In real life the girl behind West
Beverly’s snooty princess had little of
Kelly’s Hollywood pedigree or flash.
Raised on a 25-acre horse farm
outside Urbana, Ill., Jennie Garth,
then 17, had been in L.A. for a little
more than a year with few credits to
her name when she walked into
Aaron Spelling’s office to audition
for 90210. She was in awe.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, if I could
work with Aaron Spelling, that would
be the best thing ever,’ ” Garth later
recalled. “I read in his giant office with
the shaggy carpet, and there were
cigarettes sitting out on the table for
anyone that wanted them. I was very
impressed by that. I was like, ‘Wow,
you can smoke in here?’ ” When she
left, Spelling opened the window and
called out to her, “Good job, kid!”
Garth was stunned. “Are you sure?”
she thought. “Because I’m nobody.”
Over the course of a decade, as
her character grew from a bit part to
the heart and soul of the show,
Garth became one of TV’s big
somebodies. As 90210 mania
heated up in 1991, a mob of 10,000
fans turned up for a promotional
appearance at an Indianapolis mall.
“All these people were screaming
and fainting,’’ she recalled.
“Suddenly these state troopers came
up behind me and said, ‘Miss Garth,
you’re going to have to leave the
stage.’ I felt like Jim Morrison.’’
Growing up as the youngest of
seven siblings, Garth “was always the
little entertainer,” her mom told
People. As a teen she loved to dance,
but until she caught the eye of a
talent scout at age 15, her ambitions
were modest. “I just thought I’d go to
college and get a teaching degree fordance and have my own studio,’’ says
Garth. “But my life took a turn.’’ After
moving with her mom to L.A., she
appeared on an episode of Growing
Pains and in two TV movies (one
costarring Jason Priestley) before
winning her big role on 90210.
On-set, the actress impressed her
costars with her levelheaded attitude.
“Jennie doesn’t let it go to her head,’’
costar Ian Ziering said. But with her
onscreen BFF, things weren’t so
smooth. “We fought like cats and
dogs,” Garth said of her relationship
with Shannen Doherty.
She was 28 and about to marry for
the second time, to Twilight actor
Peter Facinelli, when the series ended.
They had three daughters. Garth,
meanwhile, became a regular on TV
movies and cha-cha-ed her way to
the semifinals on Dancing with the
Stars. After splitting with Facinelli in
2012, she spent “a couple of years
lying in bed and being depressed,”
she said, before marrying again, to
actor Dave Abrams in 2015.ROAD TO
HOLLYWOOD
ILLINOIS FARM GIRL
JENNIE GARTH DANCED
HER WAY TO SUCCESS
AND CELEBRITY
33
GAME NIGHT
“I need my family to keep me
grounded,” said Garth (in 2017 with
husband Dave Abrams, daughter
Lola and her mother and brother on
Celebrity Family Feud).