Shannen Doherty’s “world-class disaster of a marriage” was the driving force behind her grand exit from the glitzy zip code of “Beverly Hills, 90210.” The 52-year-old thespian, best known for her role as Brenda Walsh from 1990 to 1994, spilled the beans on the chaotic behind-the-scenes drama that had her moonwalking out of the show.
Turns out, Shannen was waltzing through the minefield of a marriage so bad it could make a soap opera writer blush. In a heart-to-heart with her former co-star Jason Priestley on the “Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty” podcast, she spilled the tea on her chronically tardy tendencies. “I was stuck in a marriage that made ’till death do us part’ feel like a prison sentence, and trust me, it wasn’t conducive to punctuality,” she confessed.
Shannen was hitched to Ashley Hamilton during her stint on the TV spectacle, and he wasn’t exactly a poster child for sobriety. The actor shamelessly admitted to wrestling with the green-eyed monster called drug addiction at the time. Talk about a recipe for on-set fireworks!
In hindsight, Shannen wishes she had played fortune-teller with the show’s producers before making her grand exit. “It wasn’t anyone else’s job but mine, but looking back, I kinda wish someone had sat me down and said, ‘Hey, the grand finale here is you getting the boot, and none of us are up for this drama anymore.'”
In her defense, Shannen acknowledges that honesty might have been the best policy. “I don’t think anyone realized my dad was doing his own one-man show of ‘Survivor: Illness Edition,’ and my hubby was on the fast track to winning ‘Addict of the Year.’ It was like living in a soap opera, minus the script. I mean, I was afraid to even step outside because I thought my husband would mistake the mailbox for a drug dealer.”
A tale of unbridled chaos, tardiness fueled by toxic marriages, and a sprinkle of drug addiction drama. Move over Shakespeare, because Shannen Doherty just rewrote the tragedy playbook with her own wild chapter of “Beverly Hills, 90210” escapades!