Is Naya Rivera the New Shannen Doherty?

Glee star's unpredictability is reminiscent of the Beverly Hills, 90210 star

By Zach Johnson Jul 23, 2014 4:06 PMTags
Naya Rivera, Shannen DohertyImeh Akpanudosen/Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Naya Rivera could very well be her generation's Shannen Doherty.

The Glee star wed actor Ryan Dorsey just three months after breaking off her engagement to rapper Big Sean. Less than two weeks before her wedding, Rivera was demoted from a regular to recurring status. And then there's the never-ending rumors about her feuds with co-stars Lea Michele and Mark Salling.

Rivera's unpredictably is reminiscent of Doherty, whose off-screen antics often overshadowed her work on Beverly Hills, 90210 in the early '90s. Here, E! News compares the 27-year-old and 43-year-old stars.

During her days as Brenda Walsh, Doherty was frequently described as "difficult" on set. "I'm not saying I don't have my moments of bitchiness, because everybody has them, but it's never for no reason" the TV star sniped to People in a 1993 cover story. "I think that life is short. You should live it and be happy. I've always been a ballsy kid. I know it pisses some people off, but isn't the end result much better?"

"She really and truly did not give a s--t," Doherty's co-star and on-screen brother Jason Priestley recalled in his 2014 tell-all, Jason Priestley: A Memoir. He continued, "It was a very cool attitude, until it wasn't."

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In 1993, Doherty ended her engagement to Chicago-based real-estate manager Chris Foufas. It was during that period that the TV star got into a bar fight with aspiring actress Bonita Money. She also faced potential eviction by her landlord, who claimed she failed to pay $11,000 in rent. Additionally, Doherty's second ex-fiancé, Dean Factor, charged that she had pulled a gun on him and "threatened to hire a few guys to beat me and to sodomize me" on his front lawn. At age 21, the wild child managed to further shock friends, family and fans after she wed Ashley Hamilton following a two-week courtship.

That marriage ended, and Doherty was written off Beverly Hills, 90210 after its fourth season in 1994.

In 2001, Doherty was arrested and charged with DUI. After three seasons on The WB's Charmed (which reteamed her with producer Aaron Spelling), she left over alleged tension with co-star Alyssa Milano. In the next two years, Doherty married and divorced Rick Saloman and once again posed nude for Playboy.

Years later, Doherty reprised her most iconic role in the 90210 reboot. She married photographer Kurt Iswarienko in 2011 (which was chronicled on their reality show) and continued to work in TV movies.

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Similarly, Rivera's tenure on Glee has been riddled with headline-making incidents. In 2010, the actress was accused of egging her ex Salling's car. The co-stars denied the vandalism and even joked about it on Twitter, but as a source told E! News, "There is surveillance video from a local store. Literally, you see her buying eggs! That girl is just mental." At the time, the source even argued that Rivera was "crazy."

For years, Rivera was rumored to be at odds with Michele. "It's really unbelievable, the amount of things that can be just completely made up," Michele said during a 2014 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. "People like to pit women against each other and it's really annoying and really sad."

"If there were ever a real fight, I'd get a ring and put Jell-O in it," she said. "I'd make it fun for everyone."

A source told E! News that "no one was kicked off the set" and "no one was fired" after a reported tiff in 2014. Rivera's character, Santana Lopez, was written out of the script for Glee's fifth season finale.

Still, reports about Rivera's alleged attitude flooded the gossip columns.

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Twelve days before she married Dorsey—no co-stars were attended the event—E! News confirmed that Rivera would return for Glee's final season on a recurring basis for an undisclosed number of episodes.

"Naya wants to have more time to explore her music and other endeavors," a Rivera source explained.

Rivera's debut single, "Sorry," was released in the fall of 2013, but production on the album has "kind of halted" due to "so many things going on," the aspiring singer told Galore in 2014. "Politics got involved so I've been putting it on the back burner; there are a lot of things that I'm doing that I'm excited about."

Doherty has since rehabbed her reputation and re-friended her former colleagues. Regarding her bad girl days, she told Arsenio Hall in 2014, "Everyone has their own version of the truth and memories are very funny things."

Will Rivera continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons, or will being married tame her wild ways? Only time will tell, but she's hopeful. "True love always prevails," the just-married couple told People.