Shannen Doherty: How Love Saved Me:
The actress praises hubby Kurt Iswarienko for supporting her as she battles stage IV breast cancer.
SHANNEN DOHERTY knows better than anyone that life’s toughest challenges can make or break a marriage. When the actress, who’s been battling breast cancer since 2015, posted a heartfelt 48th birthday message to her husband, Kurt Iswarienko, on Instagram on June 22, she made it very clear that he’s been her saving grace. “So many roads we have been down. Each one… filled with challenges that easily could’ve been road blocks,” she captioned a sunny pic of the duo on horseback, adding, “Your tenacity, strength and support helped us navigate the roads together. Always together. You are the steady beat behind my back.” These days, Shannen’s been relying on Kurt more than ever. The Charmed star, 49, shocked fans when she revealed in February that her cancer, which had gone into remission in 2017 after grueling chemotherapy and radiation treatments, had returned — and, even more devastatingly, had progressed to stage IV. “I’m petrified. I’m pretty scared,” she told Good Morning America. “There are definitely days where I say, ‘Why me?’” At her lowest moments, Kurt lifts her up. “Shannen’s really been struggling,” a confidant tells Star. “She has her good days and bad days, but Kurt’s love and support have been constant. He’s been her lifeline throughout this incredibly difficult period.”
CLOSE CONNECTION
Indeed, by the time Shannen married Kurt in 2011, she’d already experienced turbulence in her life. When she first met the producer and cinematographer in 2008, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum had a bad-girl rep: She’d been through two quickie marriages (to actor Ashley Hamilton and poker pro Rick Salomon) and had a handful of rash, disastrous engagements under her belt. But when she met Kurt, she knew
she'd finally found her soulmate. "He gets me.
I get him,” she later wrote about their instant bond. “In short, I got pretty damn lucky.” Since then, her appreciation for her husband has only grown — and even more so as the couple shelters in place together at their rented house in L.A. “He’s always thinking of her and putting her needs first,” says a pal. “Kurt makes sure she’s taking care of herself by getting plenty of rest, sticking to a healthy, mostly vegetarian diet and even doing a little exercise when she’s up to it.” And when Shannen — who continues to be open about her dark moods (“To say that I’ve been stressed is an understatement,” she recently confessed) — is feeling blue, “Kurt will coax her into coming outside with him to take in the fresh air,” the source says. “Sometimes he’ll take her on a beautiful drive up the coast. He always knows exactly what to do to cheer her up.”
STAYING STRONG
Shannen’s had to dig deep for strength to face other setbacks as well. In March, her best friend of three decades and fellow cancer warrior, Hollywood stylist Deborah Waknin-Harwin, succumbed to her illness after a four-year battle. And the Memphis-born actress’ lawsuit against State Farm recently took a nasty turn, with the insurance company accusing her of revealing her stage IV diagnosis as a ploy to garner sympathy in an attempt to win expenses after her Malibu home was damaged in the 2018 Woolsey Fire. “That was just adding insult to injury,” says the pal. “It’s bad enough that, given her fragile health, she can’t move back in because there are still too many dangerous toxins.”
Still, a resilient Shannen is focusing on the road ahead — and the man by her side. “She feels incredibly lucky to have Kurt in her life,” the pal shares. “As she sees it, every day they get to spend together is a blessing.”