Back in February, Doherty spoke with Amy Robach of Good Morning America to reveal that she had privately been battling stage four cancer again for the past year:

“I don’t think that I’ve processed it. It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways. I’ve definitely had days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well why not me? Who else, you know? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do. I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how am I going to tell my mom, my husband [Kurt Iswarienko].”

After the shocking loss of her on-screen love to a stroke in March 2019, the Heathers star decided to keep the fight to herself during filming and not share that her cancer had returned. During that time, she also appeared on a special tribute to Perry on Riverdale. The 49-year-old recalled:

“It was so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go first. It was really, like, shocking and the least I could do to honor him was do that show. Like, I still haven’t done enough in my opinion. So, it’s a hard one because I thought, when I finally do come out, I will have worked and worked 16 hours a day and people can look at that and say, ‘Oh my God. Yeah, she can work and other people with stage four can work, too.’ Our life doesn’t end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do.”

But one person who she did emotionally open up to was Brian Austin Green:

“I had moments of great anxiety where I thought, ‘I can’t really do this.’ And Brian was the one person who, of that group of people, that knew, that I told, like, pretty quickly. So, prior to shooting, he would always call me and say, ‘Listen, you know whatever happens, like, I have your back.’ And we were able to talk about Luke in a way that was very positive and uplifting and sort of remember a lot of great moments.”

We’re sending Shannen strength and continued best wishes.