Kelly Ripa Says Shannen Doherty Knew Her 'Time Was Very, Very Limited' in Their Final Conversation

Mar. 15, 2025

Kelly Ripa (left) and Shannen Doherty.Photo:Slaven Vlasic/FilmMagic; Neilson Barnard/Getty

Slaven Vlasic/FilmMagic; Neilson Barnard/Getty

Kelly Ripais reflecting on her final conversation withShannen Doherty.

During a recent interview withEntertainment Tonight,the talk show host shared that Doherty was very aware that she didn’t have much time left, given her years-long struggles with cancer. Still, that didn’t stop Ripa fromtrying to play matchmakerfor theBeverly Hills, 90210actress — something that the two discussed on Ripa’s podcast on June 25.

“I always had an idea in my mind as to who might be a good match with Shannen,” Ripa, 53, told the outlet. “But the last conversation, she actually said to me, you know, ‘I’m kind of a tough sell, because I don’t have a lot of time left.'”

In the episode, which aired a little over two weeks before Doherty died, theCharmedactress told Ripa, “I think it’s hard for somebody like me, in my personal opinion, because it’s hard to go into dating someone when you know that they might have an expiration date. So I think I’m a very hard sell.”

Shannen Doherty.Vera Anderson/WireImage

Vera Anderson/WireImage

Ripa, who disagreed with Doherty on the podcast, toldETthat she found the actress’s death to be “painful.”

“She’s a generous human being,” Ripa continued. “I felt very crushed that she seemed to know that her time was very, very limited, but I will say that she was telling me about her treatments and it was so brutal and painful… it sounds very glib, but just the fact that she’s no longer in physical pain provides, I think, everyone that knew and loved her with a little peace.”

Kelly Ripa.Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Johnny Nunez/WireImage

“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m just not — I’m not done.”

“People just assume that it means you can’t walk, you can’t eat, you can’t work. They put you out to pasture at a very early age — ‘You’re done, you’re retired,’ and we’re not,” she told PEOPLE in 2023. “We’re vibrant, and we have such a different outlook on life. We are people who want to work, embrace life and keep moving forward.”

Shannen Doherty.Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty

In February, Doherty raved about her friendship with Ripa and the support she had lent her overtime, including offering to play matchmaker during one of her appearances onLive with Kelly and Mark.

“Kelly is awesome because I just saw her when I did her show and at the commercial break, she was like, ‘Are you ready? Are you ready to date? Are you ready for a boyfriend? I’m going to find you someone,’” Doherty recalled. “She started asking me, ‘Like what’s your list? What do you need?’ She was like, ‘Oh, I think I got somebody in mind.’”

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“I was like, dude, just text me and you can,” she added. “You’re one hundred percent the right person to start setting me up. I’m fine with that.”

source: people.com