Shannen Doherty Says Cancer Battle Is the 'Best and Worst Thing' to Happen to Her: 'It Changed Me as a Human Being'

Shannen Doherty chooses to see the glass half-full.

The actress discussed the highs and lows of her years-long cancer battle on a recent episode of the "Oldish" podcast.

"I think that cancer has been one of the absolute best and one of the worst things to ever happen to me in my entire life. It changed me as a human being," Doherty, 52, explained.

"It made me grow up in a totally different way," continued the Charmed alum. "It made me look at life and relationships very differently. My values shifted. My priorities shifted. I feel much more clearer [sic] and much more focused."

The TV star recalled how earlier in the day, she went into panic mode "for easily 15 to 20 minutes" when her back started hurting, sharing, "Because I thought this is what happens when the protocol stops working … the cancer starts spreading and you feel it and it starts eating at your bones and it hurts."

Doherty — who was first diagnosed in 2015 and then again in 2019 after previously going into remission — admitted she was "really, really, really scared, so in that sense it’s the worst."

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Elsewhere in the interview, the Tennessee native noted that even though there's "no cure" for her stage 4 cancer, she remains optimistic about her future.

"There are so many super cool things happening in the medical field in particular with cancer that I never look at it as terminal," the '90s icon insisted. "I look at it as something I’m just having to stay on a protocol for as long as possible until there is a cure or until there’s a new med that’s going to give me another three years… and then another five years, whatever it is."

In fact, less than two months ago, Doherty revealed a new treatment she was doing was causing "miracles."

"I'm not going to say what it is, I'm on a new cancer infusion and after four treatments, we didn't really see a difference and everybody wanted me to switch, and I just kind of was like, 'We're going to keep going with this and see,'" she explained on an episode of her own podcast, "Let's Be Clear."

"After the sixth or seventh treatment, we really saw it breaking down the blood-brain barrier. Do I call that a miracle? Yeah. For me, that happens to be a miracle right now. That I sort of rolled the dice and said, 'Let's keep going,'" the star detailed. "That it's actually breaking down that blood-brain barrier is actually a miracle of that drug, a miracle of maybe God intervening and saying, 'I'm going to give her a break.' Sometimes you're looking for miracles in all the wrong places and they're right in front of your face."