Cancer-stricken Shannen Doherty reveals why she thinks men wouldn't date her: ‘Hard for somebody like me’

Shannen Doherty has said that she is hesitant to start dating again as she battles stage 4 cancer. However, she wonders if men would want to date her because she has an “expiration date.”

“Listen, I think it’s hard for somebody like me, in my personal opinion, because it’s hard to go into dating someone when you know that they might have an expiration date,” she told Kelly Ripa on an episode of Ripa’s podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera.

Doherty claimed that “most men” struggle to handle “death and illness,” even more than women. “I think that I’m a very hard sell,” she said.

‘I’m a little self-conscious’

“It’s more companionship than anything else. Anyway, I’m a little self-conscious, because I have so many scars from surgery that it’s like, how do you explain that ‘No, that isn’t from giving birth, that’s from reconstruction surgery,” Doherty added.

Doherty also said that the surgeries after she was diagnosed with cancer have made her “very insecure.” Doherty has been battling cancer since 2015, but she went into remission in 2017. However, three years later, the cancer returned. It spread to her brain and bones by 2023.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum has been candid about her health struggles over the years. In an episode of her podcast in April, she said, “My priority at the moment is my mom. I know it’s going to be hard on her if I pass away before her. Because it’s going to be so hard on her, I want other things to be a lot easier. I don’t want her to have a bunch of stuff to deal with. I don’t want her to have four storage units filled with furniture.”

In April 2023, Doherty filed for divorce from her estranged husband Kurt Iswarienko after being married for 11 years.