Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer: Celebrities Who Are Thriving After a Stage IV Diagnosis
While always sad, it’s not always surprising when we hear celebrities share that they have breast cancer—with one in eight women being diagnosed in their lifetime, it’s all too common a diagnosis. Cynthia Nixon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wanda Sykes, and many more celebs have been open about their breast cancer diagnoses and treatments. Beyond actors, popular broadcast hosts (including Katie Couric, Hoda Kotb, and Robin Roberts), comedians, reality TV stars, authors, and even Olympic medalists have also spoken publicly about their battles with breast cancer in recent years. While they’ve detailed the emotional and physical pain of treatment, most are now cancer-free—yet some are not. More often than you might think, remission from breast cancer isn’t permanent. Thirty percent of early-stage breast cancer patients will eventually see their disease return as metastatic (or stage IV) cancer, meaning the disease has spread to other organs and can no longer be cured—and that stat stands in Hollywood as well. This fall, actress and businesswoman Suzanne Somers died of metastatic breast cancer following a 23-year fight with the disease, and Grease icon Olivia Newton-John died of metastatic breast cancer in 2021 after her own decades-long and very public battle with the disease. While many might choose to keep such a serious diagnosis private, the two courageous stars below have also been open about the fact that they’re living with metastatic breast cancer—while also living in the spotlight.
Shannen Doherty
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The Beverly Hills 90210 actor revealed in 2015 that she was undergoing treatment after a breast cancer diagnosis. In 2016, following a second round of chemotherapy, she bravely documented the process of shaving her head on Instagram.
“After my second treatment, my hair was really matted, like in dreadlocks. And I went to try and brush it out, and it just fell out,” Doherty told ET. “We did stages. We did a pixie. And then we did a mohawk, which was my favorite look. And then, finally, we had to get the shaver thing and just buzz it off.”
Though her cancer went into remission in 2017, she would share in February 2020 that it had returned as stage IV. In spite of her diagnosis, she filmed the Beverly Hills 90210 reboot, which aired in 2019, viewing it as an opportunity to prove that she could continue to work despite her health struggles. “One of the reasons that I did 90210 and didn’t really tell anybody [was] because I thought, people can look at that [as] people with stage IV can work too,” said Doherty, who also continued to document her treatments on social media in a raw and honest way. In January 2023, a CT scan showed that cancer had spread to her brain. Brain radiation treatments and surgery followed—with Doherty bravely sharing photos and thoughts from the procedures via Instagram.
