As celebrities and fans continue to honor Shannen Doherty, actress Shenae Grimes shared her own touching story with the late actress.
“I didn’t know her well. I don’t even know if she remembered meeting me, but the impact that she had on me has lasted the 15 years that it’s been since my interaction with her,” Grimes, 34, began in a Sunday, July 14, Instagram video.
Grimes recalled how Doherty, who died at age 53 on Saturday, July 13, made a handful of guest appearances on the first season of Beverly Hills, 90210 revival in 2008. “My character on the spinoff of the show definitely represented her character [Brenda Walsh] on the original 90210 because I was part of the brother-sister duo that moved from the small town to Beverly Hills,” Grimes, who played Annie Wilson on 90210, explained. “Shannen was always my favorite, probably because of the brunette locks.”
Grimes said she was “so nervous and excited” to act alongside Doherty and that the series’ showrunner let her meet Doherty in her trailer before filming. “She just gave me the warmest smile and the biggest hug,” Grimes recalled. “And I had been through so much already in such a short period of time since booking the show, starting to film the show and preparing for all of that, literally becoming, like, super famous for a moment overnight. … And when she hugged me, like, I just felt like, ‘You’ve been here. You know what this is on, like, an even larger scale than I possibly could have experienced.’”
She continued: “It just made me feel like, ‘I’m OK. She got out unscathed from this crazy, wild ride and she’s here,’ and I just felt really seen and comforted and cared for in that moment.”
On set, Grimes said her admiration for Doherty only grew after watching her “gracefully command a room” with her “strong” presence. It was Doherty who Grimes says helped establish the “blueprint for how to be a strong woman who takes no s–t and demands what she deserves.”
She gushed: “It takes a really brave woman to step outside of that and shatter that mold and say, ‘Nope, I won’t do it.’ Shannen was one of those women, and I f–king loved her for it. In my experience, which was so limited with her, but what I saw was someone who was funny, who was charming, so charismatic, so respectful, so professional, so warm and lovely.”
Grimes wrapped up the video by noting that she is “so heartbroken” over news that Doherty lost her battle with breast cancer, but she’s also “so blown away and completely unsurprised that she fought as f–king hard as she did over these past however many years.”
She concluded: “What a privilege to have gotten to experience that moment with her in time. What a privilege to have gotten to step into some version of her shoes in a period in my life. [I’m] honestly just so honored to have had that experience, and it’s something that I will cherish forever. And just a huge, huge thank you to you, Shannen, wherever you are. I don’t know if you ever knew how much you inspired me, but I hope you do and I hope you’re resting in peace.”
Grimes also paid tribute to Doherty via her Instagram Story, captioning a pic of the two of them on 90210, “RIP 💔 to the icon, legend and WARRIOR, Shannen Doherty. The Brenda to my ‘Annie’ forever. And what an immense honor and privilege that is to be able to say.”
Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed news of her death in a statement to Us Weekly on Sunday, sharing, “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.”
Best known for her roles in Beverly Hills, 90210, Charmed and Heathers, Doherty was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in 2015. A February 2020 lawsuit against State Farm revealed that she was “dying” of terminal cancer, and she revealed via Instagram last year that the cancer had spread to her brain.
Prior to her death, Doherty had taped multiple episodes of a new iHeartPodcast Network Charmed rewatch podcast titled “The House of Halliwell.” It was revealed on the podcast’s Monday, July 15, episode that the five episodes she recorded before her passing will be released in her memory.
