What a low blow to deal with right before a major life-threatening surgery!
Shannen Doherty shares, that the husband she had been married to for over a decade was having an affair, and she found out right before she was heading into surgery to remove a brain tumor.
During the premiere episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, the 52-year-old recalled dealing with her divorce from Kurt Iswarienko while simultaneously battling stage four cancer at the beginning of 2023.
“I went into that surgery early in the morning and I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years,” Doherty alleged.
Although Doherty admits that her ex-husband had wanted to be there during her surgery, she just couldn’t stand to have him there and told him no.
“I felt so betrayed,” Doherty said emotionally. “At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart.”
While Doherty was petrified to go into surgery, she was thankful to have her mother, brother, and best friend Chris by her side during such a crucial time in her life.
Although the surgery was a success, Doherty still had to undergo more radiation treatments and continues to battle the rehabilitating disease.
“Just to have to go through all of that while trying to figure out if you’re going to get a friggin’ divorce and trying to get to the truth of that,” she added.
While Doherty and Iswarienko separated in January, the same month as her surgery, the actress didn’t file for divorce from the photographer until April.
“Despite his infidelity, it was really hard for e to walk away, even though I knew it was what I needed to do,” Doherty said. “I was so confused and I was also on steroids and a lot of stuff from brain surgery because they didn’t want my brain to swell. And honestly, it’s still really hard. Yes, I made the decision to file for divorce, but I have a lot of memories with this person.”
However, during that time she became obsessed with uncovering every detail of her ex-husband’s betrayal through conversations, expecting someone to be honest with her.
“If you share 14 years together and you cheated, doesn’t that person deserve the absolute truth regardless of how much it hurts them?” she said. “If they’re the ones asking for it, if they’re the ones saying, ‘Listen, I get it. I may cry and I may get angry and this may really suck to hear, but I need to hear it because I need closure and this is how I get my closure.”‘
Doherty claims she ended up speaking with the woman her ex cheated on her with, yet she refused to disclose the woman’s identity.
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 but announced that she had gone into remission two years later. However, her cancer returned in 2019 and progressed to stage 4, spreading to her brain.
Prior to her romance with Iswarienko, the actress was married to Ashley Hamilton from 1993 to 1994 and Rick Salomon from 2002 to 2003, making her split from the photographer even harder.
“It was embarrassing, she said on the podcast. “I am horrified that I can’t keep a relationship together. I’ve failed three times at marriage, but I still believe in love.”
Doherty claims she takes responsibility for some of the marriage issues, however, she made it very clear that the split was completely on him.
Last month during an interview, Doherty smiled and said she is finally healed enough to start dating again.
“There’s always a trigger, just a moment that you have, somebody says something to you, your ex says one thing to you and you’re like, ‘OK, yeah, I’m good. I’m good, I have closure and I can move on in a really healthy way,’” she explained. “I have to love myself and reckon with the past, really, before I can move forward, and now I’m pretty sure I’ll meet somebody, hopefully soon.”
