Shannen Doherty dreamed of living in Italy before her death on July 13, according to Holly Marie Combs.
Combs, 50, joined fellow Charmed stars Brian Krause and Drew Fuller to pay tribute to Doherty on their “House of Halliwell” podcast on Monday, July 22.
Combs noted that Fuller — who played Combs’ son, Chris Halliwell, on the show — rushed to get back to the U.S. from Italy to record the podcast after hearing news of Doherty’s death from cancer at age 53.
“She’s probably laughing at all of us right now being super sad,” Combs remembered her longtime friend. “There’s a degree of sadness she does want … she wants a proper amount of mourning and crying. But there’s also some parts of it … Drew raced back from Italy and she’s definitely laughing at him panicking and getting on a plane for her.”
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“That was her goal. Her next trip was going to be to Italy and she was considering moving to Italy,” Combs added.
Fuller, 44, recalled calling a friend of Doherty’s when he heard news of her death. “I told her, ‘I’m getting on a plane from Italy right now,’” he said. “She goes, ‘You idiot. Shannen’s laughing at you right now. Why are you doing that? It’s too late.’”
Doherty previously said that visiting Italy was a “bucket list” item that she finally got to tick off in the year preceding her death, thanks to her friend and oncologist, Dr. Lawrence Piro.
“You invited me on this amazing yacht with your family and I got to go to Italy with you, which was like bucket list,” Doherty told Piro on the January 1, 2024, episode of her “Let’s Be Clear” podcast. “By the way, you knew it was on my bucket list. I mean you called me and you said, ‘It’s kind of bucket list, Shannen.’ I was so excited.”
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On Monday’s “House of Halliwell” episode, Fuller paid his respects to Doherty, telling listeners that she lusted for life despite her terminal illness. Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 but went into remission in 2017. She announced in 2020 that the cancer was back and was now stage IV.
“Shannen’s superpower, one of her many superpowers, was her ability to make you forget that she was sick,” said the former Army Wives actor. “She operated and acted in a way, whenever we were traveling together, any phone call we had or meal at her house … there were times I honestly forgot that she was sick. She has this incredible ability not to ever be a victim.”
Combs, meanwhile, broke down in tears as she remembered her friend and costar. “I’ve had a little bit of time to reflect on that and how everything worked out,” said Combs. “I think she did as much as she could in the time that she had, but we did think we had more time. That’s the really sad part. We had big, big plans for this year. She didn’t think she was going anywhere anytime soon.”
“It sounds terribly cliché … until it happens to you, you always think you have more time,” Combs added. “Life changes on a dime.”
