Exclusive: Jennie Garth Confesses Her #1 Regret About Playing Kelly on the OG ‘90210’

Author image: rachel bowie christine han photography 100

Published May 23, 2019

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7:10pm

Count ‘em: Not only did Beverly Hills, 90210 run for a decade in the ‘90s, but it aired a whopping 304 episodes before signing off for good in 2000. Whew. And Jennie Garth is the first to admit that during that time, her character Kelly Taylor kind of went through a lot.

PureWow caught up with Garth for an exclusive chat to celebrate her partnership with Kinder Joy and The Birthday Party Project, a non-profit that brings joy to homeless children through birthday celebrations. Ahead of the 90210 reboot, set to air on FOX beginning August 7, we had to ask: Does she have any regrets about the character she played on the original series?

Michael Simon

As it turns out, she does. “I recently rewatched some old episodes with my daughters,” she says. “The characters are so relatable—I kind of forget that I was even a part of it. I will say, looking back, I wasn’t such a fan of the soccer mom hair phase I went through on the show. My castmates all gave me a hard time about it.”

jennie garth tori spelling soccer mom haircut

IMDB

Still, Garth has her reasons for committing—at least temporarily to the iconic hairdo: “Kelly was shot, raped, stalked, burned and in a cult to name just a few of her story lines. She went through so many seasons and I wanted to change it up.”

As for a favorite story line for her character, Garth says that’s harder to pinpoint. “The summer episodes very early on in the series are the ones I loved the most.”

Us too, Jennie. Us too.

Rachel Bowie

Senior Director, Special Projects and Royals

Writes and produces family, fashion, wellness, relationships, money and royals content
Podcast co-host and published author with a book about the British Royal Family
Studied sociology at Wheaton College and received a masters degree in journalism from Emerson College

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