Jason Priestley Says Shannen Doherty Was 'Very Good at Masking' Her Illness When He Saw Her Weeks Before Her Death (Exclusive)

It was hard for Jason Priestley to reconcile how sick Shannen Doherty really was — even during his final visit before her death in July.

Priestley, 55, who starred alongside Doherty in Beverly Hills, 90210, tells PEOPLE that grappling with her death has been "hard" — particularly because the possibility of her death felt almost unimaginable.

"Shannen was sick for a very long time, so I think we all knew that eventually something was going to happen. But she seemed so not sick when you would spend time with her," he says.

Related: Jason Priestley Says Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry's Deaths 'Made Me Think About My Own Mortality'

"I'm sure it's because she was just putting on a super brave face and didn't want everyone to know how sick she really was."

He says it felt like they knew she was sick "theoretically," but the reality of her spirit made it hard to process. "She was very good at masking it."

Recalling the final time he saw Doherty — who was 53 when she died after a years-long battle with cancer — Priestley says, "I was with her just a few weeks, maybe four or five weeks before she passed away, and there was no indication that anything was wrong with her."

"As much as we all knew something was coming eventually, when she did pass away I think part of it was a surprise, because she didn't seem sick. So it made it really difficult to figure out how to feel about it," the actor, who stars as Vanessa Morgan's dad in the CW series Wild Cards, continues.

"Obviously, it was very painful. But we sort of knew [it was coming], but then we didn't [either]."

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In the aftermath of Doherty's death, Priestley and his 90210 costars all paid tribute to the actress on social media.

"Shocked and saddened to hear about the passing of my friend Shannen," he wrote on Instagram the day after she died, sharing a photo of their characters, twins Brandon and Brenda Walsh, hugging at their high school graduation. "She was a force of nature and I will miss her. Sending love and light to her family in this dark time."

Fellow 90210 alum Jennie Garth said on her first podcast episode following Doherty's death that Priestley was "the first one to reach out to everybody and just say, 'I love you guys and this is insane and no more loss.'"

The cast had been through a similar experience in 2019, when fellow costar Luke Perry died after suffering a stroke — a loss that left Priestley in "so much pain," as he wrote on social media in a tribute to his friend.

"My dear friend of 29 years, Luke Perry, was one of those truly special people who really cared… Luke was not only a star, he was an incredibly bright light that was extinguished far too soon."

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New episodes of Wild Cards season 2 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW and season 1 can be streamed in full on Prime Video.

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