Shannen Doherty reunited with her Beverly Hills 90210 co-star Jason Priestley and candidly talked about what ultimately led to her getting fired from the popular 1990s teen drama series.
On her Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty podcast, the 52-year-old actor has been opening up about a variety of topics including her "bad girl" reputation, the truth behind her exit from the TV series Charmed, and why her movie career never took off.
She and Priestley, who played twin siblings Brenda and Brandon Walsh in 90210, talked about her being fired after working on the series that became a pop culture phenomenon after it debuted in October 1990.
Doherty was 18 when she first starred in 90210 after having done minor roles in TV and starring in the dark comedy film Heathers.
"I definitely went through a lot of growing pains on that show and there were really hard moments for me towards my last season," she told Priestly.
In addition to her feud with co-star Jennie Garth and physical fighting on set, Doherty was famously let go from the show's fourth season for unprofessional behavior, namely showing up late for work regularly.
What the public didn't know at the time was that she was going through a difficult marriage that started affecting her at work.
Doherty was married to Ashley Hamilton, the son of actors George Hamilton and Alana Collins. They wed on October 11, 1993, but filed for divorce just months later in April 1994.
"I was in a really horrible marriage and there were things transpiring in that marriage that made it very hard for me to consistently be on time for work," admitted Doherty.
You can watch an ET report on her discussion of 90210 with Priestley here.
Shannen Doherty Recalls 'Difficult' Beverly Hills, 90210 Firing With Jason Priestleyyoutu.be
She continued:
"I know that became a very big problem for the rest of you."
Doherty revealed more about her tumultuous marriage to Hamilton:
“I don’t think anybody knew that my husband was a massive drug addict who would get incredibly violent at times and it was all-consuming for me."
“I didn’t even want to leave the house because I was scared that he would go and get drugs.”
Looking back, Doherty wishes things had played out differently when her job was on the line.
“It wasn’t anybody’s responsibility but mine," she said, adding:
"But I sort of wish I had been sat down and sort of looked at and said, ‘Listen, the end result is going to be this. The end result is you are going to get fired because none of us are willing to put up with it anymore. And I understand that you have an issue in your personal life, but that also can’t bleed into work, you also have to get your sh*t together!’”
Priestley said he wished he'd known what was going on in his onscreen sister's personal life, and that he could have "hopefully managed it with more compassion and more caring."
"But we only knew what we knew," he said before explaining that the hardest thing for him was grappling with how he and the rest of the cast were to move forward after knowing she wasn't continuing with the show.
Said Priestley:
"The show was about Brandon and Brenda, and all of a sudden we were gonna lose one of the members of the Walsh family."
"How would we find a path to move forward with the show?"
Doherty clarified she has nobody but herself to blame for being booted from the show.
“I should have had my personal life more together, I should have left a relationship earlier, I shouldn’t have been going out," she said.
After years of appearing in headlines portraying her negatively in the media, where she said "90% has been false," Doherty is telling her truth on her terms.
She told Entertainment Tonight that she finds her podcast very "cathartic" and the "best form of therapy you can have."
Last year, the actor spoke candidly about her cancer diagnosis and how she found out that her 14-year marriage to photographer Kurt Iswarienko "was essentially over" upon discovering he had been having an affair right before she had brain surgery.
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