Shannen Doherty's doctor is speaking out about the actress' emotional final moments before her death. In an interview with People, Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, Shannen's oncologist and close friend, described the 90210 star's final moments as being both “sad” and “beautiful.” She died on July 13, 2024, at the age of 53 after a long battle with cancer.
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She was surrounded by close friends.
“In the last few hours, she was in a place where she was very comfortable and sleeping and transitioning, and she was surrounded by some of her very close friends,” Piro shared. “The room was surrounded by a select group of friends that were giving her a lot of care and support. It was somber and sad, but beautiful and loving.”
She wasn't ready to die.
“The hardest thing about this was that she wasn’t ready to leave because she loved life,” he added. In November 2023, the actress also opened up in an interview with People saying, “I don’t want to die. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better. I’m just not — I’m not done.”
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Shannen had decided to undergo another round of chemotherapy.
In an episode of her Let’s Be Clear podcast on June 24, 2024, the Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210 alum discussed her decision to undergo another round of chemotherapy. “I’m having to go back on chemo and it’s really hard,” she said at the time. “The idea of going through that all over again has wrecked me.”
The doctor believed she fought a good fight.
Piro said that they “kept going until we couldn’t go any more," referring to Shannen's fight against the illness. “The last conversation that we had, she was in the process of realizing that things had taken a pretty significant turn."
He described her as a 'warrior.'
“The conversation was about love and support and caring and still fighting through. She wanted to continue to take treatment and fight through, even though her physical condition had taken a bit of a downturn. And so we did," he continued, adding that throwing in the towel wasn't an option for her. “That wasn’t even open for discussion, because that’s not how Shannen lived. She was an incredible warrior in everything she did."
