Shannen Doherty Learned of Husband's Affair Right Before Brain Tumor Surgery
The 90210 star got a divorce amid battling stage 4 cancer.
When Shannen Doherty filed to divorce her husband, Kurt Iswarienko, in April, her representative shared a pointed statement. "Divorce is the last thing Shannen wanted," Leslie Sloane told People. "Unfortunately, she felt she was left with no other option." Sloane also claimed that Iswarienko's agent was "intimately involved" in the split but shared no further details. Around the same time, Doherty posted an Instagram that simply read, "The only people who deserve to be in your life are the ones who treat you with love, kindness and total respect."
Now, on her new podcast Let's Be Clear, Doherty has revealed more details about the end of her marriage, including claiming that Iswarienko had a two-year affair and that she found out about it right before she went into surgery for a brain tumor.
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As reported by USA Today, Doherty said on the Dec. 6 premiere of her podcast, "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." She said that the photographer "wanted to go" with her to the surgery but that she didn't let him.
"I felt so betrayed," she said. "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."
Doherty and Iswarienko had been in a relationship for 14 years and married since October 2011. During their marriage, Doherty had talked about how supportive her husband was during her cancer battle. In 2019, she told People, "He was my rock in every way possible, and he made sure I knew how much he loved and valued me. We have a much deeper appreciation [for each other] now, and a much larger capacity for forgiveness."
Doherty shared that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. The star underwent surgeries and other treatments and eventually entered remission. However, the cancer spread to other parts of her body, including her brain and bones. She announced that she had stage 4 cancer in 2020. The Beverly Hills, 90210 star has opened up about her journey publicly, including on her Instagram account. In June, she posted videos about radiation treatment.
On her podcast, she said that she became "obsessed" with finding out more about Iswarienko's alleged affair and that she actually spoke to her ex's "girlfriend of two years." Doherty explained, "If you share 14 years together and you cheated, doesn't that person deserve the absolute truth regardless of how much that hurts them?"
Doherty was married twice prior to Iswarienko—to Ashley Hamilton from 1993 to 1994 and to Rick Solomon from 2002 to 2003. She said that she's "horrified" she "can't keep a relationship together," but said that when it comes to the split from Iswarienko, "this one is on him."
That said, she added that she takes some responsibility for the issues in their marriage. "I take responsibility not only because of how I was but because of how cancer impacted my marriage and how it impacted him the second time around," the 52-year-old actor said.
Best Life has reached out to a representative for Iswarienko for comment.
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