She stole our hearts in her breakout role as Kelly Taylor in Beverly Hills 90210, but at 52, “self-love” is still kind of new concept for Jennie Garth. This month, the beloved actress, advocate, cultural icon and mom-of-three is taking her turn on QVC with the launch of a new clothing line, “Me” by Jennie Garth. A fierce advocate for self-love, self-discovery and self-choice, Garth’s goal is to inspire women to embrace their own journeys. She also recently launched a new iHeart podcast, “I Choose Me with Jennie Garth” that seeks to initiate meaningful conversations with her global audience.
Congrats on all your summer projects. You have a lot going on with QVC between the campaign and your new clothing line. What can you share?
Well, it all started with the BFF Collection, which was a collection we did at Christmas. Then, from that, it grew into my relationship with QVC to the Q50 with doing this great messaging age of possibility. I think I say it on the daily because I want to keep reminding myself that this is the age of possibility. Doing that has been amazing. Then now getting ready to launch my brand with them, it’s just so incredible. I didn’t see this coming. [chuckles] It’s crazy because I was like dead set on starting my brand. I was like, “Now’s the time,” I finally decided what I wanted to do and what it was all about.
Then the fashion, the door just opened with them. It was such a great opportunity. It really aligned with the messaging of my brand overall. I just jumped in with both feet. Now here we are about to launch our first collection. We have drops coming every month for the next two years. It’s quite a huge thing. I’m just so excited for the opportunity.
What was the hardest thing about getting it off the ground?
I was going through a kind of pause in my life. Around age 48, 49, 50, in that area. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, what I wanted to focus on. I didn’t have a lot of motivation or drive to audition and be doing the same things that I was normally doing. I didn’t have the tenacity to go get my own project, produce it and do all the work it takes to get something off the floor like that. I was just waiting for some signs, something to open up in the universe and tell me what was next. Then I started to doubt that even and be like, “I am not getting anything, I’m still stalled. I don’t know what’s happening.”
Then people would say to me like, “Don’t worry about it, it will come. You will figure it out. One day you’ll just know.” I rolled my eyes and thought they were ridiculous. I swear to God, that’s exactly what happened. One day, everything that I had written on, I’m looking at it right now, my 2024 board, everything started to happen and everything started to fall in place. I was like, “Oh my God, it’s happening. That is happening right now.” I think for me, just the hardest part was believing that it would happen. Then believing that it is happening it’s a daily thing for me, because it’s such a departure, such a different beast in itself.
I knew I should say nothing really about the fashion industry. I had never been really super interested in it. I always just stood there and let people dress me for the last 35, 40 years. I was like, “you know what you’re doing, you do your thing” and I’d just stand there. I realized that all those years of being in fittings and being dressed by a million people, all taught me a lot more than I thought. I said, “Why not? Why shouldn’t I have a fashion line? I should.” Then I just believed in it and move forward with gusto.
Your podcast is another newer project for you, and some of them are heavy. I was listening to the one with your ex. How did you get ready for that one?
Like with anything in my life, I just jump in. I do prepare. Doing an interview or running the show of the podcast does take some prep work. I’m the kind of person that really does like to be prepared. I get an outline of where I want to go and then see what happens and then just let it fly and whatever happens happens. That was the case with that podcast. With Peter, we both went into it just really wanting to be positive and to do it for ourselves, for our girls. It just really evolved into what it was. I let him do most of the talking, which was something that I thought would happen. It ended up being a good thing and getting to hear his perspective when I had never heard his point of view on things.
Now just being able to hear it at a different place in my life, it was a very different conversation with him. It ended up being a really good thing.
It was powerful. It was really good.
Oh God, I’m glad you liked it.
You post a lot on social media about fitness and health. How does that play into your day-to-day?
About the same time I had that sort of shift in my purpose, everything sort of shifted. I think that happens for a lot of people as they get older, maybe turn 50, it’s such a big milestone. I think it’s a great time to think about what you want moving forward for the next chapter and how you want to reinvent yourself. For me, that was just a total shift in loving myself enough to get up at 6 AM and go to the gym three days a week and push through the times when I didn’t want to do it. Also just choosing to eat healthier, cleaner food. Just really think about my well-being, not just for the moment, but for the future and preventatively. Everything just sort of shifted, whether it was career or health or just self-care, self-love.
You also talk about skin care a bit. Is there anything that you’re loving right now, either new to you or products that you’ve used over the years forever?
You know what’s crazy, in the ’90s, I was a big lover of Perricone, and he’s back in the game! I’ve been using Recovery Overnight (starting at $25), I don’t know. Anything that says recovery and overnight I’m in. It’s like a retinol sensation. I don’t know. I’ve been using that and I honestly see a huge difference in my skin. Just like I wake up and it feels plumper somehow. I don’t know. It’s a really great product that I’ve been using and just exciting to see where he’s come since the ’90s. I’m also obsessed with his lip oil.
That’s one of the originals. My last question, is there any other field that you’d love to get into? Are you good with everything that you’re doing or is there another industry you want to tackle?
Oh my goodness. There’s so many avenues that I want to go down with my brand, because I think of me, that’s the name of my brand too, as like an umbrella. There’s so many different things that I want to cover with it, whether it’s everyday fashion, golf apparel, fitness apparel, I’m so into all the things. I love the ability to be able to connect fashion or whatever it is, home decor, or design, to like that message of choosing yourself, having it all be about more than just things.
