Jennie Garth is opening up about a recent tragedy.
In an interview with ET’s Rachel Smith, the 52-year-old actress revealed how she and the rest of the Beverly Hills, 90210 cast are doing in the wake of Shannen Doherty‘s death. Doherty died on July 13 after a cancer battle. She was 53.
“We are always there for each other in our moments of need, no matter what they may be. We have a group text and we just call each other,” Garth said. “I got off the phone with Ian [Ziering] last night. We’re brothers and sisters, so we are very close. It’s a bond that is kind of unexplainable and it can never be broken. We’re associated with one another for the rest of our lives and we all love it.”
Garth starred on the teen soap as Kelly Taylor, while Doherty played Brenda Walsh and Tori Spelling portrayed Donna Martin.
“I keep thinking back to the early days of Kelly and Brenda and Donna, the Three Amigos together roaming the halls of West Beverly Hills [High School].Those memories are the best, and I’m so fortunate because I can look at them any time. It’s forever commemorated and I’m so honored.”
As for what Garth wants people to know about her friendship with her late pal, the actress said, “I want people to know that I loved her and we were sisters. We met very young and we did a lot of growing up together and apart. She was just a really neat lady.”
Garth previously honored Doherty on her podcast, I Choose Me. It’s a medium that the actress has used as a way to have that and other “really intimate conversations with the world.”
“I’m really using this platform and this podcast as a way to connect and sort of show our similarities and our connective tissue, no matter who we are or what we do, we’re all going through the same things in life,” she said. “I like sharing that part with people.”
One of Garth’s most talked about episodes came when she welcomed on her ex-husband, Peter Facinelli. The pair was married from 2001 to 2013 and share three daughters: Luca, 27, Lola, 21, and Fiona, 17.
“I was nervous going in,” Garth admitted. “… That was the first time we ever sat down and had that sort of real conversation. I learned so much about him and his journey that I had always been curious about, so it was really eye-opening, I think for me, and beneficial to be in the open and be in an environment where whatever you say is OK.”
“We’ve both kind of reached that place in our life where we’ve matured and the drama is not there anymore. We just want to be good parents to our adult girls now,” she continued. “… We did our best all these years to put up a happy front and make people think that it as the easy breakup and everybody was peachy keen, but it was challenging and there were times where it was difficult. We wanted to sort of spotlight that and tell people, ‘No, it has not been Instagram worthy the whole time. It’s been difficult and here’s how we got through it and here’s how we dealt with it.'”
The conversation, Garth said, “had a really beautiful effect on our whole family.”
“It’s just freedom now to not worry about, ‘Are Mom and Dad gonna be OK with each other in this environment? Should I invite Mom or Dad to this?'” she said. “All those questions that kids shouldn’t have to be asking themselves.”
In addition to her podcast, Garth is busy with Me By Jennie Garth, her new clothing line for QVC. The line will have its first release on July 29, followed by drops every month for the next two years.
“I did not see this coming. I have stood in rooms and been dressed by the most famous costume designers, had so many fittings all of my life. I hated them, just standing there, being poked and pinned, but I’ve learned so much along the way about what looks good on me and what feels good on me,” Garth told ET. “It kind of came out of nowhere for me, but it kind of didn’t. I’ve really just embraced it and have started learning a whole new industry. It’s been an incredible experience to develop my own line.”
Garth teamed up with her middle daughter, fashion student Lola, for the line, which includes a sweet nod to another late 90210 star, Luke Perry. The actor, who played Dylan McKay, died in 2019 after a stroke. He was 52.
“First of all, when you think of Dylan, you think of that jean jacket that he wore. He wore it so well,” Garth said of why she named a denim jacket after her late friend. “Along my journey on switching these paths, I have faced some fears and some real blocks and challenges… I have dealt with [imposter syndrome] a little bit where you don’t think you should be doing what you’re doing or you’re not capable or you’re not talented enough… Whenever I would feel those feelings, I would close my eyes and I can see him and he would just be standing there saying, ‘Keep going. Keep going.'”
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