Spelling Out Tori's Troubles

Tori Spelling used to star in Lifetime Original Movies. Now she's living in one.

In the latest high-drama development within the Spelling family feud, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum's plans for a televised tribute to her late father, Aaron Spelling, have been blocked by her mother, Candy.

Tori had been working on executive producing and hosting an ABC documentary celebrating her father that was scheduled to air this fall. A number of stars that he worked with over the years had signed onto the project and many had already taped interviews, according to People magazine.

But once Candy learned of her daughter's involvement, she supposedly put the kibosh on the project by refusing access to clips from Spelling's vast body of work, including small-screen gems such as The Love Boat, Dynasty, Charlie's Angels and many more.

"Candy wouldn't release the clips of his shows because Tori was involved in the project. She had it killed," People quoted an inside source as saying.

Spelling family spokesman Kevin Sasaki confirmed to E! News that Candy had decided against releasing the clips, but said it was a matter of timing.

"Regarding the proposed ABC Special, Candy Spelling sincerely felt the timing was not right as the Emmy Awards telecast was also planning a special tribute to Aaron," Sasaki said.

However, a spokesperson for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences told Tuesday's New York Daily News that the Emmy tribute to Spelling is still up in the air.

"The show is still in flux. It's being put together and nothing is settled yet with regard to either having or not having an Aaron Spelling tribute," the spokesperson said of the Aug. 27 awards show.

Sasaki said that Candy has already agreed to provide the NBC Emmy telecast with clips from her husband's library.

"As far as the Emmy Awards tribute, Candy is very touched and is accommodating the producer's request for biographical material," he said.

Sasaki also denied rumors that Candy would attend the awards ceremony with son Randy, while Tori and husband Dean McDermott, were not invited.

"With regard to Tori, Candy is not doing the inviting to the Emmys, nor does she have any control over who attend and who doesn't," Sasaki said.

"As of now, Emmy invites have not even been extended, so rumors of Candy attending, Tori not, are all conjecture and speculation. Someone has already set a stage for a stage that has yet to be set!"

A rep for Tori told E! News she had no comment on the report.

Since the death of her father on June 23, Tori has been at very public war with an entity calling itself "The Spelling Family," presumably consisting of the joint forces of Randy and Candy Spelling.

First came Tori's claim that she learned of her father's death via email.

"And I was just in total shock," she told Us Weekly. "My first thought was, I can't believe my mom didn't call me!"

The interview earned a rapid response from the Spelling Family, who said they were "deeply saddened that, during our time of loss and grief, we are forced to respond to the media frenzy caused by the mean-spirited and surprising comments made by Tori to the press."

Then came the news from Us Weekly last month that Tori stood to inherit a mere $800,000 of her father's estimated $500 million fortune--a financial snub believed to be due largely in part to her estrangement from her mother.

Of course, it wasn't long before the fallen heiress gave her take on recent events in an interview with the Insider, which aired Monday.

Calling herself "a humble person," Tori said that her father's death has allowed her to see things on the same level as the non-celebrity masses.

"Suddenly we're on the same page, we're equals, and that's all I want to be," she said. "Sometimes you get put on another level as an actor and people aren't able to take you at face value, so it's nice to be put on a more humanized level."

Despite her new average Jane outlet, Tori said she was still all too aware of her celebrity status.

"There's days you want to crawl under a rock and just hide and just wish it would all go away, but being in the limelight, you know that's the territory," she said. "That's what comes along with it. Everything is exposed about your life."

And for those willing to unload their family baggage to any sympathetic media outlet willing to listen (read: all of them), life becomes even more exposed.