Tori Spelling Hints at Candy Spelling Feud, Wants More True Tori Despite Dean McDermott's Reservations

True Tori star defends her marriage and reality show on NBC's Today

By Zach Johnson Nov 17, 2014 4:35 PMTags
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Tori Spelling did her first TV interview to promote the second season of Lifetime's True Tori Monday. Although Dean McDermott was in the building, Tori's husband remained off-camera as the actress spoke to Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb about her tumultuous marriage and recent hospitalization.

Tori admitted that she began to feel ill after her children contracted pneumonia. "It just hit me the hardest," she said. "And there are emotional components, always. I'm just learning that. At 41, I'm realizing that...you can repress [emotions] for as long as you want, but they come out in certain ways."

Because Tori had shared a sad selfie, Hoda asked about Candy Spelling. "We've talked to your mom on the show a number of times, and we talked about your relationship with her and healing it. In the hospital, did something happen that either solidified that or made it clear that there are boundaries?"

"Um...it's not something I'm willing to get in to out of respect, but nothing happened in the hospital," said Tori, who held hands with Kathie Lee. "So, you didn't hear from her or anything?" Hoda continued.

"No," Tori said.

Contrary to reports, however, Tori said that Dean "was amazing" during her hospitalization. "He was by my side daily. He proved it. He was home taking care of four kids. He really stepped up," the star raved. "And that was the big thing on the show this season. I was like, 'Step up! Take care of the kids! You've been away. You've been dealing with yourself for so long. Come back to us.' And he has—in a big way."

"The children are great and flourishing, and that's what's important," Tori added. "Our everything are the kids and that's what comes first, and when it's not about that anymore, then this all goes away."

In a recent episode of True Tori, the Beverly Hills, 90210 star had lunch with Dean's first wife, Mary Jo Eustace. "This is our real life. True Tori is as true as it gets on reality TV. We wanted her to be on it because I was dealing with things from my past, things that I hadn't confronted, and she was a big part of that. I wanted to deal with that and move on," Tori said. "She was happy that I was apologizing and that she accepted that, but she wanted me to know that I should own it. Her belief is that Dean and I played 50/50 in what we did." Hoda asked if she ever considered that "the way you got him is the way you lose him," to which Tori replied, "'Karma's a bitch.' I get that so much. Yes, Twitter, I get that a lot."

Dean has said he no longer wants to film the show now that its second season has wrapped. "We did the whole season and now it's airing," the Mistletones star said. "I personally like doing it. For me, it works. It's individual. I know it's not for everyone. People keep saying, 'Why do you want your relationship playing out on TV?' I came from a family that didn't talk about emotions. We repressed things.  This was a vehicle for me to feel like a safe atmosphere where I could share. It's cathartic. It's therapy for me."

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Tori also addressed another elephant in the room on NBC's Today: her new hair extensions!

"They're gray!" the author shouted. "I needed something different. It's so much like, 'Is Tori OK? What's wrong with Tori?' I was like, 'You know what? I need something clean and new and fresh,' and this is it."

As for why Dean was M.I.A. during the interview, the former Mystery Girls star explained, "Before it was just Tori & Dean, and now it's True Tori, and he's done a lot of press, and now I'm doing a lot of press, and we wanted to...I want to kind of get my story out there." The Chopped Canada host will be on the show Wednesday morning, though, prompting Tori to warn the Today co-hosts, "Be nice to him, ladies!"

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