Shannen Doherty Reveals She Had Brain Surgery After Discovering Her Husband Had Cheated

Shannen Doherty talks about how the two most difficult moments in her life coincided.

Speaking on the launch episode of his new podcast, Let’s be clear with Shannen Dohertyon Tuesday, at Beverly Hills, 90210 The actress and cancer advocate, 52, shared how she went into surgery to remove a brain tumor after learning her 11-year marriage to her third husband, Kurt Iswarienko, was “basically over.”

“I went to that doctor’s office early in the morning and I left after I found out that my marriage was basically over, that my husband had been having an affair for two years,” she said. “Not to go to that surgery, even though, very clearly, he wanted to go, I couldn’t go to that surgery with him there. I felt so betrayed.”

Kurt Iswarienko and Shannen Doherty. Charley Gallay/WireImage

The Enchanted Alum said that she discovered that Iswarienko, from whom she announced her divorce in April, had been cheating on her for two years.

“At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I’d been with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart,” Doherty continued, adding that her mom, brother and best friends supported her during the surgery.

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“It’s just that you have to go through all that while you’re trying to figure out if you’re going to——————— divorce and trying to get to the truth about it,” she added.

The star, who has been undergoing cancer treatment for the past eight years, underwent brain surgery and radiation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in January, the same month she and Iswarienko split. The couple cited “irreconcilable differences” in their divorce petition.

Doherty said in her podcast that she became “obsessed” with uncovering the truth about the photographer’s husband’s infidelity “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 no matter how much it hurts them?” she said and added that “she also talked to the girl with whom he cheated on me for two years”.

Shannen Doherty.

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

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“It was embarrassing, she continued. “I’m devastated that I can’t keep the relationship together. I think it’s a reflection of me, but this one I think is on him. I have failed in my marriage three times, but I still believe in love.” Doherty was previously married to Ashley Hamilton from 1993 to 1994, and to Rick Salomon from 2002 to 2003.

“I also take part of the responsibility for the failure of our marriage — actually that’s not true. Let me rephrase that, I don’t take responsibility for the demise of our marriage, I take responsibility for some of the problems in our marriage,” she explained. “I take responsibility not only for the way I was, but for how cancer affected my marriage and how it affected it the second time around.”

Doherty then revealed how she “couldn’t” end the couple’s relationship “right away” despite the infidelity. “I was so confused and I was also on steroids and a lot from the 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 that person.”

During a cover interview with PEOPLE last week, Doherty revealed that she is “open” to finding love again.

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“I don’t think I’ll be alone forever,” she said. “I have to love myself and deal with the past, really, before I can move forward, and now I’m pretty sure I’m going to meet someone – hopefully soon.”

At the same cover shoot, Doherty also said the cancer had spread to her bones. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, before revealing in February 2020 that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. In June of this year, she then discovered that the cancer had spread to her brain.

A representative for Kurt Iswarienka did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Source: HIS Education