Shannen Doherty completely shaves off her hair in breast cancer battle

Shannen Doherty with mother Rosa and friends (c) Instagram

Shannen Doherty has completely shaved off her hair during breast cancer battle. The 45-year-old 'Charmed' actress - who has been battling the life threatening illness for over one year after being diagnosed in March last year - has taken to social media to document the process of her shaving off her head with a string of photographs showing the process.

Alongside a black and white picture of the star posing with her mother Rosa and her friends, which sees Shannen with her bald head, she thanked her family and friends for their support during her fight against the illness. She wrote on her Instagram account on Monday (07.25.16): "Thank you to these three who helped me thru an impossibly tough day and continue to be there every minute supporting and loving me. @kurtiswarienko was in Mexico working but knew he left me in good hands. @annemkortright @chriscortazzo #mamarosa I love you. #mycrew #thisisasquad (sic)."

The '90210' alumni - who starred in the series for four years in 1990 - also shared pictures of her trimming her dark locks captioning each image by steps with friend Anne Kortright-Shilstat by her side. Shannen - who is currently married to her third husband Kurt Iswarienko - revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer in August 2015 after she filed a lawsuit against her former management and accounting firm, Tanner, Mainstain, Glynn & Johnson, who she took action against for allegedly failing to pay her SAG [Screen Actor's Guild] medical insurance without her knowledge.

In court documents, the actress accused the firm of ignoring an invoice to pay her insurance premium in early 2014. Shannen re-enrolled in the program this year shortly before doctors discovered she has "invasive breast cancer metastatic to at least one lymph node." Her medical team believe the cancer spread last year and would have been easier to treat if it had been detected earlier, but she failed to get a check-up at the time due to her lack of insurance.

During this time Shannen claimed the disease spread because she didn't have up to date health insurance and consequently didn't receive thorough care to help combat the disease from spreading. Meanwhile, in February this year Shannen was torn between having a mastectomy or a lumpectomy to remove the tumour. Speaking previously she said: "Ultimately, they're just breasts, right? I mean, I love them, they're mine, they're beautiful, but in the grand scheme of things, I would rather grow old with my husband [Kurt]."