Jennie Garth Says Shannen Doherty's Death Made Her Think of Luke Perry
Jennie Garth’s grief over Shannen Doherty’s death was compounded by the fact that she’s already lost another beloved Beverly Hills, 90210 costar far too soon.
“[Luke Perry] was the first person I thought of when I heard the news [of Shannen’s passing],” Garth, 52, said during the Thursday, July 18, episode of her “I Choose Me” podcast. “I thought how happy he was going to be to be with her again.”
Doherty died at age 53 following a lengthy battle with cancer on Saturday, July 13, while Perry died at age 52 in March 2019 after suffering two strokes. Garth said that Doherty’s death “definitely” brought back memories of losing Perry.
“I chose to never speak publicly very much at all about Luke’s passing. [I] didn’t put up a post or anything,” she said. “I didn’t know how to handle that, and I didn’t feel compelled to let my feelings out there.”
While Garth privately grieved after Perry’s death, she shared an Instagram tribute to Doherty on Sunday, July 14.
“I am still processing my tremendous grief over the loss of my longtime friend Shannen, the woman I have often described as one of the strongest people I have ever known. Our connection was real and honest,” she wrote. “We were so often pitted against each other but none of that reflected the truth of our real relationship which was one built on mutual respect and admiration.”
Garth and Doherty’s Beverly Hills, 90210 characters, Kelly and Brenda, had their ups and downs on the show, which sometimes spilled over into real life. However, Garth said during Thursday’s episode that she hopes the fandom can acknowledge the love that she and Doherty had for one another.
“There’s been this crazy division in some of the fans that they were either Team Kelly or they were Team Brenda, and I don’t think that either Shannen or I ever wanted that,” she said. “[Her death] is a time when we can come together and process this all with each other. That is my hope.”
The actress added that even though she and Doherty’s relationship was“convoluted at times by outside forces that just sort of crept in for us both,” they “still loved each other.”
One source of tension between Kelly and Brenda on the ‘90s teen drama was their love triangle with Dylan, played by Perry. Offscreen, the trio were just good friends. Perry’s 24-year-old daughter, Sophie, took to social media on Sunday to share a throwback photo of Perry and Doherty goofing around. She captioned the Instagram story with a white heart emoji.
Garth said on Thursday that it’s difficult to imagine that two OG members of the Beverly Hills, 90210 family are now gone at such young ages.
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“You know when you have a group shot? If you can imagine, that image of that person in the group chat fading away … I can’t really wrap my head around it,” she said while getting emotional. “It’s really, really hard to sign cast photos and see Luke not there, and now to have to sign those photos without Shannen there is just, like, inconceivable. … There are times when I still refuse to believe that Luke is gone. … He is with me a lot.”
As for Doherty, Garth noted that she will remember her “willingness to voice her opinions on things [and] stand up for people” who couldn’t do so themselves.
“She was really kind and generous and strong,” Garth added. “Sometimes her strength got in her way and didn’t look the way other people wanted it to look, but she didn’t care.”
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