Tiffani Thiessen responded to ex-boyfriend Brian Austin Green after he admitted he was jealous of her Beverly Hills, 90210 sex scenes with other costars.
Thiessen, 50, spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about her time on 90210 while promoting her partnership with Welly to create the “Happy Campers Kit,” which helps prepare parents and kids for summer camp season.
“I was definitely nervous. I didn’t really know what to expect,” she told Us of joining the cast. “I was coming on to a show that was already established. Now, granted, I came from a show that I had that was very established as well. But it’s like joining a friend group that has been friends for a long time and you’re the new one.”
Known for her role as Kelly Kapowski on NBC’s Saved by the Bell, she joined the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 as Valerie Malone in 1994.
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She added, “You learn a lot from all different types of jobs and people right and so I have a lot of great memories. You know, there’s a lot of hard memories, but there was a lot of great memories. At the time when I started, I was actually dating Brian [Austin Green]. That probably made it a little bit easier for me.”
Thiessen dated Green, 50, for three years between 1992 and 1995. However, dating a costar isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. While appearing on a March 4 episode of Shannen Doherty’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast, Green shared that he was often jealous when Thiessen filmed intimate scenes with other castmates.
“I’d never been in a real serious relationship before,” he said at the time. “I was incredibly jealous every time she would f—king have to work with anybody else because we’d already been doing the show for four years. Like, this is my family.”
He said, “I used to bring Tiffani to events so she knew everybody from then and then all of a sudden she’s doing sex scenes and s—t with people that were like my family and my brothers. It was strange. I remember I was really just f—king jealous and boisterous.”
While speaking to Us, Thiessen responded to Green’s comments, saying she “had a lot of different emotions” about that time in her life. “I had a boyfriend who definitely was probably not the most secure with me being there,” she explained to Us. “I also had my own insecurities about being on a job that, again, was very established. There were relationships that were super close that I wasn’t a part of. It was definitely stressful and hard.” Despite these struggles, Thiessen said she was “proud of how [she] handled it.”
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“I really take pride in having people speak about my work ethic and how professional I am,” she said. “I still am like that to this day, and I think everybody would say that about me, I would hope. No one’s ever not. But it was definitely hard. They didn’t make it the easiest for me, I’ll say.”
She added, “We were all young and stupid and that’s why I don’t hold any grudges.” On whether or not she’s reconciled with Green, Thiessen said, “We’re both adults. I mean, our split was pretty amicable. It was easy, like, truly. He moved on. I moved on, and we had to work together.”
Thiessen has been happily married to Brady Smith since 2005, and they share son Holt, 8, and daughter Harper, 13. As a mom, she relies on Welly for summer camp essentials and extras that give her peace of mind while her kids can thrive at an overnight camp. “We’ve been using Welly bandages for many years,” Thiessen told Us. “It’s my kid’s favorite. It’s my favorite. We have kits all over the house. I travel with them.”
Thiessen told Us that this will be the first year both of her kids will be away at sleepaway camp. “My daughter, who’s older, is going to be 14. She’s been actually going to sleepaway camp for quite a few years. She’s very seasoned. I think I was probably more nervous than she was [at] the very beginning, but my son actually is definitely very different,” she explained. “He’s much more sensitive, has a little anxiety. He is approaching camp a little different. He’s excited, but he’s very nervous as well. And so I think it was really cool that we kind of created this really cool happy campers kit to sort of help both sides.”
