We lost a true ’90s icon. Shannen Doherty—the actress who made us all wish we could cast spells on Charmed—passed away on June 13, 2024, following a long battle with breast cancer, leaving fans wondering about the financial toll of her illness and the fortune she left behind.
Doherty’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, broke the news with a heartfelt statement to NBC News on June 14, 2024. “It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress, Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Sloane shared with the outlet. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
It’s a gut punch for fans who grew up with Doherty on their screens. As we honor her memory, let’s explore the full measure of her legacy—from her iconic roles to the financial realities she faced in her final years.
Shannen Doherty’s net worth, revealed
At the time of her death in 2024, Celebrity Net Worth estimated Shannen Doherty’s net worth to be around $5 million. However, let’s keep in mind that this number may not tell the whole story, given the extensive medical expenses she faced during her long battle with cancer.
Shannen had been fighting cancer since she was first diagnosed in 2015, and anyone who’s dealt with the American healthcare system knows that couldn’t have been cheap. In fact, in her last few years, she was pretty open about her money worries.
Before her death, Shannen was actually in the middle of a legal battle with her soon-to-be ex-husband, Kurt Iswarienko. She was asking for over $15,000 a month in support, partly because she’d lost her health insurance after her coverage from SAG-AFTRA had been dropped due to her inability to work.
In one of her last podcast episodes, Shannen got real about her financial situation. “I guess I’m in a mindset now of I need to make as much money as humanly possible in the next two years, bank it, put it with my investment place, build that so that … I don’t have to work and I only work when I really want to. I can also go on a lot more vacations,” she said on an episode of “Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty.” She added, “Then also, when I pass away, my mom’s got a nice little nest egg and I don’t have to worry about her.”
How much did she make for Charmed?
Shannen Doherty cast a spell on audiences as Prue Halliwell on Charmed, the hit series about three sister witches fighting evil forces, from 1998 to 2001. During her three-season run on the supernatural drama, Shannen reportedly earned around $75,000 per episode, though these figures haven’t been officially confirmed.
Her departure from the show after three seasons was surrounded by quite a bit of controversy, with Shannen telling Entertainment Tonight in 2001, “There was too much drama on the set and not enough passion for the work. I don’t have time for drama in my life anymore.”
Why did she leave the show?
Fast forward to 2024, and Shannen began to open up about the circumstances surrounding her exit from Charmed. She accused her co-star Alyssa Milano of getting her fired from the show. Shannen didn’t mince words: “I recall the facts as if I were still living in them, and what I will say is that what somebody else may call drama is an actual trauma for me that I have lived with for an extremely long time,” she shared during a Charmed panel at Megacon Orlando in February 2024.
She continued, “And it is only through my battle with cancer that I decided to address this trauma and be open and honest about it, so that I can actually heal from a livelihood that was taken away from me, a livelihood that was taken away from my family, because someone else wanted to be No. 1 on the call sheet. That is the truth.”
Alyssa denied these allegations at the time. And after Shannen’s passing, she even released a statement to USA TODAY. “It’s no secret that Shannen and I had a complicated relationship, but at its core was someone I deeply respected and was in awe of,” she shared. “She was a talented actress, beloved by many and the world is less without her. My condolences to all who loved her.”
