Shannen Doherty admits there are ‘a lot of people’ she does not want at her funeral
American actor Shannen Doherty has admitted there are “a lot of people” she does not want at her funeral, as she opened up about her ongoing battle with cancer.
The 52-year-old Charmed and 90210 star announced her cancer diagnosis in 2015. She then went into remission in 2017, but in February 2020 Doherty revealed her breast cancer had returned to stage four and later said that it had spread to her bones.
Now, in her most recent podcast episode on “Let’s Be Clear,” Doherty candidly shared her feelings about who she wants and doesn’t want at her funeral.
She admitted there were "a lot of people" she didn’t want at her send-off. "There’s a lot of people that I think would show up that I don’t want there," she told her best friend and executor of her will Chris Cortazzo.
Speaking to Cortazzo, the Beverly Hills actor said she believes some may not attend her funeral out of genuine affection but may show up for the wrong reasons.
"I don’t want them there because their reasons for showing up aren’t necessarily the best reasons. Like, they don’t really like me — and they have their reasons, and good for them — but they don’t actually really like me enough to show up to my funeral,” she told Cortazzo.
Doherty continued: "But they will... because it’s the politically correct thing to do, and they don’t want to look bad."
The actor hoped her statement would "take the pressure" off people attending her funeral.
Detailing her list and the ceremony, Doherty said she does not want people “to be crying or people to privately be like, ‘Thank God that bitch is dead now’." When asked by Cortazzo if he’d be invited, she joked: "That’s the shorter — that’s the better list. I can’t give you a list of who I don’t want because that’s way too long."
Doherty went on to say she "abhor[s] fakeness" and "can’t stand" people who "pretend that they "found Jesus" and claim to be "so sorry" for "anything bad that they said about you".
"I’m like, ‘No, no, no. I know you’re still the exact same petty human being. Don’t. Just stay away from me. We’re good’," she continued.
The Little House on the Prairie star also shared her plans for her remains. "This is such a morbid conversation, but it’s also so fun. I want [my remains] to be mixed with my dog and I want it to be mixed with my dad.”
She said she wants her final resting arrangements to be "a healthy mixture" of the options available.
But the actor said she is still unsure of where to scatter her ashes and the idea of potentially using them to "grow them into a tree" interests her. She also wants to "find a place that my dad and I both really loved and it meant a lot to us.”