Tori Spelling poked fun at her highly-publicized financial woes on the Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot , BH90210, but not everyone got the joke. The mockumentary-style revival series kicked off with the Tori and Dean star exaggerating her financial status, going so far as to say she can’t even pay her rent.
On the BH90210 premiere, Tori played herself but had six kids with her slacker husband, Nate (Ivan Sergei). Tori’s fictionalized husband, an ex-hockey player who wants to become a sports announcer, is not pulling his weight financially as the Beverly Hills, 90210 veteran hustles to find reality TV jobs to help support their six kids.
But in real life, Tori had to defend her actual financial status in an interview on Good Day New York . According to Too Fab , Good Day host Rosanna Scotto used the BH90210 plot point to ask Tori about her current financial situation, and it did not go down well.
After Scotto asked Tori about how the reboot series “hit a little close to home” with the plot line of her “character’s” financial problems, the BH90210 star explained that she was behind the decision to mock her situation.
“That was a choice that I made and we made together to put that in there. That’s such speculation and the media loves to talk about it. So we were like, ‘let’s face them straight on and let’s put it in there.’”
While Tori was ready to move on, Scotto pressed the subject by bluntly asking her if she is able to pay her bills.
“Am I able to pay my bills? Yeah, thank you. I am,” Tori fired back.
Scotto later apologized to Tori for her offensive questions about her finances, and the BH90210 star told her that she has “pretty thick skin.” Tori then joked, “We’re going to write this into the show, so thank you for giving us new material.”
TooFab notes that in a now-deleted Facebook post, Scotto addressed her “awkward” exchange with the BH90210 star, reportedly referencing rumors that Tori’s mom, Candy Spelling, cut her out of her will and alleging that the Fox star had recently sent someone a text saying she didn’t have money to pay for food for her kids.
For years, the tabloids have had a field day over Tori Spelling’s finances, reported credit card lawsuits and alleged mismanagement of her inheritance from her late father, TV producer Aaron Spelling. But Tori has logged a steady acting and reality TV resume in the decades since she shot to fame playing Donna Martin on Beverly Hills 90210 . Tori has starred in a long list of reality shows, including Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood and True Tori with husband Dean McDermott. In recent years, Tori has also starred on ABC Family’s Mystery Girl s, logged a recurring voice role on Jake and the Never Land Pirates and was recently a contestant on Fox’s The Masked Singer .
Beverly Hills, 90210 fans knew ahead of time that Tori Spelling’s real-life financial status would be exaggerated in the BH90210 reboot. At San Diego Comic-Con last week, BH90210 star Ian Ziering told reporters that in the reboot series, Tori’s “character” gets the gang back together for a reunion series because she’s in desperate need of money, Us Weekly reported.
“We are playing ourselves after meeting at a fan panel,” Ziering teased. “Tori, who, in the TV series, is a mother of six children and is broke, inspires everybody to get the show back on. [Tori’s character] really needs this.”
In real life, Tori Spelling has five children with husband Dean McDermott — Liam, Stella, Hattie, Finn and Beau — as well as Jack, McDermott’s grown son from his previous marriage to Mary Jo Eustace. McDermott is a working actor and host of Chopped Canada. He also hosts a podcast.
BH90201 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.