“Grief isn’t a performance” - Shannen Doherty's 90210 co star Ian Ziering defends not addressing late actor’s death last year

As per a recent article by US Weekly, American actor Ian Ziering recently opened up about his thoughts after a year of his Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Shannen Doherty's demise.

Ziering took to Instagram to explain why his post on July 14, Monday, served as his first online tribute to Doherty after almost a year.

Shannen Doherty died in July 2024 after struggling with cancer.

“When she died a year ago, I didn’t post anything. And yes, some people criticized that. To them I say: grief isn’t a performance. It’s personal. Let people grieve how they grieve,” Ian Ziering wrote on Instagram.

Ziering's heart-warming Instagram post touched on how shocking it was for him to learn about Doherty fighting the disease and how strong and defiant Doherty was:

“Every time I saw her during those years, she was still Shan—fierce, funny, full of life. That’s why her passing hit me like a freight train. I was shocked. I truly believed she was going to pull off one more miracle.”

“When I first heard she was sick, we had nearly a decade more with her. And even then, most of the updates sounded less like 'Shannen’s fighting cancer' and more like 'cancer picked the wrong woman.' That was her way—strong, defiant, take-no-prisoners tough.”

Ziering played the role of Steve Sanders opposite the character of Brenda Walsh, played by Shannen Doherty, from the years 1990 to 2000 in the teen drama series—Beverly Hills, 90210.

Ian Ziering also reached out to other Beverly Hills, 90210 cast members a year after Doherty's death. He mentioned that all his fellow cast members mourned the demise of Shannen Doherty as well as of Luke Perry, who died at the age of 52 from a stroke in 2019 and played the role of Dylan McKay on the show.

"I miss Shannen. We clashed now and then in the early years of 90210—two strong personalities will do that—but we always had respect,” he recalled. “I was the wisecracking comic relief; she was the beautiful chaos, the after-hours headline, the girl who could trash a hotel room and make the tabloids love her for it. (Stop laughing, Shan. You know it’s true.).” Ziering concluded his Instagram post.

About Ian Ziering

Born on March 30, 1964, actor Ian Ziering was born and raised in West Orange, New Jersey. Ziering started acting at a young age by getting featured in national-level commercials. He later started acting in stage plays and soap operas like the Broadway production of I Remember Mama and Guiding Light.

It was the character of Steve Sanders on the teenage show Beverly Hills, 90210 in the year 1990 that brought him recognition. The show became a worldwide hit, and Ziering became a heart-throb. While on the show, Ian Ziering also acted in other shows such as Melrose Place, Russell Crowe's No Way Back, and What I Like About You.

In 2007, Ian Ziering also flaunted some seriously good dance moves during the fourth season of the hit ABC series Dancing With the Stars. Ian Ziering was married to Erin Ludwig from May 2010 to October 2022, with whom he shares two children, and to Nikki Schieler from 1997 to 2002.

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