A misunderstanding that could’ve been solved over Mega burgers? Jason Priestley, Ian Ziering and more former Beverly Hills, 90210 stars spoke out after Jessica Alba claimed she wasn’t allowed to make eye contact with the cast during her two-episode arc on the series in 1998.
“I couldn’t even make eye contact with any of the cast members, which was really strange when you’re, like, trying to do a scene with them,” the 39-year-old actress claimed during an episode of Hot Ones that debuted earlier this month. “It was like, ‘You’re not allowed to make eye contact with any one of the cast members or you’ll be thrown off the set.’”
Alba guest-starred on Beverly Hills, 90210 as Leanne, a teen mother who sought out Kelly (Jennie Garth) to help her at a clinic during season 8.
During a trailer for Garth’s upcoming podcast with former costar Tori Spelling (Donna Martin), the 48-year-old actress acknowledged that she worked the closest with Alba on the show.
“I had all the scenes with her. If anybody didn’t want to have their eyes looked into, it would’ve been me, but I don’t remember ‘cause I have the world’s worst memory,” Garth, who starred on all 10 seasons of the drama, quipped in the “9021OMG” podcast teaser on Sunday, October 4.
Priestley, who played Brandon Walsh for 245 episodes, denied that the cast — which also included Brian Austin Green (David Silver), Tiffani Thiessen (Valerie Malone), Vincent Young (Noah Hunter) and Lindsay Price (Janet Sosna) during season 8 — made Alba uncomfortable on purpose. (OG stars Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry and Gabrielle Carteris had left the show by season 8.)
“‘Don’t look at the stars of the show’ was never an edict that came down on our show. I don’t know who told Jessica Alba not to look at us,” Priestley, who also directed 15 episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210, said on KiSS 92.5’s The Roz & Mocha Show on Tuesday, October 6. “We never thought we were MC Hammer.”
Priestley, 51, added that Alba’s “story line” had “nothing to do with” his character Brandon.
“I’m sorry that that happened to her,” he added. “It seems really incongruous with everything else that happened on our show, so I don’t know what her experience was.”
Scroll through for more from the cast on Alba’s claims: