The 50-year-old actress took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a headshot of her as her character Donna Martin, taken during the pilot of the iconic teen drama, saying the show “changed this teen girls life forever.”
“I was 15 in this pic, before nose job, bleach, and knowing how to pose,” Spelling wrote. “I was just grateful to be there.”
As the daughter of the show’s producer, Aaron Spelling, she said she was “hoping to just prove my own worth.”
“Look at me 33 years later still pointing out that just bc my Dad was the producer on 90210 I still got other parts on my own by auditioning just like every other actor. Lol,” she added, noting that she had already been on Saved By the Bell, which was not one of her dad’s shows. “Old triggers die hard.”
Turning her attention to the girl in the photo, Spelling told her younger self, “You ARE worth something. A lot! You will go on to not only OWN the character of Donna Martin but make her into one of the worlds most iconic and beloved characters in tv hisTORI.”
Beverly Hills, 90210 aired for 10 seasons between October 1990 and May 2000 and spawned numerous spinoffs, including Melrose Place and a 2019 reboot, BH90210, which reunited the original cast, minus the late Luke Perry.
