"I know it's going to be hard on her if I pass away before her": Shannen Doherty shares heartfelt message for her mom amid cancer diagnosis 

On Monday's episode of her podcast Let’s Be Clear, actress Shannen Doherty opened up about her battle with stage 4 breast cancer and making an “easier transition” for her mother Rosa, in case she succumbs.

“I know it’s going to be hard on her if I pass away before her. Because it’s going to be so hard on her, I want other things to be a lot easier. I don’t want her to have a bunch of stuff to deal with. I don’t want her to have four storage units filled with furniture,” Shannen Doherty explained.

In the solo episode, the Beverly Hills, 90210 star further touched upon her decision about letting go of her material possessions and focusing on spending time with her family and friends as well as lasting memories with her mother.

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Exploring what Shannen Doherty said on her latest podcast episode

On April 1, Monday, Shannen Doherty got candid on her Let’s Be Clear podcast. In a 35-minute-long episode titled Let’s Be Raw… with Shannen Doherty, the actress shared how she was clearing out her homes, storage units, and other properties “just in case” something happened to her amid her ongoing cancer battle.

She began by saying, “My priority at the moment is my mom,” adding that if she died before her 76-year-old mother, it would be “hard” on her, which is why she was trying to make other stuff “easier” for her, such as donating or selling her belongings beforehand.

“So, we were in Tennessee and I was packing up one of the places there. It was really hard and really emotional because to a certain extent — I felt like I was giving up on this dream of building this property out, and putting a house for me and a house for my mom and then extending the barn,” she stated.

Shannen Doherty continued by saying:

“I was packing up and I started crying… I felt like I was giving up on a dream and what did that mean for me? Did it mean that I was giving up on life? Did it mean that I was throwing in the towel? And my mom was there and she was like, ‘Don’t get rid of this place, it’s fine. You don’t have to and you can keep going.’ I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely I can.'”

She explained that living on the Tennessee property with her mother “was one of my dreams” and she wanted to build a sanctuary there for horses who were “abandoned by their owners because they are too old” or “broken down.”

The 52-year-old stated how letting go of her dream was hard, yet “the right thing to do,” which she felt would bring her “peace.” She also added that it was a result of an epiphany that renovating the property would be expensive and "stupid,” and she could still live her dream of helping and fostering horses by “participating in rescues that are far more capable of me doing it,” closer to her home in California.

Shannen Doherty explained that clearing out her homes and other possessions also allowed her to “leave behind a cleaner, easier transition” for her mother and the rest of her family, while also realizing that they didn’t give her as much joy as making memories with her loved ones did.

“It allows me to take more trips because I’m making money, I’m selling it. Then I get to build different memories and I build memories with the people that I love,” she added.

As she choked up, she also mentioned,

“I get to take my mom on vacations because I have all this extra play money lying around and I’m not digging into the money that’s in my estate that’s going to make sure that everybody in my life is taken care of once I’m dead… This isn’t about giving up, it’s about giving it all.”

Shannen Doherty has been candid about her cancer journey since the beginning. In 2015, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer that went into remission two years later.

However, in 2019, it relapsed into stage 4. Last year, the Heathers actress revealed that the cancer had spread to her brain and bones, and she was “fighting to stay alive.”