Shannen Doherty made it through a harrowing battle with breast cancer. But the BH90210 actress is now waging a different fight: learning to accept her post-cancer body and handle the recovery process that comes with being a breast cancer survivor.
“I don’t think you’re ever on the other side [of cancer],” Doherty, 47, said in an August 14 interview with People. “I don’t think about the fact that I’m in remission. I look at it like I’m lucky to be alive every minute, every second of the day.”
Diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015, Doherty endured a mastectomy as well as several rounds of chemo and radiation. She's been in remission since April 2017; last year, she had reconstructive surgery to rebuild her breast.
Physically, she's doing well. Yet her emotional cancer journey is still ongoing.
“I really took good care of myself, and I came out of it in as good of condition I think somebody [in my situation] could be in,” Doherty said. “But the funny thing with cancer is that once you’re no longer on chemo or radiation, people think you’re fine, that you bounce back. But what they don’t realize is that your body has been through something so incredibly difficult that your body never fully bounces back.”
These days, she's focusing on self-love. “I’m trying to figure out how to accept who I am now,” Doherty said. “I’m never going to be the size I used to be. Some of my meds that I’m on keep zapping the collagen out of me, so I’m never going to have a wrinkle-free face. I’m critical of myself. But there are some things you can’t fight.”
“I’m trying to be kinder to myself,” Doherty added. “And I try to live each day as an amazing, precious gift that I’ve been given.”
This isn't the first time Doherty has opened up about loving her body after cancer.
"I love that my body is strong and that it has the ability to fight something like cancer," she told Health in February. "Importantly, my perception of sexy has changed. For me now, sexy is strength. Sexy is vulnerability. Sexy is compassion. Sexy is grace. Why should I care so much about the physical shell?"
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