A beloved 1990s television icon called her immediate Beatles-level fame “scary.” Jeannie Garth said the attention she and her “Beverly Hills 90210” co-stars experienced came so fast and intense that it was nearly impossible to adjust to the sudden spotlight.
Garth, who played Kelly Taylor on “Beverly Hills 90210,” told PEOPLE Magazine that she wasn’t ready for the intense level of adoration she and her fellow castmates experienced as the stars of the FOX series. She shares her story in a new book, “I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose, and Embracing Reinvention.”
Jeannie Garth Said It Was Tough to Adjust to Sudden ‘90210’ Fame
Jeannie Garth told PEOPLE that it was tough to adjust to instantaneous fame as a star of “Beverly Hills, 90210” in 1990.
“It was like being in The Beatles,” the actress revealed. “There was no preparation for it. It was scary and unknown for all of us and was like sink or swim, just survive and figure it out as you go. It was major on-the-job training.”
She continued, “I really did a good job, to the point where I walked around not making eye contact with people, not wanting anybody to know anything about my life. That led me into a very isolated existence.”
Along with Garth, the experience was also intense for her co-stars Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry, Jason Priestley, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering, Brian Austin Green, and Gabrielle Carteris. Although the show wasn’t a hit when it first premiered, it would go on to launch the teen soap genre.
Additionally, the show’s stars would be plastered all over the teen magazines of the day, and their normal 20-something antics were tabloid fodder. However, the pressures of the spotlight took its toll, Garth admitted.
In 2021, she shared on her podcast “9021OMG” that the series “brought out a super competitive part of me. Being in that environment of being judged because of my looks or how I looked in an outfit. It was just a different day and age, and it gave us young girls a lot of mixed messages. I, for many years, struggled with it,” reported Entertainment Weekly.
Why Was ‘90210’ So Popular?
Jeanne Garth was only 18-years-old when she was cast on the FOX series in 1990.
She believes that the good elements of sudden fame were often overshadowed by the challenges that came with it. Garth discussed this with Tori Spelling, who co-hosted “9021OMG.”
“As a young girl, maybe I blamed it on the guys too — it was all their fault. But it was how I saw it,” she explained. “If I’m honest, I think the show kind of taught me to be threatened by other girls, be threatened by other women, and be more competitive because I wanted our costars’ approval or attention.”
Garth added that it took a long time for her to overcome those feelings of self-doubt. She continued to struggle with those elements for some time after the series ended in May 2000.
“It messed with me on a deeper level. Not until later in life did I kind of think it wasn’t ever about the other girls,” the actress concluded. “And why did I ever make the other girls an enemy in my mind?”
Jeannie Garth’s new book, “I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose, and Embracing Reinvention,” will be released on April 14.
You go girl! I grew up in 90210! I can’t wait to read your book
Yes ok and you are?(Just kidding I do know but)still stupid competitive