Jennie Garth Says Co-Stars' Early Deaths 'Drive Me' to Stay Active After Hip Replacements

Jennie Garth has battled health issues over the years, from a leaky heart valve to osteoarthritis to two hip replacements, as she revealed in an as-told-to essay in Self today. Yet Garth remains dedicated to staying healthy and strong — inspired, in part, by the early deaths of some of her famous co-stars.

“Having several of my cast mates pass away at such early ages really drives me to stay super active and do everything in my power to remain healthy,” Garth told the outlet. “Listen to and respect your body, because this is the body we came into the world with and it’s the body we’re going to grow old with—and we have to take care of it.”

90210 original cast members like Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty have passed away in recent years, with Perry suffering a fatal stroke in 2019 and Doherty passing away in July of this year after a long battle with cancer. Perry was 52 and Doherty 53.

“I was in shock because we all knew that Shannen was fighting cancer for a long time, but, I don’t know, there was just something about her. She was such a fighter and a pro,” Garth told Today shortly after Doherty’s death. “I just didn’t think that would happen, for some reason.” On an episode of her podcast, I Choose Me, Garth added that she thought of Perry immediately after Doherty’s death. “I just know — this is going to sound very weird — but he definitely was there to catch her,” she said. “I thought how happy he was going to be to be with her again.”

Garth’s own health struggles included two hip replacements, her left hip in 2020 and her right in March 2024, brought on by arthritis. “The whole experience was, and still is, so discouraging,” Garth told Self of the second procedure, which “took a lot longer” to heal, she explained. “I haven’t had this second hip that long, and I really have to baby it.”

As she recovered, Garth prioritized getting back into the gym. “I noticed that moving my body helped boost my mood and prevent my joints from stiffening,” she said, adding that not being able to exercise “really wore on my mental health.” She slowly started getting back into workouts a month after the surgery, limping at first. “I had to honor my body, listen to it, and take things slower.”

Ultimately, Garth says the surgeries have helped feel more grateful towards her body and physical abilities, while finding strength from sharing her workouts online and opening up about her surgeries publicly. “I get a lot of positive responses from people that I’m helping them,” she said, adding that it makes it worth it to be vulnerable on places like her podcast. She’s also used that medium to process her grief for Doherty and Perry, whose memories continue to motivate her.

“People put off taking care of themselves at all costs until they just can’t put it off anymore,” she stated. “When something hurts, go to a doctor and do whatever you can to alleviate the pain because you don’t have to live in pain.”

Garth’s taken on stigma before, making a point of speaking honestly about menopause, IVF, and now joint replacement and grief. Hopefully her openness can help the rest of us navigate the (inevitable!) up and downs of mental and physical health as they come.

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