Shannen Doherty’s Details Interview

Details magazine sat down with former bad girl Shannen Doherty at a Malibu restaurant on the beach where they discussed everything from her ex-husband Rick Salmon to her 90210 comeback.

Here’s what she had to say.

On a Hawaiian shark-diving trip she took with friends:

“I couldn’t breathe, I started having an anxiety attack, I couldn’t stay out of their reach. They were slamming into the cage—they looked so frickin’ mean! My leg slipped a little through the bars, and a shark swam up against me and rubbed off a layer of my skin.

“I tell myself the least I can do is give the ocean back to the sharks,” Doherty says. And then she giggles. “No, that’s just a bullshit rationalization—I’m just terrified now.”

On her best known role, 90210′s Brenda Walsh:

“I don’t think Brenda was a complete brat. She was fueled by her insecurities: not being from Beverly Hills, not feeling safe in that environment. And then the love of her life was stolen from her. That can really injure a young girl’s esteem.”

On life in her 30s:

“I have a great life now. It’s really kind of boring.”

On her critics:

“I don’t spend any time on the Internet. I used to, but then I’d cry myself to sleep, thinking everyone in the world hates me. So I stopped. But when the news came that they were bringing back 90210, friends started e-mailing me stuff from fan sites that said Brenda had to be on the show. I can pay my mortgage and ride my horses because of those fans. This is how I can repay them.”

On her new role on 90210:

“I wouldn’t have done it if she was stuck in the same spot,” Doherty says. “There were moments when I hated Brenda, but there were other moments when I saw vulnerability and greatness in her, and believed her passion for life would make her a great actor—but not someone you would necessarily want to hang out with.”

On her ex-husband playboy Rick Salmon:

“I look at what he did [on the Paris Hilton sex tape] and think, God, that’s disgusting. But when we were married, I never had someone make me laugh so much. I was madly in love.”

Full interview available at Details.