“I felt so betrayed”: Shannen Doherty opens up about discovering ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko’s alleged affair before going into brain surgery

Actress Shannen Doherty recently claimed that she found out that her husband of 11 years, Kurt Iswarienko, had been cheating on her for months, moments before she went into brain surgery to remove a tumor. Doherty’s statement came on Tuesday, December 5, on the launch episode of her Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty podcast.

Doherty also claimed that her husband had offered to be by her side during the surgery, but she declined the offer.

"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 said.

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Shannen Doherty went through heartbreak and brain surgery at the same time

In a People magazine Cover Story interview on Tuesday, actress and cancer advocate Shannen Doherty opened up about her experience with cancer. The actress had stage 4 breast cancer that spread to her bones. She revealed that she associated cancer spreading to her bones with the Pac-man video game, but she was on a “really good regimen now,” which was working well for her.

In January 2023, she found out that the cancer had metastasized to the brain, and she had to undergo radiation and remove one of the big tumors on her brain. She jokingly called the tumor "Bob" and said that "Bob" had to be dissected to reveal its pathology.

"It was, you know, definitely one of the scariest-scariest things I've ever been through in my entire life," she said.

There was initially some brain swelling, causing certain "glitches" that affected Doherty in her daily life, as she cut down on the steroids that reduced the swelling due to having horrible reactions to it. Despite this, she was "good" after around 3-4 months.

Sadly, she said, she had gone into brain surgery right after getting to know that her marriage was “essentially over.” She claimed that her husband of 11 years, photographer Kurt Iswarienko, was “carrying on an affair for two years.” In the first episode of her new podcast, Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty, she said:

"At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart."

The actress and her ex-husband filed for divorce in January 2023, the very same month Shannen underwent brain surgery. The former couple, however, announced the divorce in April. Shannen had been going through a lot during this period as she was confused, taking steroids, and having brain swelling while all this was going on.

The divorce papers highlighted that the duo had separated due to “irreconcilable differences.” Shannen revealed that this was a “really hard” decision. She said that she does not take responsibility for the demise of her marriage, but she does take responsibility for some of the issues within it.

"I take responsibility not only because of how I was but because of how cancer impacted my marriage and how it impacted him the second time around."

Shannen Doherty further said that she also spoke to her husband's alleged girlfriend of two years, which she exclaimed was a "whole other episode." She finally had to come to the hard truth of divorce, which she stated was "embarrassing" as she was horrified that she "can't keep a relationship together." She talked about her parents' successful marriage and lamented:

"I don't want to be a failure, and I've failed three times at marriage, and I still believe in love."

Before Kurt Iswarienko, Shannen Doherty was married to poker player Rick Salomon of the Paris Hilton s*x tape fame and actor and singer Ashley Hamilton.

Shannen concluded the first episode of her brand new podcast by saying that there was much more to come and that it would be an honest and clear "full access" into her life.

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