Beverly Hills, 90210 actress Jennie Garth said that the premature deaths of her costars on the TV series, Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry, have made her ponder her own mortality.
Garth, 52, discussed the issue with Tori Spelling, 51, on Monday on their podcast 90210MG, just more than a week after Doherty died at 53 on July 13 following a yearslong battle with breast cancer; and five years after Perry’s death at 52 after suffering a massive stroke in March of 2019.
The Urbana, Illinois-born actress, who played the role of Kelly Taylor on 292 episodes on the hit Fox series from 1990–2000, said that the deaths of her longtime colleagues made her ‘feel very fearful’ about the topic of mortality.
‘Especially just with Luke dying and now Shannen,’ Garth said on the podcast. ‘I just feel like, I don’t know, it could be any of us could go at any moment. That kind of feeling … yeah, that’s scary.’
Spelling, who played Donna Martin on the TV show, said that while she’s ‘always been a fearful person,’ Doherty’s death left her with a sense of sorrow.
Beverly Hills, 90210 actress Jennie Garth, 52, said that the premature deaths of her costars on the TV series, Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry, have made her ponder her own mortality. Pictured in LA in December of 2022
Garth, 52, discussed the issue with Tori Spelling on Monday on their podcast 90210MG , just more than a week after Doherty died at 53 on July 13 following a battle with breast cancer; and five years after Perry’s death at 52 after suffering a massive stroke in March of 2019
‘I didn’t feel fear at all when she passed – I just felt sad,’ said Spelling, who has dealt with health problems herself in recent years.
Spelling added: ‘I felt sad for the second chapter she had, and I was so excited for that chapter for her and wanted her so badly to have that.’
In the months after Perry’s 2019 death, Garth and Spelling reunited with costars Doherty, Jason Priestley, Brian Austin Green, Gabrielle Carteris and Ian Ziering for the show BH90210, in which the performers played fictionalized versions of themselves.
Garth said that Perry’s death was like losing ‘a piece of [her] foundation’ and that it remains difficult to process.
‘No one will ever really understand unless they were there with us then’ and ‘they went through the experience with us,’ Garth said. ‘It’s kind of hard to believe that other people understand that connection.’
Garth said that despite Doherty’s well-chronicled health woes, she was still very surprised to learn of her castmate’s passing, knowing her resiliency.
‘It’s crazy that we could be shocked knowing that she was sick and knowing how hard she was fighting, but it still felt shocking,’ Garth said, adding she ‘never thought [Doherty] would succumb to cancer.’
Doherty was initially diagnosed in 2015 with breast cancer, which went into remission before returning as stage four cancer in 2017 and spreading to her brain last year.
Tori Spelling, pictured in LA in April, said that while she’s ‘always been a fearful person,’ Doherty’s death left her with a sense of sorrow
Spelling, Doherty and Garth pictured in LA at the People’s Choice Awards in 1992
Said Garth: ‘It was just shocking and makes you pi**ed, mad, sad, all the feelings because and then [you’re] like, “What the f***?” Because she’s the one person that you didn’t see this happening’ to.
Garth said on the podcast that she learned a key number of life lessons from Doherty, who was a role model and inspiring to her in showing ‘so much strength’ in her life.
‘I learned a lot, you know, about how to stand up for myself, how to fight for things that I believed in,’ Garth said. ‘I also saw that she was saying what she needed to say, and I thought, “I want to be like that. I want to be a person that uses my voice and says what I need to say.” So she did inspire me.’
Both Garth and Spelling said they would seek to honor both Doherty and Perry at fan events for the popular retro series.
‘I feel like I need to try to be strong through that … because that will make them feel better,’ Garth said. ‘Because I know that it made us feel better to be together after Luke passed away. There was some comfort in that.’
Garth said that ‘there was just a thread of love and appreciation for one another and support that we felt because we had each other – and I don’t think that that will ever go away.’
She added, ‘I still feel it with Luke. I know that as time passes, it’ll feel different with Shannen.’
Spelling looked back on the memories she shared with Doherty, Perry and the cast of the series.
(L-R) Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, Doherty, Ian Ziering, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling promoted the series BH 90210 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in August of 2019 in LA
Garth called Doherty ‘one of the strongest people I have ever known’ in an online memorial
‘I can’t imagine this lifetime not getting to know all of you and not going through that experience that, as we say, Jen, no one can understand,’ Spelling said. ‘And I’m OK with that because I wouldn’t have wanted to share it with anyone else besides all of you.’
On the day after Doherty’s death, Garth called her former costar ‘one of the strongest people I have ever known’ in an Instagram post.
Garth added, ‘Our connection was real and honest. We were so often pitted against each other but none of that reflected the truth of our real relationship which was one built on mutual respect and admiration.
‘She was courageous, passionate, determined and very loving and generous. I will miss her and will always honor her deeply in my heart and in my memories.’
Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane told People in a July 14 statement, ‘It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.
‘The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.’
