Did you know that despite having a Hollywood mogul as a father,
Tori Spelling nearly declared bankruptcy? So how did she pull herself out of debt?
Let’s see how the actress went from 90210 to reality TV fame — and nearly lost it all.
Tori Spelling was born on May 16, 1973, and had quite a privileged upbringing. Her parents,
Candy and Aaron Spelling, were famous in their own right. Candy is a former model,
while Aaron was one of the most successful TV producers in Hollywood. This made the young
Spelling not only Hollywood royalty, but also meant that she grew up in the lap of luxury.
Her childhood home, Spelling Manor, spans 56,500 square feet. That's bigger than the White House,
notes Work and Money, and large enough to make the mansion the biggest in Los Angeles.
As Spelling recalled to ABC, her childhood was so privileged that her father had snow
brought to their yard to give her a White Christmas. The actress recounted,
"It was, you know, probably eighty degrees out in LA and my dad took
me outside and there was snow [...] At the time, I thought,
'Well, every kid doesn't have snow in their backyard on Christmas?'"
Tori Spelling had a seemingly charmed childhood, but most of the pampering came from her dad, Aaron
Spelling. Aaron indulged his daughter, and the two had a close relationship, but the same couldn't
be said for Spelling's relationship with her mother, Candy. As the actress explained to ABC,
even as a young girl she felt like something between her and her mother was not quite right.
Spelling revealed that her father was supportive of her, but her mother was not, admitting,
"Even when I was young, I just knew, I knew from the beginning it was just, it was complicated."
In her memoir, sTORI Telling, Spelling wrote about how her father "doted" on her, and it
seems his love for his daughter may have driven something of a wedge between mother and daughter.
Aaron Spelling's love for his daughter was so great that he had no qualms about using
his Hollywood connections to turn her into a TV star. As Tori Spelling wrote in sTORI Telling,
as soon as she told her dad she wanted to act, he began giving her guest spots in TV shows he
worked on. She started slowly, with one-liners in shows like Fantasy Island and T.J. Hooker.
Soon she began auditioning, landing meatier roles without the help of her dad. She even had
her first kiss on TV, locking lips with Screech on Saved By the Bell. While Spelling proved that
she could land parts on her own, her breakthrough role on Beverly Hills, 90210, came from her dad.
The role of Donna was a small one to begin with, with Spelling writing that it was a, quote,
"consolation part" she was given after being turned down for the part of Kelly.
The role may have been a small one, with just a few lines in the pilot episode, but Spelling
was thrilled just to be cast. The character of Donna quickly grew to become one of the show's
most popular characters over its 10-year run. Landing the role of Donna on Beverly Hills,
90210 was huge for Tori Spelling's acting career, but it wasn't without its sacrifices.
Spelling was just 16 years old when she landed the career-making part, writing in sTORI Telling,
"[S]o for better or for worse, I grew up on the show."
Focusing on her career also meant forgoing a normal adolescence and young adulthood,
something that Spelling has expressed some regrets over. Spelling wrote in her memoir:
"It kind of sucked that I didn't get to go to college."
Becoming a TV star also meant that Spelling had to grow up pretty fast. Being in Beverly Hills, 90210
provided her with a steady income, which resulted in her becoming independent at a young age.
Tori Spelling met her first husband, Charlie Shahnaian, a couple of years
after Beverly HIlls, 90210 wrapped. Per Heavy, Shahnaian is a writer and actor,
and he met his bride when she was starring in a play of his called Maybe Baby, It's You.
The two tied the knot in 2004, but their marriage only lasted for 15 months.
Shahnaian filed for divorce after the news broke that Spelling was reportedly having an affair with
fellow actor Dean McDermott, but it was Spelling who left him first. Shahnaian told GQ in 2007,
"She picked a fight with me at a party,
told me she needed 'time and space,' and was gone before I could comprehend what had happened."
Shahnaian claimed that Spelling's therapist told him she married him for security.
He also recalled being told that Spelling didn't want to have kids with him.
In 2006, Tori Spelling married Dean McDermott. As noted by InStyle,
the two met on a film set in Canada the year before and knew immediately that they were
meant to be together — in spite of the fact that both were married to other people. Per People,
the two tied the knot in a private ceremony in Fiji, just weeks after
Spelling's divorce from Charlie Shahnaian was finalized. Spelling had no regrets about the
timing of her relationship with McDermott. In a 2008 interview with Redbook, she said,
"I had to follow my heart. [...] Ultimately,
you have to realize that happiness is out there and not settle for anything else."
Together, McDermott and Spelling became famous as a reality TV couple,
starring in several reality shows together including Tori & Dean:
Inn Love, Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, and Tori & Dean: Cabin Fever.
As noted by Closer Weekly, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott welcomed their first child, Liam,
in 2007 — one year after they got married. Over the years, they've welcomed four other
children. Spelling is also stepmom to McDermott's adult son, Jack McDermott.
"The first, foremost, I'm, I'm a mom. And my kids keep me going."
Being a working mom hasn't always been easy for Spelling, but she's committed to her kids. In an
interview with People, she said she struggles with being a mom and trying to do everything herself.
She said this is due to her own upbringing, as she had a nanny to care for her growing up,
which made her determined to do it all herself once she had kids of her own. Spelling said:
"So I still do it all, but I'm still working on that. It's okay to ask for help."
Despite her 10-year run on Beverly Hills, 90210,
Tori Spelling hasn't always gotten the credit she's due as an actress. After the show wrapped,
she landed a few big roles, notably in 2001's Scary Movie 2, but she didn't quite manage to
recapture the highs of her early career. A string of roles on TV shows and made-for-TV movies
followed over the next few years, including A Carol Christmas and Mind Over Murder.
Many people have criticized her performances over the years, viewing her as the product
of nepotism rather than a skilled actress in her own right. While Spelling could have run
away from the criticism, she chose to lean into it instead by starring in So Notorious,
a satirized version of her own life. The New York Times described the 2006 VH1 series as a, quote,
"highlight reel of humiliation," showing Spelling as a fictionalized version of herself parading
through a series of awkward situations. So Notorious ran for just one 10-episode season.
Tori Spelling's money troubles have become the stuff of Hollywood legend.
While she had a privileged upbringing and became financially independent as a teenager,
she's often struggled financially — in large part because of her difficulties
with managing her money. She wrote about her extravagant spending habits in sTORI Telling,
detailing a youth spent living the high life. Her mother, Candy Spelling, once told The New York
Times that the actress could easily append "$50,000 to $60,000" on a shopping spree.
After Beverly Hills, 90210 wrapped, she found herself in deep credit card debt, to the point
that she almost had to declare bankruptcy. And despite coming from a wealthy family,
Spelling was too proud to ask for their help. Three years later, she was forced to sell her
home at a loss. Her reality show, Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, was canceled not long after,
leaving the family in a difficult financial situation. Spelling had to confront her
spending habits once and for all. Spelling wrote in her book, Spelling It Like It Is:
"I look back at that girl who shopped at Gucci in my 20s,
and I can't even relate. I can't believe I thought it was important."
Tori Spelling's father, Aaron, died from a stroke in 2006. Spelling was heartbroken by the loss,
and her grief was compounded by her mother's allegations that it was her fault Aaron had died.
Spelling had been estranged from the family for some time. Candy told radio station 94.7 WMAS:
"That's what killed my husband, actually. He just didn't want to live after that."
Fans were stunned to learn that Spelling received less than a million dollars from
her wealthy father — just a fraction of his fortune. As Spelling told ABC,
she and her father had discussed his will before he died, admitting,
"I think part of me, in the back of my head, maybe hoped it would be different? But I hated
myself for hoping it would be different, because I didn't want to take advantage,
I didn't want to be that girl who needed, or wanted, my dad's money."
At the end of the day, though, Spelling was more devastated by the loss of her father
than not inheriting his vast fortune. Spelling wrote in an Instagram tribute to her father:
"I was such a Daddy's girl and just adored this man beyond words."
Tori Spelling's distant relationship with her mother didn't get much better in adulthood.
The rift became highly publicized after Aaron Spelling's death,
and it seemed like Spelling and her mom would remain permanently cold.
While things with her mother were strained for some time, Spelling and Candy are now on
much better terms. In 2008, Spelling told ABC that the two love each other, adding,
"We don't have an easy relationship. I don't think we ever will, but I'd rather have a complicated,
misunderstood relationship than have no relationship at all."
More than a decade later, in 2019, Spelling confirmed that things between her and her
mother were still going well. Spelling said on an episode of Watch What Happens Live:
"It's good, really good right now." While Tori Spelling has yet to land an
acting gig as big as the one that made her famous, she's still doing pretty well for herself on the
small screen. She's done some voice acting, notably voicing a fish named April in the 2016
animated film Izzie's Way Home, but is best known for her reality stardom on her shows with husband
Dean McDermott. In 2019, she played herself on BH90210, a short-lived series about actors
rebooting a TV show that made them famous. If that sounds a little meta, that's because it is.
"Cast, let's do this."
The show blended the line between reality TV and a drama,
with the original Beverly Hills, 90210 actors playing a version of themselves.
Spelling had a blast on the show, but admitted to Hollywood Life:
"[T]he real characters, the real actors playing themselves, it gets a little confusing."
Sadly, Tori Spelling's personal life has been quite rocky,
and she and Dean McDermott have been plagued by divorce rumors.
Their relationship has seen lots of ups and downs over the years, especially after
McDermott had a highly publicized affair in 2013. Spelling told People about her marriage in 2017:
"It takes work and I took that for granted — I think we both did. We thought, 'Oh,
our relationship just works,' and the truth is, no relationship just works."
While, as of December 2021, Spelling hasn't publicly commented on her relationship,
fans were quick to notice that McDermott was missing from a 2021 holiday greeting
Spelling posted on Instagram. Insiders claim,
however, that the couple is trying to work things out. One insider told People:
"Tori doesn't want to break up her family. But
marriages with five children need to have a lot of trust."
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