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Shannen Doherty claims she found out her husband of over a decade was having an affair right before undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor.
During the premiere episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, the 52-year-old recalled dealing with her divorce from Kurt Iswarienko while simultaneously battling stage four cancer at the beginning of 2023.
“I went into that surgery early in the morning and I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years,” Doherty alleged.
Although the actress admits Iswarienko “wanted to” be there for her, she ultimately decided that she “couldn’t go into that surgery with him there.”
“I felt so betrayed,” the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star said. “At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart.”
While the “Heathers” actress was “petrified” to go into surgery, she thankfully had her mother, brother and best friend Chris by her side in the absence of Iswarienko.
Although the surgery was a successful, she still had to undergo more radiation afterwards and continues to battle the debilitating disease.
“Just to have to go through all of that while trying to figure out if you’re going to get a friggin’ divorce and trying to get to the truth of that,” she added.
While Doherty and Iswarienko separated in January — the same month as her surgery — the actress didn’t file for divorce from the photographer until April.
Despite Iswarienko’s alleged infidelity, the actress says she had a really hard time walking away from their marriage.
“I was so confused and I was also on steroids and a lot of stuff from brain surgery because they didn’t want my brain to swell,” she said. “And honestly, it’s still really hard. Yes, I made the decision to file for divorce, but I have a lot of memories with this person.”
However, during that time she became “obsessed” with uncovering every detail of her then-husband’s alleged betrayal “through conversations, expecting someone to be honest with me.”
“If you share 14 years together and you cheated, doesn’t that person deserve the absolute truth regardless of how much it hurts them?” she said.
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“If they’re the ones asking for it, if they’re the ones saying, ‘Listen, I get it. I may cry and I may get angry and this may really suck to hear, but I need to hear it because I need closure and this is how I get my closure.”‘
Doherty claims that she “spoke to the girlfriend of two years that he cheated on [her] with” — yet she did not disclose the alleged woman’s identity.
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 but announced that she had gone into remission two years later. However, her cancer returned in 2019 and progressed to stage 4, spreading to her brain.
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Prior to her romance with Iswarienko, the actress was married to Ashley Hamilton from 1993 to 1994 and Rick Salomon from 2002 to 2003, making her split from the photographer even harder.
“It was embarrassing, she said on the podcast. “I am horrified that I can’t keep a relationship together.”
“I’ve failed three times at marriage, but I still believe in love,” she continued.
Yet while she took “responsibility for some of the issues” in her marriage to Iswarienko, she made it clear that their split is “on him.”
The “Charmed” star sang a similar tune during an interview with People last month, telling the outlet she is “open” to dating again.
“There’s always a trigger, just a moment that you have, somebody says something to you, your ex says one thing to you and you’re like, ‘OK, yeah, I’m good. I’m good, I have closure and I can move on in a really healthy way,’” she explained.
“I have to love myself and reckon with the past, really, before I can move forward, and now I’m pretty sure I’ll meet somebody — hopefully soon.”
Reps for Iswarienko did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
