'90210' star blames metastasis on insurance lapse

Actress Shannen Doherty battling breast cancer — and ex-managers, for it spreading

Shannen Doherty

Shannen Doherty, who gained fame by starring in TV's "Beverly Hills, 90210" but even more from fighting with her co-stars, is now fighting again.

This time it may be for her life.

She's been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The 44-year-old's also battling her ex-business managers and accountants — via a court suit — for allegedly mismanaging her money and letting her health insurance lapse, an action that in turn purportedly allowed the cancer to spread.

Doherty, who's also starred in television's "Charmed," may require a mastectomy and chemotherapy.

According to an Associated Press story in USA Today and other newspapers, she apparently has been unable to work since her March diagnosis, which was just revealed through the lawsuit.

The suit maintains the metastasis has caused her "severe emotional distress," the story adds.

Doherty also has incurred "significant medical expenses," People magazine said later.

According to the Daily Dish, the actress claimed "she paid bosses at Tanner, Mainstain, Glynn & Johnson five percent of her earnings to manage her finances, including medical insurance payments to the Screen Actors Guild, and when they ignored a bill, her coverage was canceled for much of 2014."

That cancellation, she charges, forced her not to visit her doctor for regular check-ups, only to find subsequently she had breast cancer that has since metastasized.

An earlier diagnosis, she says, might have resulted in treatments that could have stopped the cancer from spreading.

She contends that an earlier diagnosis might have resulted in treatments that could have stopped the cancer from spreading.

A lawyer for the firm, Randall J. Dean, called her claim "patently false."

Doherty's husband, Kurt Iswarienko, also is suing the Tanner, Mainstain for mismanaging the couple's money, thereby "leading to other financial troubles, including tax audits and liens," the AP reported.

Want to know what ups and downs Iswarienko, a photographer, is facing as Doherty's prime caregiver? 

In a VitalityPress book,  "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," I, Woody Weingarten, address what male caregivers can do to help their mates and themselves.