Jennie Garth Reveals the Dealbreaker That Made Her Turn Down RHOBH

Jennie Garth got asked to join The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and, shocker to no one who watched her as Kelly Taylor, she passed. Politely, but firmly. And she explained why.

RHOBH asked, she passed

On the Tuesday, April 21 episode of Amanda Hirsch's 'Not Skinny But Not Fat' podcast, Garth, 54, said she was invited to do 'the Beverly Hills one' and still said no. When Hirsch, 37, pressed her on how she would even fit into that world, Garth basically said: I wouldn't, which is the point.

'I don't think that's the right environment for me to feel good and healthy.'

The 'I Choose Me' author is not anti-TV, just not into that particular brand of chaos.

Not the first time she said no

Garth actually revealed she had been approached before, during an August 2019 stop on SiriusXM's The Jenny McCarthy Show with her 90210 costar Tori Spelling. Back then, Garth joked she was 'the furthest thing from a desperate housewife' and even briefly mixed up the show with 'Desperate Housewives' before everyone got on the same page about RHOBH.

Spelling, 52, used the moment to tease that she, of all people, had never been asked: born in Beverly Hills, married with a lot of kids, and, as she put it, 'drama follows me everywhere.' She also laughed at the idea of Garth having to square up with the RHOBH cast. Garth's bottom line there was the same as now: reality TV, as a lane, is not her thing — though she did concede Spelling can 'throw down' when necessary.

Where you've seen Garth in unscripted TV (because she hasn't avoided it entirely)

• Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country (CMT, 2012) — documented her move from Los Angeles to a seven-acre farm in Central California.
• The Jennie Garth Project (HGTV, 2014) — followed her renovating a 1970s ranch home in the Hollywood Hills.
• Dancing With the Stars (2007) — competed as part of the ensemble that season.
• Guest/competition one-offs — popped up on Cupcake Wars, RuPaul's Drag Race, Celebrity Family Feud, and MasterChef.

And Spelling's reality resume, for context

Spelling's done more of the full-time reality thing: she and then-husband Dean McDermott headlined Oxygen's 'Tori & Dean Inn Love' (later retitled 'Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood'), and later went the raw-and-personal route with Lifetime's 'True Tori.'

The bigger picture

Garth became a household name in the '90s on 'Beverly Hills, 90210' as Kelly Taylor, but RHOBH just isn't her vibe. She's been asked, more than once, and keeps landing on the same answer: thanks, but no thanks. Honestly, based on everything she said here, it sounds like self-preservation more than anything else.