I know I can’t be the only formerly smitten 90’s teenager who went berserko upon seeing Saved by the Bell’s Tiffani Thiessen joined the Beverly Hills 90210 cast opposite Jennie Garth, and presumably also wasn’t the only one happy that the two co-stars moved past some initial friction and became good friends. But that relationship soured heavily years later for reasons that haven't been fully laid out, and for more than a decade, the actresses have had a semi-feud status, wherein they’ve kind of settled into not referring to each other outside of specific instances. But perhaps some of the water is under the bridge now, as the former teen queens were among several noteworthy female celebrities attending a dinner party held by Real Housewives vet Bethenny Frankel.
In a photo shared by Frankel herself on Instagram — with other dinner party attendees like former Dancing with the Stars champ Cheryl Burke also sharing looks from the event — Jennie Garth and Tiffani Thiessen were both among a dozen guests smiling at the camera. Even though they were separated in that shot, that wasn’t the case for the whole evening, but more on that below.
As gobsmacking as it was to see Garth and Thiessen in the same picture that wasn't just a 90210 screenshot of Valerie and Kelly glaring at each other, it was even more shocking to see video footage (via Melissa Rivers's IG Stories) that showed some of the seating arrangements. Because as far as I can tell, the two sat right next to each other for the meal and appeared happy about it, even though the extended dinner table set-up would have easily allowed for them to be very far apart. I don't even want to play devil's advocate there, and would prefer to just believe with all my heart that they at least temporarily buried all the hatchets and are on good terms again.
Back in 2012, Tiffani Thiessen appeared on Howard Stern's radio show and addressed the antagonistic vibes she got from Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling upon joining the cast in the wake of Shannen Doherty's exit. Garth has addressed and agreed with that assessment in episodes of her and Spelling's podcast 90210MG, saying she was firmly against the idea that another female lead needed to fill the Brenda-shaped void, though without speaking much about the Valerie portrayer directly, just saying the negative energy helped the fictional characters' lack of a friendship.
Thiessen told Howard Stern that a rift built up between her and Garth after Tori Spelling and her first husband Charlie Shanian divorced in 2006, because Shanian was a former roommate of Thiessen's BFF. And despite the fact that she frequently sees her SBTB co-stars these days, having obviously reunited with everyone for the canceled-too-soon Peacock revival, she doesn't seem to get together with any of the 90210 crew these days. She also wasn't part of that drama's meta-revival reboot from 2019.
Surprisingly enough for Vanderpump Rules fans, Bethenny Frankel's guest list also included Rachel Leviss, who set off some fireworks during her appearance on the RHONY vet's podcast Just B with Bethenny Frankel. (The chat-centric podcast appeared to be the source of the dinner party all around, with iHeart in the mix behind the scenes.) Beyond the aforementioned celebs, guests also included NeNe Leakes, Larsa Pippen, Elisa Donovan, Melissa Rivers, Amanza Smith, and Tanya Rad.
Here's hoping Frankel's podcast will bring the two stars together again for a throwback conversation to fully clear the air. For the fans, that is, because we want to see it!
