Scheana Shay‘s short-lived role on The CW’s 90210 spinoff series came with some surprising advice.
During the Friday, August 4, episode of her “Scheananigans” podcast, Shay, 37, told guest Shenae Grimes-Beech about her memorable audition process.
“Actually the casting directors for 90210 are some of the reasons why I ended up getting Botox. They told me that for Disney my facial expressions were great. But for a more dramatic role, I needed to learn how to control my eyebrows,” she recalled. “They were like, ‘The role is yours. Here is your callback. We want you for this but we are bringing in a couple more girls as well because if you can’t control your facial features we won’t give it to you. They were like, ‘Maybe try some Botox.’”
Shay added: “So I started getting Botox and I was like 24 or 25. I thought, ‘I guess this is what I have to do to stop my face from moving.'”
The Vanderpump Rules star played the role of Cassandra in one episode of the teen drama, which was part of the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise. 90210 aired from 2008 to 2013 and starred stars such as Grimes-Beech, 33, AnnaLynne McCord, Tristan Wilds, Dustin Milligan, Ryan Eggold, Michael Steger and Lori Loughlin.
Grimes-Beech, for her part, has been candid over the years about the challenges that came with being part of the hit series.
“That’s something I think I do, just like meant to protect my own mental health is I block out giant chunks of my life and behind-the-scenes of 90210 is definitely one of them,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in 2021. “I have, like, vague memories here and there, but I, honestly, I don’t think I’d be able to, like, walk you through episodes.”
At the time, Grimes-Beech said it was initially difficult to move on from 90210.
“Once [the show] ended, it’s taken a long time to reposition ourselves in the public’s mind and start to disassociate from that show. … I tied my own identity so closely to that series because … it happened during the most formative years of my life,” she continued. “And that took me a long time to mentally process and emotionally digest the trauma that came from parting ways with that series. I’m all about moving forward and moving up and onward and all the rest of it. And I’m finally in a place where I am so, so grateful for that chapter of my life. And I, like, hold it so near and dear to my heart that, like, you don’t want to f—k with a good thing. It took me a long time for it to be a good thing in my world.”
Grimes-Beech has since become a mother of two with husband Josh Beech. She has also booked roles in TV movies including The Hazing Secret, Date with Love, Newlywed and Dead and When I Think of Christmas.
However, the Degrassi alum is all about spending time with her 90210 castmates whenever she gets the chance. Grimes-Beech previously reunited with former costar McCord, 36, for their “Unzipped” podcast — which has since come to an end.
“AnnaLynne and I have so much history. I just love her like family. All of us are family,” Grimes-Beech told Shay on Friday’s podcast episode. “Matt [Lanter] lives down the road from me. [Jessica] Stroup and I just recently reconnected so that has been awesome. And then Tristan and I always [send each other messages] once a year.”
Grimes-Beech noted that it took 90210 ending for the costars to get to a good place.
“It is one of those things where I think there was so much tension behind the scenes for so long. We always said, ‘The behind the scenes stuff should have been a reality show of its own. That is where the good entertaining s—t is.’ When the show got canceled, it was such a mourning process for me,” she detailed. “I was like, ‘I don’t like you guys but I love you.’ They are my family … It is an unconditional thing because no one experienced what we did together. It was a super crazy time and we were each other’s life line.”
