On Tuesday (Dec. 5), Shannen Doherty celebrated the launch of her new podcast – Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty – and she did not disappoint. The 52-year-old shared a lot about her eight-year battle with breast cancer, but there’s one story about her ex-husband (Kurt Iswarienko) that’ll break your heart.
Doherty and Iswarienko (a famed photographer) started dating in 2008 and tied the knot in October 2011. They were married for 11 years, but it came screeching to a halt in April 2023 when she filed for divorce – citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason. Doherty later alleged that he had an affair with his agent.
During the first episode of her new podcast, Doherty elaborated on the moment she found out about the affair – that moment came just hours before undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumor (the cancer had spread to the brain). She talked about the pain and confusion she was forced to feel at the wrong time.
“I went into that surgery early in the morning, and I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years,” she said – adding that she felt ‘so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart.”
While her husband made it ‘very clear’ that he still wanted to be there for her during her surgery, she made the conscious decision to do it without him. “To not go in that surgery, even though, being very clear, he wanted to go, I couldn’t go into that surgery with him there. I felt so betrayed,” she explained.
She wasn’t alone, though. Shannen Doherty had a strong support system to help her through the surgery – a support system that included her mother (Rosa Elizabeth Doherty), older brother (Sean Doherty), and her best friends. Still, she admits it wasn’t easy having to go through surgery with divorce on her mind.
Doherty’s surgery, which she underwent in January, was successful, but her marriage wasn’t – she filed for divorce in April and listed their separation date as January (when she found out about the affair). Still, Doherty isn’t giving up on love and is vowing to embrace life – even with cancer spreading to her brain.
Shannen Doherty Was ‘Obsessed’ With Learning the Truth About Her Husband’s Affair
Further elaborating on her divorce and the emotions that were running through her as she tried to figure out why her partner would betray her like that, Shannen Doherty admits that she became ‘obsessed’ with the truth. She spent hours talking to people, hoping they would be honest with her, sometimes to no avail.
In fact, she even spoke to the woman her husband had the affair with – adding that the affair lasted two years. She described it as ‘embarrassing,’ but she feels like she (as well as everyone else who has been wronged by a partner, especially of 14 years) deserved to know the absolute truth, no matter what it was.
She goes on to explain that, while she doesn’t take responsibility for the demise of her marriage, she does take responsibility for some of the problems they had – “not only because of how I was but because of how cancer impacted my marriage and how it impacted him the second time around,” she explains.
While she admits it’s still hard and something she continues to work through, she doesn’t feel like she’s done loving and even says she’s open to searching for love again – something she alluded to in a recent interview with PEOPLE magazine. Episode 1 of Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty is available now.
