Jason Priestley had different reactions to the deaths of his Beverly Hills, 90210 costars, Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty.
“I’m in the acceptance part [of grief] with both of them. Obviously, Luke’s passing was far more shocking than Shannen’s,” Priestley, 55, said to fellow 90210 alum Jennie Garth on the Tuesday, April 29, episode of her “I Choose Me” podcast. “While Shannon was sick … I had the chance to spend time with her. I made sure that I said all the things that I wanted to say to her.”
Before Doherty’s death at age 53 in July 2024, the actress was candid about her battle with cancer. Priestley added that the quality time he spent with Doherty gave him “some closure.” However, he admitted that losing another close friend was “tough.”
“To have lost two of our castmates already is shocking,” he explained, noting that he and his former castmates are at a “relatively young” age.
While Priestley was able to come to terms with Doherty’s death, he confessed that he had the opposite experience when it came to Perry. (In March 2019, Perry unexpectedly died at age 52 after suffering a stroke.)
“Luke’s passing was so shocking and just came out of the blue, Like it took me a lot longer to reconcile that and what that meant,” Priestley shared. “Unfortunately for myself, I’ve lost a couple of other really close friends of mine … in my adult years. So, unfortunately, I’m starting to get pretty good at saying goodbye to my friends.”
Garth, 53, then asked if Priestley remembered how he learned about Perry’s death. The actor reminded her that she was the one who told him.
“I was in the kitchen in my house, and the phone rang. It was you, and I said, ‘Hey, Jennie, what’s going on?’” Priestley recalled her asking if he heard about Perry.
“And I was like, ‘No.’ Then you told me what was happening and where he was and what was going on,” he continued. “And you said, ‘I’m gonna call you back when I know more.’ I felt like you were kind of the hub of the information.”
Garth confessed that she did not remember being the person who told Priestley.
“I was at the hospital trying to get in to see him, but they wouldn’t let anyone in. And they actually told me he wasn’t even there, but I knew he was,” she reflected. “I can’t believe I forgot that I called you, like, that’s blocked for me.”
Priestley told Garth it’s not surprising that she didn’t remember, since it was an emotional experience for them all.
“You were in shock like the rest of us,” he said. “That was hard; that was tough. That day — those few days were not fun for anybody.”
Garth added that since the entire 90210 cast has such a deep connection when tragedy strikes, it affects them harder than others.
“There’s this bond that [lasts] not only until our last breath, but until the end of time,” she explained. “I feel like we are intertwined and connected on such a level that when something bad happens to you, I will come into that conversation. When something bad happens to me, Brian [Austin Green] will come into that conversation. Like, we’re all so connected in this wild way.”
Priestley added that he is so thankful to have his costars as his “extended family,” since he grew up in a small household. Garth shared that after losing both Doherty and Perry, none of them take their friendships for “granted.”
“I think maybe before we lost Luke, maybe it was a little easier for us to not think about that as much,” she said. “But now it’s just so in the front of my mind all the time, how f***ing grateful I am to have all of you and have this shared experience that we can never forget and people will never forget.”
