ing an enemy out of his ex, Kelly. Valerie also slept
with Donna’s abusive beau Ray and made a move
on Brandon, before actually falling in love with
David—although they later decided they were
better off as friends. “The big joke is that Valerie
has made a play for everyone but Mr. Walsh,”
Thiessen said in 1995.
Although Valerie tried her hand at running a
business—she became co-owner of the Peach Pit
After Dark—most of her screen time centered on
her tumultuous private life and painful backstory:
Valerie was molested by her father, whom she
murdered in self-defense, staging the crime to
look like a suicide. In the end she found closure,
reconnecting with her estranged mother and
moving back to Buffalo.
Thiessen said Valerie’s departure in the show’s
ninth season allowed her to leave behind a char-
acter whose personality was a world away from
her own. “I’m not uptight. I’m not evil,” she told a
reporter in 1999. “And I won’t smoke a lot of pot
and sleep with your boyfriend.”
GOES TO COLLEGE
66 BEVERLY HILLS 90210 PEOPLE
SHIPMATES
Buffalo was never this glam:
Valerie, Brandon and friends celebrated
Steve’s birthday aboard the Queen Mary.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
Valerie blamed mom Abby
(Michelle Phillips) for doing
nothing to stop the abuse Valerie
suffered at her father’s hands.
