Beverly Hills, 90210 star Ian Ziering has paid tribute to his former co-star Shannen Doherty, who died one year ago at the age of 53.
Doherty died of breast cancer nine years after first being diagnosed with the disease in 2015. She rose to global fame playing Brenda Walsh in the teen drama, opposite Ziering as Steve Sanders.
On his personal Instagram account, Ziering wrote a heartfelt post mentioning fellow star Luke Perry, who died in 2019, and explaining why he didn’t speak out about Doherty at the time of her death.
“When I first heard she was sick, we had nearly a decade more with her,” he wrote. “And even then, most of the updates sounded less like ‘Shannen’s fighting cancer’ and more like ‘cancer picked the wrong woman.’ That was her way—strong, defiant, take-no-prisoners tough.
“Every time I saw her during those years, she was still Shan—fierce, funny, full of life. That’s why her passing hit me like a freight train. I was shocked. I truly believed she was going to pull off one more miracle.
“When she died a year ago, I didn’t post anything. And yes, some people criticized that. To them I say: grief isn’t a performance. It’s personal. Let people grieve how they grieve.”
Ziering continued: “Over the past year, I’ve seen my old castmates a few times. It’s been hard being together without her—and Luke. That kind of loss doesn’t fade. It just rearranges the furniture in your heart.
“I miss Shannen. We clashed now and then in the early years of 90210—two strong personalities will do that—but we always had respect. I was the wisecracking comic relief; she was the beautiful chaos, the after-hours headline, the girl who could trash a hotel room and make the tabloids love her for it. (Stop laughing, Shan. You know it’s true.)
“Whatever antics happened off-set, when the camera rolled? She delivered. Always. As we got older, we mellowed. Grew up. Understood what we’d been part of and what we each brought to the table. I’ll never forget when she and Jennie surprised me at the Chippendales show in Vegas. God, we laughed so hard. It was one of those nights that stays with you.
“So, my dear Shannen—I think of you often. Your grit. Your fire. Your kind heart that so few really got to see. I still carry all of it with me. Rest easy, Shan.”
Several more of Doherty’s friends and co-stars also remembered her on the anniversary of her death. Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar shared a montage of photos of the pair together on her Instagram, captioned with a broken heart emoji. Rose McGowan also shared pictures to her Instagram Stories, writing: “Always Shannen, we miss you.”
