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
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.
“The fear was overwhelming to me,” she wrote on Instagram in June when recalling the procedures. “Scared of all possible bad outcomes, worries about leaving my mom and how that would impact her. Worried that I would come out of surgery not me anymore. This is what cancer can look like.” The good news: She made it through and continues to share her journey and use social media to inspire others to keep going one day at a time.
“I’m not signing off,” she told Elle in 2020. (On the contrary, she’s signing on, with her just-launched podcast, Let’s Be Clear.) “I feel like I’m a very, very healthy human being. It’s hard to wrap up your affairs when you feel like you’re going to live another 10 or 15 years.”
She said more recently, “My greatest memory is yet to come,” in a December 2023 People cover story. “I’m not done with living.”
Bershan Shaw
The Buckle Up With Bershan podcast host, season 13 Real Housewives of New York City personality, and motivational speaker went through radiation after first being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, at age 33. Just two years later—and just weeks before her wedding—she learned that the cancer had returned as metastatic. At the time, she was given just three months to live, but she is still going strong more than 16 years later.
“I always say, ‘Get busy living, not dying. Get busy living with cancer,’” she recently told Parade. “Cancer was my gift. It taught me to live and live out loud and live now. Because tomorrow just may not come. We say, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow. Or next month, or next year.’ That may not come, so do it now.”
For more information on metastatic breast cancer, visit Susan G. Komen.
Petra Guglielmetti is a health, wellness, and beauty journalist who taps into a broad network of doctors, scientists, and medical experts to write in-depth service articles for leading publications like Glamour, Health, Real Simple, and Parents.
More on living with metastatic breast cancer:
- 7 Questions to Ask Your Doctor If You’re Diagnosed With Metastatic Breast Cancer
- My Life in Pictures: Before, During, and After a Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis
- How to Talk to Your Kids About Your Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis
- 12 Ways to Practice Self-Care After a Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis
