Shannen Doherty Shares Heartbreaking Perspective on Dating Amid Cancer Battle

The dating world is brutal, even for Shannen Doherty. 

Indeed, the Charmed actress recently detailed how her ongoing battle with stage 4 cancer has affected her ability to find her perfect match. 

“I think it’s hard for somebody like me in my personal opinion,” Shannen admitted on the June 26 episode of Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast. “It’s hard to go into dating someone when you know that they might have an expiration date.”

And the Beverly Hills, 90210 star, who is currently in the middle of a divorce from Kurt Iswarienko, had a very matter-of-fact explanation why. 

“I don’t think men handle death and illness—most men, I don’t want to generalize and say all men—they don’t handle that as well as women do,” she added. “So I think I’m a very hard sell.”

Shannen also gave a brief update on her treatments—which, while stable at the moment, she compared to a “guinea pig on a wheel.”

“You hope that your protocol lasts a really long time and you get the most out of it,” she explained. “But inevitably a protocol will stop working. And then you have to move onto a next, and then when you move onto the next there’s a whole other set of things you deal with.”

Despite Shannen being convinced there may not be a partner out there willing to tag along on her life and health journey, Kelly emphasized that she is “always looking” for an eligible bachelor for her friend.

As Kelly assured, “I’m looking at you—you look beautiful.”

But when it comes to relationships, Shannen is also still figuring out what she wants longterm. 

The 53-year-old—who was previously married to Ashley Hamilton and Rick Saloman—has discussed before how her perpsecitve on relationships in general has shifted as she’s gotten older and continued with her cancer battle, noting that she would not get married again. 

“I love the idea of marriage and I believe in that,” she clarified on her Let’s Be Clear podcast in April. “But after my last brutal marriage, what it taught me is that a piece of paper doesn't really mean anything.”

As for one thing that Shannen is sure she does not want? Any more drama in her life. 

“One of the beautiful things that cancer has really taught me is to appreciate the peace,” she expounded. “Appreciate the fact that even though my life is disrupted to a certain degree just from cancer and treatments, it has brought me so much knowledge and changed me drastically as a human being.”

Shannen is continuing to evolve. Keep reading for a look at the actress over the years.