Tori Spelling's Mother Issues

In new interview with Us Weekly, actress says she learned of her father's death via a BlackBerry message, blames mom for failure to communicate

By Joal Ryan Jun 29, 2006 12:20 AMTags

The Spelling family feud is on.

Tori Spelling herself invokes the F-word, for feud, in a new interview with Us Weekly. In the magazine cover story, due out Friday, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum reveals she learned of father Aaron Spelling's death last week as she dined in Toronto.

Her BlackBerry broke the bad news.

"A friend of mine had seen a TV report, and emailed me," Tori Spelling tells Us. "And I was just in total shock.

"My first thought was, I can't believe my mom didn't call me!"

Us Weekly's Website published excerpts of the interview on Wednesday, five days after Aaron Spelling died at his Los Angeles estate. The hit-making producer of 90210, Charlie's Angels and many, many more TV series was 83.

News of the rift, or as Tori Spelling says "the feud," are not new--they've been reported for months. But to Us, the actress breaks it down: She was on good terms with her legend father; her mother, not so much.

"My mom's behavior simply made me uncomfortable to be around my family," Tori Spelling says in the magazine.

Specifically, Tori Spelling is said to be unhappy that her mother, Candy, was spending time with a longtime family friend while her father's health deteriorated. Candy Spelling has denied a romance with the friend.

Tori Spelling tells the magazine she saw her father only once since last September--a Jun. 11 visit that came just seven days before Aaron Spelling suffered a stroke. He died later that week.

Although Tori Spelling's estrangement from her parents coincided with her split from first husband Charlie Shanian and her tabloid-tracked romance with actor Dean McDermott, whom she wed in May, the actress says "the feud" is unrelated to those events. And, she says, it's unrelated to her mother-mocking VH1 series, so noTORIous.

Tori Spelling says she last spoke with her father a couple of days before his death. His final words to her: "He said, 'I love you, babe.' "

The feud apparently was put on hold last Sunday, when Tori Spelling and McDermott were among those in attendance at a small, private service for the Hollywood clan's patriarch.

A larger service for Aaron Spelling's friends and colleagues has been set for September.

Get E! Online's photo tribute to Aaron Spelling.