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Jennie Garth on Dating After Peter Facinelli Divorce: “It’s a Weird Type of Torture”

Jennie Garth talks to Bethenny Frankel
Jennie Garth says dating after her divorce from Peter Facinelli has been a "weird type of torture"

Jennie Garth's love life seems to have blossomed pretty nicely since her split from husband Peter Facinelli in March 2012. But as she reveals in a new interview with Bethenny Frankel, the road back to romance has been a rocky one, with plenty of bumps and missteps along the way. 

Related: PHOTOS: Jennie Garth's hot body evolution

"It's super challenging," Garth, 41, tells Frankel in an interview airing on Bethenny on Monday, Oct. 21, of life after divorce. (Married for 11 years, she and Facinelli finalized their split in June 2013.) "You have to go through a lot. You have to find your way and you have to stumble and you have to make mistakes. I think that's the only way you learn how to do it is by making mistakes, unfortunately."

The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum — mom to daughters Luca, 16, Lola, 10, and Fiona, 7, with Facinelli — admits she had no idea just how difficult it would be to bounce back. "I expected to come out of [divorce] and just be great at it," she says.

"I'm smart and I thought I could do it. How hard could it be?" she continues. "But I've realized that I have to fumble my way and create the space to really be open to learning because I don't know how to do it."

Related: PHOTOS: Jennie Garth's life as a mom

That means being open to different people, too. Since her split from Facinelli, the What I Like About You actress has been linked to photographer Noah Abrams and musician Jeremy Salken, among others.

"It's fun, and it's awful all at the same time," she tells Frankel (who is in the middle of a divorce herself) of dating. "It's like a weird type of torture. But it can be fun."

Related: PHOTOS: Hollywood's most expensive divorces

Especially with the right person. Garth has most recently been linked to businessman Michael Shimbo, the CEO for a San Francisco-based company called Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

"For me, I look for somebody who shares an energy," she explains of what she looks for in a potential mate. "There's just that connection, that energy that I need to have. It doesn't matter what the person looks like or what they really do. There's got to be that, first and foremost, you know? That zing."

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