Spelling Out Tori's Inheritance

Randy Spelling speaking out against reports that he received more of an inheritance than sister Tori, claiming her estrangement from mother Candy had no bearing on amount she received

By Gina Serpe Mar 29, 2007 3:48 PMTags

Tori Spelling may be a poor little rich girl, but she's still no poorer than her rich brother.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum's brother, Randy Spelling, is speaking out against reports made in recent months that his sister was stiffed in her inheritance after a rift with their mother.

Instead, Randy claims that the amount Tori received from her mogul father's passing—a mere $800,000 of an estimated $500 million fortune—was not only  what she should have been expecting, but the exact same amount he himself received.

"It's not like my dad would give me one thing and Tori another," Randy said, adding that the amount of both of their inheritances "was set up for years and years and years. So, nothing was changed. Nothing was changed in the will."

The clarification comes several month after rumors swirled that mother Candy Spelling took it upon herself to redress the distribution of her children's inheritance in the wake of hubby Aaron's death after her estrangement from Tori grew increasingly bitter.

Per Tori herself, the mother-daughter rift, which is now largely healed thanks to the recent birth of a grandson, was in full swing long before Aaron's death last June, though it grew increasingly contentious in the months following his passing.

Tori fired the first bullet in the public war of words, telling the world, via the pages of Us Weekly, that she learned of her father's death through an email and that she was "in total shock" that her mother hadn't phoned to deliver the news herself.

That led to a terse statement from the combined forces of Candy and Randy, who said Tori was soiling her father's good name and causing a media frenzy in the wake of his death.

The in-fighting continued in various incarnations: Mom took away Tori's TV hosting gig and uninvited her to the Emmys; daughter retaliated in kind by humiliating her mother and slumming it with a public yard sale.

However, both sides showed signs of a cease fire this month.

The family matriarch told People that she and Tori had "been in touch with each other and are in the process of communicating and working things out."

Tori responded on the Today show, further alluding to hopes of a reconciliation.

Then along came baby.

The made for TV movie vet and her hubby, Dean McDermott, welcomed son Liam Aaron McDermott into the world on March 13, an event for which Candy was also present and over which she expressed her "joy and elation."

Randy himself credited the stork delivery as the catalyst for a reconciliation, telling People that "my mom is having a grandchild, and it puts things into perspective."

Meanwhile, sizeable inheritance or not, Tori is doing her best to pull in a little extra cash on the side.

Last week, she and McDermott made their joint reality show debut on the Oxygen series Tori and Dean: Inn Love, which features the couple opening up their own Bed & Breakfast, Chateau La Rue, in California.

The series premiere marked the cable network's most-viewed show in its seven-year history, drawing in 459,000 viewers.

Randy, meanwhile, is hoping for similar success. The youngest Spelling is set to star in Sons of Hollywood this April, an A&E reality series chronicling the lifestyles of some of Tinseltown's most privileged offspring.