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Jennie Garth on Shannen Doherty Feud: "There Were Times When We Wanted to Claw Each Other's Eyes Out"

Actress shares secrets from her Beverly Hills, 90210 days and dishes on her new book Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde

By Zach Johnson Mar 13, 2014 12:11 PMTags

The drama on Beverly Hills, 90210 pales in comparison to what went down behind the scenes.

Jennie Garth stopped by E! News Wednesday to promote her new book, Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde. While there, the actress opened up to Terrence J and Catt Sadler about her tenure on the teen soap, her former feud with co-star Shannen Doherty and her new show with Tori Spelling.

"I talk about my early stardom days and being sort of catapulted into that as a teenager and not really having the instruction booklet to deal with that, not knowing what I was doing," Garth said. "I was kind of alone on that journey. I didn't have a lot of support around me, so I had to figure that out as I went. I think I kind of managed it pretty well. I ended up pretty good. I didn't get too lost along the way."

At the height of her fame in the '90s, Garth became agoraphobic. "There were points of not wanting to leave the house, not wanting to go the grocery store or the mall," the 41-year-old TV star said.

Spelling has written extensively about her Beverly Hills, 90210 days, and Garth wanted to share her side of the story, too. "That was 10 years of my life, a big part of my formative years," she explained. "This was something instead of high school instead of college we went to the set every day."

And yes, the feud rumors are true. "We were locked in this sound stage for 14-16 hours every day," she says of working with Doherty and Spelling; the former left after Season 4. "There were times when we loved each other and there were times when we wanted to claw each other's eyes out," Garth said.

In her book, Garth explained why she and Doherty were often at odds. "It was more of just young girls finding their way and finding their individual voices. Shannen and I are both Aries women, we're both very strong, independent women, so we butt heads a lot," the blond star said. "Now, as grown women, we happen to get along as well."

Indeed they do. Doherty was a guest at Garth's 40th birthday party in West Hollywood in 2012, and the following year, they traveled to Las Vegas to watch co-star Ian Ziering's Chippendale's revue show.

Garth and Spelling—who briefly appeared on The CW's 90210 reboot, as did Doherty—will next star in Mystery Girls. "We are doing a sitcom for ABC Family. It is coming out June 25. Honestly, we can't wait to go to work, and that's unusual for me," Garth admitted. "The last thing I usually want to do is go to work, but this show sounds like a lot of fun. It's gonna be a blast!"

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