“Beverly Hills 90210” star Jennie Garth is stepping into her “Me” season.
After spending her late teens and early 20s acting on the ’90s cultural touchstone, the 52-year-old says spending those formative years on TV made her eager to experience life outside of Hollywood.
“I had to take some time after playing that character for 10 years,” Garth told The Daily News. “I had to take some time to ground myself and find myself.”
Garth admits that, while she loves being on set, many aspects of acting are not enjoyable.
“That moment of connecting on camera, those few moments of on-camera time, I love that part. But it’s all the other parts that are not fulfilling for me. It’s the waiting and the constantly worried about your appearance, the fame, all of that. I don’t enjoy that stuff.”
After years of “giving up thinking about myself,” the “What I like About You” star says, she’s now committed to investing her time doing what she wants. That includes launching a fashion brand named “Me” and a podcast called “I Choose Me.”
“Something clicked one day and I wanted to make spreading that message my priority. It’s my mantra in life and I want other people to be able to do that, too.”
“It’s the busiest I’ve ever been juggling the podcast, the clothing line, media, promotion of the projects and it feels really good to me to be producing something that was a seed inside of me.”
Garth is also using these creations as a way to pay tribute to her late “90210” co-stars Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry. In the wake of Doherty’s passing in July, Garth dedicated an episode of her podcast to the actor, who played Brenda Walsh on show, while processing her own grief. “Grief is grief. Whenever you lose someone, it’s the same feeling, it goes back to that first time you felt it.”
The loss of Perry in 2019, who also starred in the teen soap as Dylan McKay, still affects Garth, who named her fashion line’s denim jacket after her one-time on-screen love interest.
“I’ve learned to live with the grief and I’ve learned to use it, instead of making me sad, to push me forward and to be really grateful for my life.”