Jennie Garth Never Had Body Image Issues Before “Beverly Hills, 90210. ”Then Got Plastic Surgery at 24 After Feeling 'Judged'

Angela AndaloroSat, April 18, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Jennie Garth in 1992 (left) and 1998Credit: Vinnie Zuffante/Getty; Sam Levi/WireImage -

Jennie Garth recalls having a healthy body image before playing Kelly Taylor on Beverly Hills, 90210

Since being body- and image-conscious was such a big part of Taylor's journey, the worries began to leak into Garth's life off-screen

In her new memoir, I Choose Me, Garth recalls dealing with those feelings and making the decision to get plastic surgery

Jennie Garth took a lot of the criticism that stemmed from her Beverly Hills, 90210 character to heart.

Garth played Kelly Taylor — known as a "spoiled teen vixen" in the early seasons — on the hit series from 1990 to 2000, and admits it impacted the way she saw her own self-image at the time. Garth writes about her experience in her new memoir, I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose, and Embracing Reinvention, out April 14 from Park Row, an imprint of HarperCollins.

"I never imagined that stepping into a character's shoes would start to define how I saw my own reflection. When I began playing Kelly Taylor on Beverly Hills, 90210, I hadn't dealt with the body image issues in my real life," she shared. "Those storylines — Kelly dieting, feeling insecure, being praised or scrutinized for her looks — were foreign to me. I approached them as an actress does: with imagination and curiosity."

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Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling in the 1990sCredit: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

While that was the case at first, over time, she admitted, "Just like Kelly, I faced harsh judgments and struggled to maintain my mental health. The messages on the show — whether in the script or in my head — began to blur the line between character and self.”

The show's environment also contributed to Garth's second thoughts about her own looks, noting that the set "brought out the competitive side of me."

"I felt judged based on my appearance and outfits, always internally comparing myself to my costars or guest stars joining us," she wrote. "I was a young girl and I wanted approval from Luke [Perry], Jason [Priestley], Brian [Austin Green] and Ian [Ziering], and I felt competitive with other young women and worried when I wasn't getting noticed."

The early '90s "heroin chic" trend also took its toll, and though Garth said she had "a healthy, normal body," with "curves," "hips" and "a butt," she said they quickly went from feeling like "assets" to "problems I needed to fix."

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Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Gabrielle Carteris and Shannen DohertyCredit: Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty

This led to Garth's decision to pursue plastic surgery, getting a breast augmentation at 24. While it was partly motivated by her body's changes after her first pregnancy, she was also motivated by the attention other actresses were receiving for getting work done.

"They carried themselves with a new kind of energy, a little more self-assuredness... I started to believe that this was just what you did at a certain age," she wrote.

Garth had liposuction at the same time around her hips, explaining, "I asked the surgeon to smooth me out, make me smaller."

"I wanted to disappear into the version of beauty that was being sold to all of us at the time: small, effortless, waif-like. And I thought if I could just carve myself into that image, maybe I'd finally feel like enough," she wrote.

Jennie Garth in 2022Credit: David Becker/Getty

Garth emphasized that no one from the show ever made her feel like she needed the surgery, and she never even talked about it with her coworkers after she'd done it.

Still, people noticed a subtle difference in her, which she likened to the "illusion of acceptance."

"That feeling... was addictive," she admitted.

I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose, and Embracing Reinvention is out now.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”