass. Is that one word or two? Shannen Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She had a mastectomy in 2016 along with chemo and all that other good stuff. She reported in 2017 that she was in remission. You need to be a bigger badass than the cancer, Shannen. Keep on keepin’ on. Badass.