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Jennie Garth is staying true to her Midwestern roots.
Before the 50-year-old actress rose to fame starring as the wealthy and popular Kelly Taylor on the hit 1990s series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” she was raised on a horse farm in rural Illinois.
The “What I Like About You” alum opened up about her upbringing and the importance of passing down her values and traditions to her three daughters in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“I think a lot of people definitely don’t associate me with a Midwestern lifestyle,” she said. “They think Beverly Hills, which is not me at all.”
Garth continued, “That’s a character I played and it was a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong. But I grew up on a family farm where we gardened and we mowed our yard and we cleaned up after the horses.”
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“We rode horses,” she recalled. “You know, we did all the work. And my parents were educators and they did so much. And I think one of the most important things they taught me is that there’s nothing I can’t do.”
“If the toilet breaks, I’m going to try to fix it before I call the plumber. You know, that kind of thing.”
Garth, who is the youngest of seven children, shared that her parents, John and Carolyn, also taught her and her siblings to be frugal.
“I don’t believe in spending money when you don’t need to,” she explained. “I believe we all work hard for our money, and I want to have money that I can give to my children and continue to provide for them even when I don’t have to.”
Garth shares daughters Luca Bella, 25, Lola Ray, 20, and Fiona Eve, 16, with her ex-husband, Peter Facinelli, 49. She told Fox News Digital that she raised her children to value self-reliance and independence.
“When I think of my Midwestern values, those are all key elements to it — doing what you can for yourself, taking care of yourself and taking care of your family.”
“When I think of my Midwestern values, those are all key elements to it — doing what you can for yourself, taking care of yourself and taking care of your family.”
“And just level-headedness, which I think comes with that,” Garth added. “It’s very important to instill that in my kids, that they are in charge of their own destiny and there’s nothing that they can’t do.”
When Garth was 13, she and her family moved to Glendale, Arizona. She was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout when she was 15, and she eventually dropped out of high school to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.
Less than a year after moving to Los Angeles with her mother, Garth landed her breakthrough “90210” role in 1990. However, her longing to return to her bucolic roots led to the development of her CMT reality show “Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country.”
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The series followed Garth as she and her daughters moved to a seven-acre farm in central California in the wake of her highly publicized divorce from Facinelli.
“Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country” aired for one season in 2012. Though Garth has always maintained a primary residence in the Los Angeles area, she said that she is ready to leave Hollywood behind.
She expanded on her reasons for leaving L.A. after telling Fox News Digital that she plans to live “anywhere but here.”
“Listen, I’ve lived here a long time,” Garth said. “And I truly do love California. I love Los Angeles. Such a beautiful, diverse, incredible city, full of really interesting people.”
She continued, “But I’ve had my fill. I’ve had my fill of traffic. I’ve had my fill of the rigamarole, the hassle. The everybody’s in a rush to get somewhere or be somebody. And I’m just at different stage in my life.”
“My daughter is 16. She’s going to graduate in two years, and you will see my tail lights after that graduation ceremony.”
“My daughter is 16. She’s going to graduate in two years, and you will see my tail lights after that graduation ceremony.”
“Trust me,” Garth added with a laugh.
Last year, the actress revealed that she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis – the most common form of arthritis – around the age of 45. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease in which the cartilage within a joint between bones breaks down over time.
The condition can affect any joint, but it primarily affects the hands, knees, hip and spine – and the damage is not reversible.
In September 2022, Garth admitted that her diagnosis came as a complete surprise.
“I was sort of shocked to hear that news from my doctor after going in and complaining about some pain in my knees and my hips and different places around my body and wondered what was going on,” Garth told People magazine.
“And I was shocked to hear the word arthritis come out of his mouth. Because I kind of associate arthritis with … I’m not old enough to have arthritis.”
Since coming forward with her diagnosis, the “90210MG” podcast host has used her platform to end the “shame” around arthritis and help others prioritize their health and wellness to alleviate symptoms.
Over the past year, she has partnered with Voltaren Arthritis Pain Gel, a prescription-strength, over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory gel that helps relieve the pain of arthritis.
In her interview with Fox News Digital, Garth reflected on how osteoarthritis has changed her life.
“You know what? It hasn’t,” she said. “It has not. It is something, with the help of the pain gel, I’m able to keep the symptoms at bay or squash them when they come up. But it hasn’t.”
“It is something, with the help of the pain gel, I’m able to keep the symptoms at bay or squash them when they come up. But it hasn’t.”
She continued, “It has affected my life in one way, and that is that it’s gotten me even more active. It’s kind of been a wake-up call and that … I said to myself, ‘You can’t stop. Just because you’re 50 doesn’t mean it’s all downhill from here, you got to, like, start retiring – I’m not ready for that.'”
“I got a lot of things to do, a lot of people to see. So, it’s been a wake-up call in that respect. It’s changed my life for the better, actually. It’s kept me moving. It’s kept me more focused on staying physically fit, taking care of my body, my mind, all of the things that are going to be with me as I get older. As we all get older, we only have this body and this mind and this life.”
“The Last Cowboy” star told Fox News Digital that she began exercising more frequently after receiving her diagnosis and made changes to her routine to combat the effects of osteoarthritis.
“I do a lot more weight training now because I really understand that keeping the muscles securely attached to the bones and the joints is vital to your strength and your longevity,” she said.
Garth explained that sometimes her training can be challenging, but she motivates herself to push through the pain.
“There are times when I’m doing certain moves, certain squats in particular, where my knees are just really talking to me, and it’s like, ‘OK, yeah, I know, I know,'” she noted. “But I just sort of plow through and treat them, and we keep on going. And I think that that’s all we can really do.”
While Garth said that she has never been a fan of high-impact exercise, she has found walking to be very beneficial.
“Walking is something that I kind of overlooked for many years and thought, ‘Oh, it’s just walking. It’s not going to do anything for me,'” she said.
Garth continued, “But walking is key to health. It’s good for your heart, it’s good for your muscles, it’s good for your everything, and it’s good for your mind to just get out there and be in nature.”
“Which is why I’ve taken up golf. I love golfing now. And it’s a physical sport. It’s a mental sport, and it’s just kind of a grounding experience out there. So, I really am loving that.”
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Garth is not the only member of her family who has suffered from the debilitating pain of arthritis. In October, she recalled how her daughter, Lola, was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis when she was 5 years old.
“She actually had a rare type of inflammatory arthritis called Still’s disease,” she told the outlet. “Seeing my daughter suffer was one of the hardest things I ever had to go through.”
Still’s disease is a rare subtype of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) that causes fever, joint paint and rash, according to WebMD. Still’s disease can affect the heart, lungs and liver in addition to the joints.
Garth opened up about Lola’s battle with Still’s disease during her interview with Fox News Digital and also shared a positive update on the now 20-year-old’s health.
“It was debilitating for a good several months,” she recalled. “And then with the help of doctors and medicine, she was able to pull out of it.”
“Having girls is not for the faint of heart, first of all. Girls are amazing. Incredible. But there’s a lot that goes with it.”
“And Still’s disease is something that can completely go into remission,” Garth added. “And you never know you had it, or it could be something that you could continue to struggle with the rest of your life.”
“Time will tell with her. Right now, there are no signs of any kind of inflammation or flare-ups for her. And we’re just thinking the best in thinking that that was something that happened and it’s no longer an issue.”
Garth also reflected on the challenges of raising three daughters, especially as they have grown into adulthood.
“Having girls is not for the faint of heart, first of all,” she said with a laugh.
“Girls are amazing. Incredible,” Garth added. “But there’s a lot that goes with it. And there’s so much that we have to teach them as they move forward in this world today. And there’s so much we have to protect them from for as long as we can until they are able to protect themselves.”
She continued, “I just think that … having a toddler, having three little girls running around, throwing their toys and wanting snacks all the time was so much easier than having three young adult and adult women to guide and to be a role model for and sort of maneuver all the ups and downs of their emotional journeys.”
“And growing up in what is our world today, it’s such a different landscape.”
Garth also shared her thoughts on “Beverly Hills, 90210’s” lasting legacy more than two decades after concluding its run.
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She told Fox News Digital that she wouldn’t have thought that the series would continue to resonate with fans 23 years later at the time that she was filming the show.
“At that time, I did not realize the impact that it had on so many young people,” Garth said. “Now, as I’ve gotten older, our audience, our fan base, has grown up with us. They’re much more communicative, and they’re able to communicate more directly with us now because of technology that we didn’t have then.”
“We didn’t have the internet when we made that show,” she added. “But now just being able to stay in touch with all the fans and hear from them and share stories with them, it had really a profound effect on a lot of people’s lives.”
“Growing up with this cast for 10 years, when you had to set your alarm clock to make sure you were in front of the TV at a certain time for one hour a week to catch up with these people that you really cared about and that you could relate to, these characters.”
“And so in that we have a very special bond with millions of people,” Garth added. “And it’s now as I’ve gotten older, I really appreciate that. And I really don’t take that for granted because I feel as connected to our fans as I do my friends. They’re my friends.”
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