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Tori Spelling recalls Hilary Swank “hysterically crying” after being fired from Beverly Hills, 90210
Spelling says that Swank feared at the time that losing the role meant her career was over
But the setback ultimately led to Swank’s role in Boys Don’t Cry, which earned her an Academy Award
Tori Spelling is looking back on the moment Hilary Swank was fired from her stint on Beverly Hills, 90210.
Speaking to Jennie Garth in the Friday, Apr. 17 episode of their 90210MG podcast, Spelling, 52, recalled the day Swank, 51, learned she was being written off the hit series.
“So now everyone out there, please, this is from my perspective and my memory’s sake. I’m not gonna get it verbatim what she said. But from this is how I saw it go down,” Spelling began, setting the scene.
She explained that at the time, the two actresses had grown close while working together on the long-running show. Swank played Carly Reynolds, a single mother and Peach Pit waitress who was a love interest for Steve Sanders during the show’s eighth season. Although hired as a regular cast member, she was written out of the show after appearing in only 16 episodes.
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90210 cast
Credit: Everett
“We were all in our dressing rooms. Hilary and I had become quite close. I had gone out with her and Chad, and we had hung out,” she said, referencing Swank’s then-husband Chad Lowe.
She continued: “I was kind of her safe place on set, and she would talk to me about everything. And she said, … ‘Paul Wagner wants to talk to me in his office. Do you know what it’s about?’ And I didn’t.”
Spelling then waited nearby as Swank went into the meeting and returned moments later, devastated.
“So she goes in, and she comes back, and she’s crying, and she comes into my dressing room. We shut the door and she said, ‘I just got let go. I’m being fired from the show,’ ” Spelling recounted. “And I was like, ‘What?’ I hadn’t heard any of this, we didn’t know. She was hysterically crying.”
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What stuck with Spelling most was Swank’s fear about what the setback meant for her future.
“And I just remember— and I’m not going to get this wording correct — she was like, ‘Oh my god. If I get fired off of 90210, I’m never gonna make it.’ ”
As Spelling pointed out, that unexpected turn ultimately opened the door for one of the most defining roles of Swank’s career.
“The ironic thing is if she had stayed on 90210, she would not have been able to audition for Boys Don’t Cry. She would not have been able to get that role, do that role and then win an Academy Award,” Spelling said.
Spelling acknowledged that at the time, the show was no longer at its peak, saying: “But she really felt like… we were in our eighth season. It wasn’t like we were in our prime anymore… like, ‘Gosh, if I can’t keep a gig on a series on TV that’s popular, I’m never making it anywhere. Like, my career’s over.’ ”
Swank went on to star in the 1999 film, earning her first Academy Award and launching her into Hollywood’s top tier.
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