Tori Spelling cried more after the death of her “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-star Shannen Doherty than when her father, Aaron Spelling, passed away.
“I had more of an emotional, outward reaction when Shan passed,” the actress admitted during Tuesday’s episode of the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast.
Doherty, notably, died in 2024 at 53 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer, while Aaron died in 2006 at 83 due to complications from a stroke.
Tori speculated that she cried less over the loss of her father because she “had every feeling so repressed” at the time.
The 53-year-old didn’t know how to “deal” with her feelings and, instead, adopted a “just go on” mentality.
She clarified, “My dad was everything to me. I mean, he’s still my hero and I think about him every single day in my life.”
Tori believes Doherty’s death was “maybe” an extra “hard one” because she’s “getting older and start[ing] to think of [her] own mortality and what’s going to happen.”
She added, “It’s like, ‘Wait, friends my age are passing and this can happen.’”
Tori also pointed out how jarring it was for herself and Doherty to go from being “best friends” to suddenly not.
She couldn’t “stop crying,” pointing out, “This is so un-me. But I also grew up thinking crying was a sign of weakness.”
The pair became close after being cast on “Beverly Hills, 90210” in 1990, with Tori and Doherty starring as Donna Martin and Brenda Walsh, respectively.
The duo co-starred in the hit Fox series together — alongside Jennie Garth, Jason Priestley, Luke Perry, Ian Ziering, Brian Austin Green and Gabrielle Carteris — until Doherty was released from her contract at the end of Season 4 in 1994.
The series — which was produced by Aaron — went on for six more seasons before coming to an end in 2000.
Although Tori and Doherty temporarily lost touch, they came “back together” and were “friends again before she passed … because of [fan] conventions.”
She gushed, “That meant so much to me and to her.”
Tori told listeners she attended a memorial for Doherty on the one-year anniversary of her death last summer.
The “Scary Movie 2” star “got to see” Doherty’s “mom again and see her friends” at the 2025 event, which brought back a lot of “memories and tears.”
The “Beverly Hills, 90210” family lost another cast member in 2019 when Perry died from a stroke at 52.
Tori shared that when Perry passed, she was “still in [her] mode of like, ‘Go on, go on.’”
She paid tribute to the “Riverdale” alum via Instagram Stories in 2023, writing, “Could be a million people in the room but he always made you feel like you were the only one. Good kind humans are a rare breed. I don’t know that many sadly. He was one. … Missing you always.”
The following year, Tori honored Doherty on an episode of her “Misspelling” podcast, dismissing her past “silly … misunderstandings” that led to “lost years” without the “Charmed” alum in her life.
“None of that matters,” she said in the 2024 episode. “What matters is that core friendship that we had.”
