Shannen Doherty Breast Cancer: ‘Charmed’ Actress Reveals Cancer Has Spread, She’s ‘Scared Of The Unknown’

Shannen Doherty’s breast cancer has spread. The Charmed actress opened up about her diagnosis in a new, candid interview with Entertainment Tonight. Shannen Doherty has battled hard over the past 17 months of her life, but she still has a long road ahead of her due to some recent findings.

While many were hoping to hear some positive news, Shannen Doherty has revealed that her cancer spread outside of her lymph nodes.

“I had breast cancer that spread to the lymph nodes, and from one of my surgeries we discovered that some of the cancer cells might have actually gone out of the lymph nodes. So for that reason, we are doing chemo, and then after chemo, I’ll do radiation,” Doherty said. “The unknown is always the scariest part. Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work? You know, am I going to have to go through this again, or am I going to get secondary cancer? Everything else is manageable. Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love,” she added.

Shannen Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2015. The 45-year-old opened up about having a mastectomy and said that she has wonderful doctors who have really helped her cope. While it hasn’t been easy, good doctors have given Doherty a great deal of support during this trying time.

“He didn’t want me to wake up with absolutely nothing. It was very important to him that I didn’t have that experience, and so, he put an expander in, so I have a tiny something there. It’s cute and sometimes we fill it up and make it bigger, and sometimes we reduce it. I’m being so personal right now. But I think a lot of women can probably go, ‘Yeah, I’ve been through that.’ It’s great though, you get to pick out what size you want.”

Shannen Doherty has gone through quite a transformation, choosing to shave her head before chemotherapy completely took over. She recalled trying to brush through her long brown hair after her second treatment and said that her hair just fell out in clumps. Although it’s something that most cancer patients understand will happen after chemotherapy, the realization that it is going to happen is very hard. Standing there with her hair in her hands, Doherty couldn’t help but cry.

“I just remember holding onto huge clumps of my hair in my hands, and just running to my mom crying, like, ‘My hair, my hair, my hair, my hair.'”

Shannen Doherty cut her hair off, buzzing it very short, which is what many cancer patients end up doing. It’s one of the hardest parts of going through chemotherapy because it completely changes how you look and how you see yourself.

Shannen Doherty has undergone three of eight chemotherapy treatments so far. She is sharing her story because she knows that so many people go through this every year. It is unbelievably emotional and very challenging, and these feelings are only made worse by the unknown, says Doherty.

According to U.S. Breast Cancer Statistics, one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2016, over 300,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, varying in severity.

Shannen Doherty has been documenting her breast cancer journey on social media lately. She will continue undergoing chemotherapy treatments before undergoing an unspecified number of radiation treatments in hopes of beating breast cancer. Shannen doesn’t know what lies ahead, but she says that she hopes to help at least one person by speaking out about her experience with the disease.

You can watch Shannen Doherty’s interview with ET beginning Monday night.

[Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images]