‘Broke’ Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty died in debt
Shannen Doherty died in massive debt after the late 90210 star was forced to take out millions of dollars in loans while battling cancer and going through a bitter divorce.
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Shannon Doherty died in crippling debt and had taken out a $4.5 million mortgage and $220,000 bank loan while battling cancer.
According to the US Sun, Doherty died owing a fortune to banks and and $370,000 in legal fees during a bitter split from husband Kurt Iswarienko, which was still in court at the time of her death.
Doherty died last Saturday after a nearly 10-year fight against cancer.
Prior to her death, the Beverly Hills, 90210 star asked a judge for $23,000 monthly from her estranged husband, but Iswarienko had not agreed.
Less than a year before her death, Doherty was forced to take out a massive $4.5 million home loan on her Malibu home with ClearEdge Lending LLC in December 2023, according to documents.
ClearEdge Lending offers non-qualifying mortgages to people who do not usually meet the requirements for traditional home loans, according to their website.
Doherty told People magazine last month that Iswarienko was waiting until she died so he could avoid paying spousal support.
She claimed in court records that it was “simply not right that Kurt be permitted to prolong our divorce in hopes that I die before he is required to pay me while he continues to live his life and shirk his responsibilities to his dying wife of more than 11 years”.
FINANCIAL ISSUES
Doherty’s only asset was her Malibu home said to be worth $9 million.
Over the past three years, the actress earned $32,168 a month through her firm, Shando Productions Inc, according to financial records obtained by The US Sun.
However, her expenses were $78,898 a month, a shortfall of $46,730.
Doherty had huge outgoings, having paid her divorce lawyer $147,000, according to documents.
But, the actress still owed an additional $253,000.
Other expenses included a $28,800 a-month mortgage and interest-only repayments of $1086 on a $222,000 Small Business Administration load.
In 2018, Doherty took out another home loan for $4.1 million.
The monthly interest rate for that loan skyrocketed last August by 3.25 percent, according to financial documents.
Meanwhile, Doherty also had monthly bills, including $5336 in property taxes, $6100 in house maintenance, and $2300 in utilities.
It’s unclear why Doherty took out the $4.5 million home loan upfront.
A day before her death, Doherty filed to divorce Iswarienko and terminated her request for spousal support.
“This matter is proceeding as an uncontested action,” the filing read.
Doherty waived her right to spousal support, previously a central focal point in their contentious divorce.
“I knowingly give up forever any right to receive spousal or partner support,” the document signed by the actress read.
It also further stated that both parties were asking the court to terminate any support for either.
POSTHUMOUS DIVORCE
Doherty was granted a posthumous divorce when the judge signed off on their split and settlement agreement on Monday.
Posthumously, Doherty was granted the couple’s home in Malibu, California and all art - including a Salvador Dali painting - and furniture in the house.
Doherty also barred her ex-husband from “exploiting” her image after her death.
The judgment read, “Any and all photographs of [Doherty] that are now in [Iswarienko’s] possession, regardless of when said photographs were created by [Kurt], shall be removed from Respondent’s website forthwith.
“[Iswarienko] shall oversee the removal of said photographs from the websites of any and all of his representatives, including his agents.
“[Iswarienko] shall be prohibited from exploiting the photographs of [Doherty],” the judgement declared.
90210 ICON DEAD
Doherty, best known for playing Brenda Walsh on the monster 1990s hit series Beverly Hills 90210, died last weekend after battling cancer for close to a decade.
It is the second major cast loss for the beloved show after Doherty’s on screen love interest Luke Perry – who played teen rebel Dylan McKay – died in 2019 at the age of 52 following multiple strokes.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Doherty’s longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed in an exclusive statement People magazine.
“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane continued.
Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, but after she underwent treatment, it went into remission by 2017. In 2020, she announced it had returned as Stage 4 cancer.
“It’s like anybody with Stage 4 faces this sort of thing, where others want to put you out to pasture,” she told Elle magazine the same year.
“I’m not ready for pasture. I’ve got a lot of life in me.”
In June 2023, she revealed the cancer had spread to her brain, writing in an Instagram post that a January CAT scan “showed Mets [metastasis] in my brain”.
“My fear is obvious,” she told fans. By November the cancer had spread to her bones.
Over the years, Doherty shared every aspect of her cancer battle with her two million followers online.
“Is it all pretty? NO but it’s truthful and my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like,” she said in 2021.
She said her decision to share her own journey was to encourage others to not only get regular check-ups and mammograms but also “cut [through] the fear and face whatever might be in front of you”.
CHILD STAR
Doherty, who was born in Memphis, began acting at 10, making appearances in various US TV series such as Voyagers and Father Murphy. She was spotted by Michael Landon who cast the young Doherty in his own hit series, Little House on the Prairie, where she starred as Jenny Wilder in the show’s final series in 1983.
She made a move to the big screen when she appeared in the beloved teen comedy Girls Just Want to Have Fun alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt.
In 1988, her star rose further after she played cliquey high school student Heather Duke alongside Winona Ryder and Christian Slater in the cult classic Heathers.
90210 JUGGERNAUT
But it was her role as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills 90210 that would make her a global star.
The Aaron Spelling TV production featured high-school students in the world’s coolest and sexiest postcode. Starring Doherty, Jason Priestley, Luke Perry, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Tori Spelling and Brian Austin Green, the show was the teen phenomenon of the 1990s and made the cast superstars.
But it wasn’t just the cast’s obvious physical appeal that drew young fans in: the show’s success was driven by the fact it didn’t shy away from serious topics such as teen pregnancy, sex, racism, homophobia, AIDS and suicide.
“I understood why the show was so big [at the time], that it was the genius of Fox putting on new episodes during the summer when everything else was re-runs at the time,” Doherty said in 2016.
“It was that, plus the fact that the show was really the first that catered to that age group, that parents could sit down with their kids and it would open up a discussion about teenage topics that may have been hard for a parent to broach with their teenager prior to the show.”
Doherty, Priestley, and Perry became such major stars they could barely walk down the street without being mobbed.
TROUBLE IN BEVERLY HILLS
But there was a dark side to fame. Doherty copped the ire of fans who confused her with her occasionally “stuck up” on-screen alter ego Brenda and she was dogged by rumours she was “difficult” on set.
“I wish I was a tougher person. I might be one of the most sensitive people you’ll ever meet,” she said in 2016. “Sure, it hurt, but I think finally there was a point when I just looked at it all and said, ‘Whatever’.”
Later, Beverly Hills 90210 executive producers Darren Star and Charles Rosin both confirmed that Doherty was difficult to work with on-set; Rosin commented that she had “habitual lateness”.
“Her lateness was appalling, and she had a callous attitude and an indifference,” Rosin said.
Co-star Garth (who played Queen Bee Kelly Taylor) conceded that she and Doherty “often wanted to claw each other’s eyes out” and one fight between the pair turned physical.
Doherty later admitted to making mistakes, blaming her behaviour on the pressures of fame, her youth, and problems in her personal life.
“I have a rep. Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after a while you sort of try to shed that rep because you’re kind of a different person,” she said in 2010. “You’ve evolved and all of the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”
As for those alleged on-set spats?
“Look, nobody gets along with everybody,” she said in 2016. “It’s impossible and I’ve always said this. In any normal office job, nobody goes to work every single day and gets along with Jack, Harry, Ted, Barbara … You don’t get along with everybody. There’s always a person or two or three that you’re like ‘Yeuch, they’re so not my type of person’.”
Doherty left the show after its fourth season in 1994.
As if to throw petrol on her wholesome teen image, she appeared nude in Playboy, first in December 1993, followed by a spread in March 1994. She posed for the magazine again in December 2003 and has been featured in a 10-page pictorial.
Her career petered out for awhile until 1998 when Aaron Spelling cast her as a witch in Charmed, alongside Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano. Again, she departed the hit show under a cloud after its third season due to tensions with Milano.
In December 2023, Doherty claimed Milano insisted producers fire her from the show.
LATER CAREER
After Charmed, Doherty appeared in a series of made-for-TV dramas and forgettable reality TV shows. She also appeared on the US version of Dancing With The Stars to honour her ailing father but was eliminated in the second week.
In 2008, 14 years after her last appearance as Brenda Walsh, she joined the Beverly Hills 90210 spin off, 90210. She again played Brenda Walsh – now a successful actress and director – in four of the initial six episodes.
In 2014, she reunited with Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs in road trip reality show, Off The Map with Shannen and Holly. The show ran for six episodes.
But she could never quite shake the spectre of Brenda Walsh.
In 2019, she joined the six-episode sequel BH90210, which also starred original cast members Jason Priestley, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering, and Tori Spelling as fictionalised versions of themselves, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Beverly Hills, 90210. Rolling Stone called it the “weirdest revival of all time” and it was cancelled after one season.
LOVE LIFE
Like her career, Doherty’s love-life was often tumultuous. In 1993, at the height of her 90210 fame, she married actor George Hamilton’s son, Ashley. The union lasted barely six months.
In 2002, Doherty married poker player Rick Salomon (most famous for his sex tape with Paris Hilton, and for marrying Pamela Anderson twice), but the marriage was annulled after nine months.
In 2011, Doherty married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. She filed for divorce from the photographer in April 2023.
TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR ‘REBEL HEART’
Perez Hilton posted a heartfelt video to his Instagram account and wrote “This was the worst news to wake up to!!!” with a broken heart emoji. He recalled Doherty as “very strong, very smart, very funny.”
“She spent the last bit of her life doing exactly what she wanted,” he said in an emotional video tribute.
“Show Me Heaven” singer Maria McKee posted a glamorous photo of Doherty surrounded by Borzoi dogs, with the heartbreak emoji. She followed that with another post of Doherty when she was a child actor. “From one ‘difficult’ bitch to another. Rest in power, angel.”
Many celebrity tributes appeared in the comments section underneath Doherty’s last Instagram post, which was on 25 June. The Charmed star suspended her official Twitter account some time ago.
#MeToo activist Rose McGowan said, “My head bows to you brave one. All love forever.”
Actress Kate Beckinsale posted, “Fly high lovely kind sweetheart woman”.
Selma Blair, who had struggled with MS, posted “Thank you for showing us how to keep going. Rebel heart.”
Originally published as ‘Broke’ Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty died in debt
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