Actor and singer Ashley Hamilton, the ex-husband of the late Shannen Doherty, was hospitalized last Thursday following an apparent overdose. The 51-year-old, son of actor George Hamilton and model Alana Stewart, remains in stable condition and is recovering.
Incident Details
Hamilton suffered a health emergency linked to an unidentified substance at an Airbnb in the Los Angeles area. Medical professionals confirm he is now out of immediate danger.
Marriage to Shannen Doherty
Hamilton married Doherty in 1993 after just two weeks of dating—he was 19, she was 22. The union ended five months later in 1994. Doherty, reflecting on the relationship during a January 2024 podcast with Beverly Hills, 90210 castmate Jason Priestley, described it as tumultuous.
“I was in a really horrible marriage, and there were things that were transpiring in that marriage that made it really hard for me to be on time for work,” Doherty stated. She explained fearing to leave home lest her husband buy drugs, which led to set delays. “It wasn’t anybody’s responsibility but mine,” she added.
Long Battle with Addiction
Hamilton’s substance use began in his teens amid struggles with anorexia and bulimia, which he used drugs and alcohol to manage. By age 22, he had faced half a dozen arrests and attended 32 rehabs.
In a December interview, he detailed his challenges: “two failed marriages, two failed careers, 32 rehabs, five overdoses, three flatlines, two comas, left side of my body paralyzed, brain surgery, spleen surgery… staph infection in the heart, gangrene of the arms… shootouts from drug deals gone bad and half a dozen arrests all by the age of 22.”
A decade ago, on the family reality show Stewarts & Hamiltons, his father George Hamilton tearfully shared, “I am very proud of you. There are about four times that we almost lost you in your life.” Hamilton responded in a confessional: “I went through a hard time with drugs and alcohol… I blew everything but I have a second chance.”
He was stepson to Rod Stewart during part of his childhood from 1979 to 1984 and later had a brief marriage to Playboy model Angie Everhart.
Recent Arrest and Health Diagnosis
In August 2024, authorities arrested Hamilton for allegedly brandishing a pocket knife at a Beverly Hills hotel staffer who asked him to leave after finding him asleep on a lobby sofa around 5 a.m.
Last year, he disclosed battling rare mucosal HPV-related cancer. In a recent interview alongside a death doula, he revealed submitting paperwork to a Swiss clinic for assisted suicide options. He has a nine-year-old daughter with ex-girlfriend Renee Karelian, who remains unaware of his diagnosis.
“What I don’t wanna do is I don’t wanna die in a motel with a f***in’ needle in my neck and leave that stain on my daughter,” Hamilton explained.
