Truer than True Tori. Tori Spelling appeared on Today with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb on Monday, Nov. 17, where she got real about the future of her reality show with husband Dean McDermott, and her contentious relationship with her mother Candy Spelling.
“I’m feeling so much better,” Spelling said when asked about her hospitalization last month. “[I was] sick with bronchitis. Severe. My kids had it and I just thought I could do it all: Take care of them, put everyone else first, me, last. Momma bear last. And also there’s an emotional component. I’m just learning that at 41. I’m realizing now that you repress them for as long as you want and it comes out in certain ways.”
Spelling referred to a photo she had posted of herself, lying in a hospital bed with her hands crossed over her heart. “This sick in hospital I finally see how quickly life can take it all away frm you,” the mother of four cryptically captioned the image on Instagram. “Sadly I’ve finally faced truth that 1 person will never be there 4 me. #TrueTori.”
The morning show hosts mentioned to Spelling that Candy had previously told them about her strained mother-daughter ties with Tori. “We talked about your relationship with her and healing it,” Kotb noted. “In the hospital, did something happen that either solidified that or made it clear that there were boundaries?”
After pausing, Tori responded: “It’s not something I’m willing to get into out of respect, but nothing happened in the hospital. Fortunately.” The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum held hands with Gifford as she spoke about her mother.
“You didn’t hear from her or anything?” Kotb asked.
“No,” Tori responded.
(Candy, meanwhile, released a statement last week claiming she has attempted to mend their relationship. “Candy reaches out often to see them and unfortunately Tori and Dean are not often responsive,” her rep told Access Hollywood.)
Their frail relationship is nothing new, which Spelling reaffirmed on Monday. “I came from a family that didn’t talk about emotions. We repressed things,” she reflected, explaining that airing her problems on reality TV was actually more helpful to her than shielding the truth from fans. “This was a vehicle for me to feel like a safe atmosphere where I can share. It’s cathartic for me. It’s therapy,” she said.
As for whether McDermott feels the same way? Tori’s husband previously told Access Hollywood that he no longer wanted to be on reality TV, but Spelling said she personally wanted to continue beyond season two. “This is our real life,” she said. “True Tori is as real as it gets.”
