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Shannen Doherty shares 'truthful' photos documenting stage 4 breast cancer

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Shannen Doherty is getting real with her fans about what her battle with stage 4 breast cancer really looks like.

The "Beverly Hills, 90210" star took to Instagram on Thursday to share a set of photos with her more than 1.7 million followers, documenting "what cancer looks like" to honour Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"For breast cancer awareness month, I’d like to share more of my own personal journey from my first diagnosis to my second," she captioned the post.

"Is it all pretty? No, but it’s truthful," Doherty continued. "And my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like. I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut through the fear, and face whatever might be in front of you."

The 50-year-old also opened up about a side effect of her treatments.

"In 2015 I got diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy and did chemo and radiation. I had many nosebleeds from the chemo," she wrote. "Not sure if any of you experienced this. I also was beyond tired. I cheered myself up by putting on funny pajamas that my friend, Kristy gave me. Did they actually cheer me up? Yes!"

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"I looked ridiculous and in that ridiculousness, I was able to laugh at myself. Finding humour helped get me thru what seemed impossible. I hope we all find humour in the impossible," she concluded.

Last month, Doherty opened up in an interview with People, explaining how she has learned to live with her diagnosis, calling it just "part of life at this point."

“I feel like I have a responsibility in my more public life, which I separate from my acting life. To talk about cancer and perhaps educate people more and let people know that people with stage 4 are very much alive and very active,” she said.

“My husband says that you would never know that I have cancer,” she added. "I never really complain. I don’t really talk about it. It’s part of life at this point.”

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