because I don’t want to hide my
pregnancy. I want my baby to know
I was proud and share it with the
world.” Aaron was so shocked, but
he said, “Yes, we’ll do it.” So Andrea
was full-blown pregnant. Some-
body wrote an article about, “How
dare Andrea get pregnant? It’s
high school, she’s supposed to be a
smart girl.” I responded back in an
editorial, “You know, smart people
make mistakes. Smart people
make decisions about the choices
they make in their lives, and this
is real life.” At one point when we
were fi lming, I also had really bad
bunions. I had to get surgery and
they put me in a wheelchair. So the
writers wrote a scene where a car
hits me and I break my leg.
B.A.G. [My character] David Silver
got into music when [executive
producer] Charles Rosin saw me
at one of the wrap parties dancing
and having fun. I was into music—
my father’s a drummer, that was
a big thing for me. So for them to
say, “Well, David’s going to release
a song,” and it’s like, okay, I’m in a
studio recording a song for David.
The original 90210 was famous
for breaking new ground on TV
by handling real-life issues that
young people were facing. Was
that important to you?
J.G. Yeah, we covered a lot of
ground, and that’s something that
I’ve always been super proud of.
A groundbreaking episode for me
was the slumber-party episode
where my character revealed that
she was date-raped. Nobody was
talking about date rape on TV. But
it’s a seriously huge problem, and
so for me to be able to hear my
character’s voice bring awareness,
[it was great to] achieve something
like that. And once [the writers]
found out that Kelly, or that I,
could play those more dramatic
beats, they ran with it—I don’t
think there’s anything that I didn’t
have to suff er through on the show!
IAN ZIERING There was an episode
that I cowrote that came from vis-
iting my grandmother in a nursing
home. She didn’t have Alzheimer’s,
but walking to her room, I would
see people in the hallways sitting
there. And it was just so sad to me.
I brought the idea to the producers;
I wrote a scene where Steve is do-
ing community work at a nursing
home, where everyone’s painting
on easels. We see one guy, but we
don’t see what he’s painting. He
was played by Milton Berle. I get a
little closer to him, and then I look
at the canvas, and the canvas was
blank. The producers said, “Wow.
We actually have something here.”
And Milton Berle got an Emmy
nomination, the only one we ever
received. I was really proud of that.
Which characters and actors did you
most enjoy working with?
J.G. Donna when she and Kelly
lived together at the beach. I loved
shooting in the beach apartment
with Tori. None of us got to have
the real experiences of going
off to college or having room-
mates or living independently
like that. You know, we all kind of
went from being kids to just being
adults in real life. I loved doing
that because it felt like fun and
like what I was supposed to be do-
ing [at that age].
B.A.G. I had, and still have, a really
good connection with Tori. We
really leaned on each other. I feel
much more like she’s a sister of
mine than someone that I worked
with. I can look at her and know
exactly what’s going through her
92 BEVERLY HILLS 90210 PEOPLE
WE WERE YOUNG AND DIDN’T ALWAYS MAKE
THE RIGHT CHOICES. WE SURVIVED, AND
WE’RE ALL CLOSER BECAUSE OF IT”
—JENNIE GARTH
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