Drawing strength from one another. Jennie Garth revealed that being together with the cast of BH90210 following Luke Perry‘s death was unexpectedly cathartic.
“The timing was something that seemed horrific, but in a weird, sort of universal way, it was a way for us to all be together during an incomprehensible painful time,” the actress, 47, explained during a joint appearance with Tori Spelling on the Today Show on Monday, August 5. “I think that that was really good for all of us actually.”
Despite his noticeable absence on the series, Garth reiterated to Today on Monday that she and her castmates felt the presence of their late Beverly Hills, 90210 costar while shooting: “He was with us every second of the time.”
Garth, together with Spelling, 46, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Jason Priestley and Brian Austin Green, strived to pay tribute to the late Riverdale star on the series in a low-key way.
“We really wanted to honor him and to pay tribute to our friend that we greatly miss,” the Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? star explained to Us Weekly at the Peach Pit pop-up in L.A. on Sunday, August 3. “We didn’t want to make it a spectacle or kind of make it feel like it was capitalizing on anything unfortunate that happened. … What plays out in the first episode is a little bit based on the story that played out in real life.”
One day prior, Garth shared a similar sentiment to Extra: “We didn’t know how to handle it, so we’re really proud of the way we respectfully handled the situation. But we miss him every day.”
Perry died at the age of 52 on March 4 after suffering a massive stroke. His rep gave a statement to Us at the time, saying, “[Perry] was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiancée Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, stepfather Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder and other close family and friends. The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world.”
Though the Oz alum wasn’t set to be a part of the upcoming revival, his death made a big impact on the rest of the group.
”Luke was a huge part of our 90210 family and personally Luke was a very large part of my life,” Priestley, 49, told the Associated Press in May.
Added Ziering, 55, “Yeah, you know, I’m still having trouble reconciling that. … It’s difficult. He was a good friend of mine.”
BH90210 premieres on Fox on Wednesday, August 7, at 9 p.m. ET.
