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Tori Spelling Shares How Her Late Friend Shannen Doherty Encouraged Her To Join “DWTS”

Tori Spelling DWTS

Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty were friends for more than 30 years before Shannen passed away from breast cancer on July 13. They shared fame as teenagers on Beverly Hills 90210 in the 1990s and solidified a decades-long friendship. But as many people do, they lost touch for a few years as adulthood responsibilities took over.

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Tori Spelling Was a Busy Mom But Needed Shannen Doherty In Her Life

Tori told Entertainment Weekly she saw Shannen often during Shannen’s last year of life. And she was “Really grateful” they “were able to spend time together.”

Tori Spelling recently joined the cast of Dancing With The Stars Season 33. And she credits Shannen Doherty’s encouragement for finally taking the leap.

“She definitely inspired me during that last year to kind of turn on my power, as she would say, and kind of go for it. And that’s staying with me, definitely, in my heart,” she said.

Tori admitted she’d been asked before, but with a busy life and kids, she never thought it was the right time. Shannen told her it was time to think of herself.

“I’ve gotten that call before — many seasons, since the first season of Dancing With the Stars — and I said ‘no,’ Not because I didn’t want to do the show—because I was terrified and I was so scared,” she confessed. 

“But this year, when I got the call, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m really trying to turn things around and find myself.’ So I was like, ‘What scares me the most is gonna push me forward in life. So I’m doing it,'” she said.

DWTS premieres on September 17 on ABC.

This story’s featured image is by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images.

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