What To Know
- Jason Priestley said Shannen Doherty’s behavior became disruptive during the fourth season of Beverly Hills, 90210, but her 1994 departure was even more difficult.
- Priestley recalled enjoying working with Doherty and said firing her seemed like the only choice based on what was known at the time.
- Doherty later revealed that she had been dealing with a sick father and a violent, drug-addicted husband, prompting Priestley to wish he had shown more compassion.
More than 30 years after Shannen Doherty was fired from Beverly Hills, 90210, former costar Jason Priestley is opening up about that particularly difficult chapter for the Fox teen drama.
“I really feel like Shannen’s behavior started to get disruptive only in the fourth season of the show, and then she left at the end of the fourth season, which was difficult,” Priestley said on Thursday’s episode of The Slice of Life Show by Pete Ferriero. “That part of it was, I think, more difficult than what was going on with her in the fourth season.”
Priestley, who played Brandon Walsh on the show, said he enjoyed his time costarring with Doherty, who played Brenda Walsh, Brandon’s twin sister.
“There was never an issue between her and I specifically,” he said. “I always loved Shannen. I loved working with her. She was a great actress. She was a great scene partner. I only have fond memories of working with her on the show.”
Thinking back to Doherty’s 1994 exit from the series, Priestley said letting her go felt like “the only choice” at the time.
“I feel like, given the information that we had, we made the only choice that we could,” he said. “Had Shannen been more forthcoming about what was happening with her in her life at that point in time, I think we could have made a different choice.”
Doherty, who died of cancer at age 53 in 2024, got candid as she talked about her firing with Priestly in an episode of her podcast Let’s Be Clear.
“Towards my last season, 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,” she explained. “I don’t think anybody knew that my dad was super sick, and I don’t think anybody knew that, you know, my husband was a massive drug addict who would get incredibly violent at times, and that it was all consuming for me.”
To that, Priestley said he wished he’d known more about what was happening in Doherty’s personal life at the time. “Because I could have hopefully managed it with with more compassion and more caring,” he added.
