‘s mom, , and longtime friend are reflecting on the moment they realized just how “brave” the late actress was amid her cancer battle.
Nearly one month after Shannen’s death, Rosa, 77, and Kortright, 42, took over Shannen’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast to honor her legacy and share stories about the beloved Beverly Hills, 90210 star, including the time they helped her shave her head in 2016.
“I called you because she called me,” Rosa said to Kortright. “I was there with her, and she’s like, ‘OK, mom, I want you to cut my hair.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ Because at the time she was losing some hair, but she still had a full head of hair. And she said, ‘No, come with me,’ and she took me into the bathroom and she put her hair in a ponytail and she said, ‘Cut this ponytail off now.’ And I did cut the ponytail. And then we’re looking at each other like, ‘What are we going to do now?'”
Rosa went on to recall that after Shannen insisted they needed to “go ahead and do it all now,” she called Kortright for help because they didn’t have clippers.
“For those of you who are going through this, you will know that it is not as easy as it looks. You actually need some training,” Kortright explained. “So I got some training real quickly. But you know what, in all seriousness, it was a big moment. I didn’t realize it until later on how brave she was. Like, how truly brave she was to just bear it all and share it with you guys, and you know the outpouring of love after that post.”
Noting the trio went “back and forth” before sharing the head-shaving process via social media, Kortright said they knew they made the right decision after seeing the overwhelmingly positive response from followers.
“Finally, when we saw the response, we were like, ‘This is the right thing because there’s so many people out there going through this alone,'” she added. “She truly gave them the courage to just, like, go for it and go out there and talk about it. And also create all the awareness. She truly, on her own, created so much breast cancer awareness. She did so much work on her own.”
Shannen, who openly documented her cancer diagnosis and shared her day-to-day life with followers, died in July after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 53.
“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,” Shannen’s publicist, , said in a statement to Us Weekly at the time. “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.”
Rosa broke her silence on her daughter’s death days later.
“She is my beautiful girl and my heart,” she told People. “Our family wants to thank everyone who has shown love and support for our Shannen throughout her life. We are truly appreciative.”
Shannen was first diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in 2015. After going into remission, the cancer returned, so the actress went public with her illness in 2017. In November 2023, she shared that the illness had spread to her bones and eventually, her brain.
