"In March 2023, she noted in her diary that potential acting jobs were few and far between, if at all really. She rarely heard from her agent, and she didn't want to get in touch with him just to hear how different the business has become, how they just aren't looking for a woman my age, with my stereotyped abilities. As an actor, and one who had been particularly typecast, she was used to rejection, she wrote, but this is getting a little scary."
"In the 90s, Garth had been a TV superstar. She was 18 when the teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210 came out, in which she played Kelly Taylor rich and spoilt on the surface, traumatised underneath. Although she continued to work after it came to an end in 2000, not least on the show's spin-offs, it must be hard to have hit your career high in your first job."
"More fulfilment came from other areas in Garth's life she loved motherhood although she found the end of her marriage to her daughters' father, the actor Peter Facinelli, so traumatic that she ended up in hospital after an accidental overdose and had a spell in rehab. Approaching 50, Garth had a vantage point on her life, and had that classic midlife thought: is this it? I was feeling stuck and I thought, how am I going to get out of this? she says."
"Having it happen around me made me feel like it was time to do what I know I'm here to do, says Garth. Having had a lot of therapy, and read a lot of self-help books, she realised that perhaps her purpose lay in sharing what she'd learned with other women experiencing a similar standstil"
Jennie Garth felt lost as her daughters grew up and acting opportunities seemed scarce. She rarely heard from her agent and feared being dismissed due to age and typecasting. After years of rejection, she found the situation increasingly scary. She had been a TV superstar in Beverly Hills, 90210, playing Kelly Taylor, and later continued working through spin-offs. Her personal life brought both fulfillment and trauma, including the end of her marriage to Peter Facinelli, an accidental overdose, hospitalization, and rehab. Approaching 50, she questioned whether life was “it” and sought what to do next. The deaths of Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty increased her sense of mortality and urgency. After therapy and self-help reading, she concluded her purpose might be sharing what she learned with other women facing similar stagnation.
#career-uncertainty #typecasting-and-ageism #midlife-reinvention #personal-recovery-and-therapy #mortality-and-purpose
Read at www.theguardian.com
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