Shannen Doherty is an expert on leaving
BEVERLY HILLS, 90210
(1990-94) Doherty played Minnesota transplant Brenda Walsh, but her erratic on-set
behavior — fighting over wardrobe, showing up late, revealing Jason
Priestley's real age!! — provoked an ugly divorce after season 4, and
Brenda was exiled to London. ''There's no other word for it,'' Doherty
admitted in 2000. ''I was an a--hole.''
CHARMED
(1998-2001) Good-hearted 90210 producer Aaron Spelling gave Doherty a second chance,
casting her as witch Prue. After three seasons, though, Doherty left
after a behind-the-scenes power struggle with costar Alyssa Milano, and
Prue was killed off by a demon. Doherty then dismissed the series as ''a
show for 12-year-olds.''
SCARE TACTICS
(2003-04) As host of Sci Fi's hidden-camera spookfest, Doherty loved the gig at
the start: ''It's on a cool, culty channel, and I work six days a year,''
she told PEOPLE. But she bolted eight episodes into its second season
for a role on Fox's short-lived North Shore and a chance to develop a
sitcom. Scary Stephen Baldwin replaced her.
LOVE, INC.
(2005) Cast in her first sitcom, about an urban dating service, Doherty didn't
even last one episode. UPN execs booted her after the pilot, insisting
they wanted to go in a different direction — one that involved Busy
Philipps as the star. ''You could knock me down 30 more times and I would
still get up and persevere,'' insisted Doherty later.
BREAKING UP WITH SHANNEN DOHERTY
(2006) After watching skeezy Steven criticize and ignore his girlfriend,
Tamara, Doherty hands him his walking papers. By now a seasoned veteran
at calling it quits, Doherty barely blinks when Steven interrupts the
bad news to ask her, ''Are you ovulating?'' She does not, however, answer
the question.
