Jennie Garth has revealed the last words that Shannen Doherty said to her.
During this week’s episode of her I Choose Me podcast, Garth, 52, told therapist Adele House that their final interaction came as they were leaving a fan convention in Florida last year.
“It was after our last time together at maybe ‘90s Con,” Garth said, referring to last year’s convention in which the stars of Beverly Hills, 90210 reunited for a panel in Florida. “She had to get right back to L.A. and she was taking her, I think, friend’s private plane, and she had offered everybody that needed to get back to L.A. — or even Jason (Priestley), who had to go to Nashville — to get on the plane and we can all go together.”
Initially, Garth hadn’t been invited to join them on their return trip, but then Doherty pulled her aside and told her she could catch a ride.
“I didn’t even have to go back to L.A. I had to go to the opposite direction to New York,” she recalled (per Entertainment Weekly). “But (Doherty) came to me right before they left and she was like, ‘We’re going on this plane. You’re welcome to come with us, Jennie.’ And I can see her saying it, and that just keeps playing over and over in my mind.”
Garth said that, despite their differences over the years, the offer was proof “we still loved each other.”
Elsewhere, during the podcast, Garth called Doherty “generous,” adding, “Shannen was a fighter. She was always a fighter, though it wasn’t just because of one thing, or things that weren’t significant. She fought for things that mattered to her and people that mattered to her.”
In an Instagram tribute Garth shared after Doherty’s death last weekend following her battle with cancer, she hailed Shannen as “one of the strongest people I have ever known.”
“Our connection was real and honest,” she wrote alongside a throwback photo. “We were often pitted against each other but none of that reflected the truth of our real relationship which was one built on mutual respect and admiration. She was courageous, passionate, determined and very loving and generous. I will miss her and will always honour her deeply in my heart and in my memories. My heart breaks for her family and Bowie.”
Earlier this year, on an episode of her podcast Let’s Be Clear, Doherty opened up on her relationship with Garth, saying, “I see her at conventions, and we talk and, you know, we laugh.”
Meanwhile, after an earlier post in which she wrote that she didn’t “have outward words yet,” Doherty’s friend and fellow 90210 co-star Tori Spelling also opened up about the actress’ death in a new social media post.
“F— them … is what Shan would say if I told her I felt pressure to have to summarize via social media a 36 year relationship and the grief I feel for a fire who’s flame went out too soon,” Spelling wrote via Instagram.
Spelling noted that Doherty “took me under her wing” when she was just 15, adding, “She gave me the belief I had a voice and was worthy. We became fast best friends. We were each others wing women, true confidantes, support systems navigating bad relationships, (roommates) of sorts at times, travel buddies, and so much more.”
Doherty, Spelling continued, gave her unequivocal support and “always had my back.”
Spelling added that she was “grateful” that the pair “got to go back in time as adult friends and remember why we truly loved each other to begin with.”
She concluded her message by praising her friend for being “a rebel in an era when most women didn’t feel comfortable being strong … She empowered sexiness, strength, 2 f—- given, empathy, and all topped off with wicked humour! … I’ll stay rebellious for you. Love you with all my heart.”
Doherty passed away July 13th after a lengthy battle with cancer, her publicist said, revealing that the actress died “surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie.”
Her oncologist Dr. Lawrence D. Piro described Doherty’s final moments in an interview with PEOPLE, saying that she left this world feeling nothing but love.
“In the last few hours, she was in a place where she was very comfortable and sleeping and transitioning, and she was surrounded by some of her very close friends,” he told the outlet. “The room was surrounded by a select group of friends that were giving her a lot of care and support. It was somber and sad, but beautiful and loving. The hardest thing about this was that she wasn’t ready to leave because she loved life.”
Piro went on to add that he hopes Doherty’s fans honour her legacy by being kind to one another.
“(Her) tremendous love for life was inspired by a love for people and a love for being treated well,” he says. “And I think that that grew out of being in public eye from a very young age and feeling misunderstood most of her life. She would want us to live our lives as strongly as we can, committed to our convictions and to not allow others to label you or to misrepresent you and stop you from living your best life.”