Tori Spelling marked mom Candy Spelling’s 78th birthday with a meaningful message despite their rocky history.
“Happy Birthday Mommy aka @candyspelling,” Tori, 50, wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, September 20, sharing an array of throwback photos of the mother-daughter pair. “I love you. Grateful to be your daughter.”
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum gushed that some of her “happiest” childhood memories occurred when she ended up “laughing so hard” with her mom and her brother, Randy Spelling. “We were happy crying uncontrollably and you doing your LOL wheeze… 😂. @randyspelling you know the one,” Tori quipped. “Usually also involving tickle fests and food (maybe ice cream 🍦🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️) fights.”
She continued: “I never take for granted the beautiful life you raised Rand and I in with Dad. And, I am such a resilient and strong human and I owe so much of that to you. Strong women run in our family. I’m passing it on. Loved and still love watching horror films in bed with you. Always.”
Tori and Randy, 44, are the two children of Candy and her late husband, Aaron Spelling. Tori hit a rough patch with both of her parents after they were reportedly unhappy about her affair with her now-husband, Dean McDermott. (Tori was married to Charlie Shahnaian in 2005 when she met McDermott, 56, who was married to Mary Jo Eustace at the time.)
Prior to Aaron’s 2006 death, Tori had started the process of reconciliation with both the media mogul and Candy. Since then, however, Candy and Tori have gone through periods of estrangement.
“Growing up, my mom and I had a very loving relationship, but we were never extremely close,” Tori said during a 2008 appearance on Larry King. “So it wasn’t like any one thing kind of distanced our relationship. We’ve had our ups and downs pretty much my entire life.”
One year later, Candy alleged in an open letter that her daughter was avoiding her communication attempts. Candy further claimed that she had no relationship with Tori, McDermott and their eldest children Liam and Stella. (Tori and McDermott, who wed in 2006, have since welcomed three more kids together: Hattie, Finn and Beau.)
Tori and Candy eventually mended fences, with Tori gushing in October 2022 that she and her mother have “had a good relationship” for a while.
“I hadn’t seen her since before COVID. And then Josh [Flagg] was like, ‘OK, we’re gonna do a family dinner at her place.’ So we went and we had a great night,” the True Tori alum said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Jeff Lewis Live,” noting she and Candy speak regularly.
