Tori Spelling Recalls the Heartbreaking Moment She Learned Shannen Doherty Had Died: 'I Knew Immediately'

Tori Spelling is looking back on the devastating moment that she learned her close friend and costar Shannen Doherty had died.

Spelling, 51, opened up about Doherty on the latest episode of her podcast misSPELLING, which dropped on July 28. In the episode, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum explained she was asleep with her two of her children on Sunday, July 14 when her phone “kept buzzing.”

“It kept going off,” she recalled. "I checked the time, and it was 7 a.m., and I knew immediately. I was I was like, 'Oh my god. Somebody's passed, somebody important has died.' And I took that moment not to go on social media. … When I pulled up Google, I saw that Shannen had passed on Saturday night, and it was shocking.”

“For everyone around the world that was going through something, whether it was cancer or any other kind of disease or ailment or connected to a hard time they were going through … they really did look to her for inspiration and power to carry on in the moments when they felt they couldn't — and I got to see that in person,” she continued. “I got to see that in person her whole life, which is beautiful.”

Spelling then recalled the first time she met Doherty at age 15 while filming the pilot for 90210.

“I think Shannen and Brian [Austin Greene] were the first people that I met on set, and they were really, really welcoming,” she said. “She immediately took me under her wing. … She gave me a big hug, walked me around, took me into the makeup trailer.”

The two didn’t always see eye-to-eye, Spelling admitted, which led to “lost years” between the two. But they eventually reconnected, discussed their past “misunderstandings” and realized they were being “silly.”

“Ultimately, we got that time to go back and say, ‘None of that matters,’” she continued. “What matters is that core friendship that we had, and we were able to get back to that.”

As she reflected on her longtime friend, Spelling called Doherty a “beacon,” adding, “She will live on in her work and in the people that loved her and the things she stood for.”

Doherty died on July 13 at age 53 following nearly a decade with breast cancer. After her diagnosis, and the cancer’s remission and return, the actress stayed busy, using her platform to advocate for — and raise money for — cancer awareness.

She also continued working on projects, including her podcast Let’s Be Clear, in which she shared her thoughts on coming up as a young actress in Hollywood in the 90s, the great loves of her life and her cancer journey.

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In an Instagram post Spelling shared on July 15, the actress paid tribute to Doherty with photos of them throughout the years.

“We were each others wing women, true confidantes, support systems navigating bad relationships, roomates of sorts at times, travel buddies, and so much more. She always stuck up for me. Always had my back. Always believed in me when I didn’t or couldn’t believe in myself," Spelling wrote in part.

Later in the tribute, she wrote of Doherty: "She was a rebel in an era when most women didn’t feel comfortable being strong. She never tried, she just was."