Jennie Garth is coming clean about going under the knife, but probably not in the way you think.
“I’ve kept it a secret for so long, but I’m no longer at a place where I want to hide things,” the actress told Self Magazine of two surgeries she’s undergone in the last four years.
At 52, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” actress has had two hip replacements.
“This is something that doesn’t just affect 80-year-olds.
‘BEVERLY HILLS, 90210’ STAR JENNIE GARTH SAYS ACTING IS NO LONGER A ‘PRIORITY’: ‘LIFE IS TOO SHORT’
Jennie Garth has openly spoken about her osteoarthritis in the past but not her hip surgeries. (Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)
“I’ve lived with hip pain for a very long time; they’ve always made a click sound whenever I’d lift my legs. Still, as someone who’s done horseback riding since childhood and danced as a teenager, I figured all that wear and tear was the cause,” Garth said. “Things got progressively worse through the years. It became so painful at one point that I couldn’t even go on a walk with my dogs. I thought it might be arthritis.”
A doctor would soon confirm she had osteoarthritis in her knees, thumbs and hips, a nightmare for Garth.
WATCH: JENNIE GARTH DISCUSSES HER OSTEOARTHRITIS DIAGNOSIS
“I was only in my mid-40s at the time. I remember feeling old and confused by the diagnosis, but I wanted to stay active and just push through it. … By the time I was 48, however, I started to feel like I couldn’t keep up with my family during our normal activities.”
Garth remembered experiencing such excruciating pain on a family ski trip, she was confined to the lodge.
“That was very upsetting, as I felt like my quality of life was diminishing. I didn’t want to be someone who couldn’t do the things she loved with her family. Plus, my husband [Dave Abrams] is nine years younger than me and very fit. I didn’t want to be married to a younger man and start to break down. The whole trip was eye-opening. I knew I needed to care for whatever was happening.”
Jennie Garth worried about looking “old” in front of her husband Dave Abrams, who is nine years younger. (Jennie Garth Instagram)
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Soon enough, Garth found herself a doctor. She recalled him asking, “‘What are you doing here? You’re so young! We don’t have many people coming in here your age.’”
Garth learned during that visit that her hip joint wasn’t properly fitting in its socket and that a hip replacement could improve her situation.
“Although he said I didn’t have to get the procedure right away, I didn’t need time to think about it. I had so much life ahead of me and didn’t want to slow down, so I asked my doctor for the earliest opening possible. I wanted to take care of it right then.”
Jennie Garth’s first hip surgery was during the pandemic. (Emily Assiran/Getty Images for 90’s Con)
Unfortunately for Garth, elective surgery was not a top priority in 2020 at the peak of the pandemic. Eventually, she got in to see her doctor and remembers walking out of a medical center the same day with a walker.
“Looking back, I didn’t take it slow enough after the operation or give my body enough time to heal,” Garth explained, adding she quickly replaced her walker with a vacuum cleaner three days post-op.
Garth told the outlet she “was back to being active within two months.”
“In the few years following that surgery, I felt like Bionic Woman. There was nothing I couldn’t do. I forgot all the time that I had a hip replacement, with only a four-inch scar on my body to remind me. I was back to golfing, hiking and skiing — all the things I loved. It felt like a miracle, but I had to remind myself, especially when I was on the slopes, ‘Slow down, sister. You got a fake hip.’”
Jennie Garth had a few years after her initial surgery when she felt great. (Rick Kern/WireImage/Getty Images)
“In the few years following that surgery, I felt like Bionic Woman. There was nothing I couldn’t do. I forgot all the time that I had a hip replacement.”
Things finally caught up with the “I Choose Me” podcast host this year, when her opposite hip started making the ‘clicking’ noise.
“I came out sorer and was more laid up than the first time,” she said of her surgery in March 2024. “The whole experience was, and still is, so discouraging. I haven’t had this second hip that long, and I really have to baby it,” she explained.
“I wanted to show people that you could be fit and healthy after 50. I had gotten to this really great place and felt so strong in my workouts. Plus, I noticed that moving my body helped boost my mood and prevent my joints from stiffening. Not being able to exercise after this second surgery for so long really wore on my mental health.”
Although she was in the gym one month later, she was limping and still in pain, Garth said.
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“I felt so bad about myself and my recovery, wondering if the extra pain was because I was four years older than I was when I got my first hip replaced. I had to honor my body, listen to it and take things slower.”
Garth told Self Magazine she felt “a sense of responsibility to continue to motivate others but also to set an example for my three girls, who are the same age I was when I was on ‘90210.’
Jennie Garth said after her second surgery, she “had to honor my body, listen to it and take things slower.” (Brenton Ho/Variety via Getty Images)
“My personal development was incredibly stunted during my time on the show. I spent such formative years as a teen on set, working so hard and not having a sense of myself at all,” the actress, who starred as Kelly Taylor in the popular ’90s drama, explained.
“I thought my worth was dependent on looking a certain way and feeling valued by others, and I was always focused on pleasing everybody and looking good. I put a lot of pressure on myself as a young girl, but I think I could have been a little easier on myself.”
Garth added that having lost some of her castmates at a young age — Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty — has driven her “to stay super active.”
Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty of “Beverly Hills, 90210” died in the past five years. (Mikel Roberts/Sygma via Getty Images)
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“I felt so bad about myself and my recovery, wondering if the extra pain was because I was four years older than I was when I got my first hip replaced. I had to honor my body, listen to it and take things slower.”
From where she was six months ago, Garth has seen a lot of growth.
“These two operations have helped me learn to appreciate my body and physical abilities so much more. I’m such a nurturing person and love taking care of people, so it’s helped me shift gears and start to take a little bit better care of myself too — or allow others to step in.
“I wanted to make my surgeries look easy, particularly to my husband. I didn’t want to look old to him or for him to see me struggling, but I couldn’t hide it from him because I was already hiding it from the whole world,” she said of Abrams, whom she married in 2015.
“I’ve been so grateful for the generosity of his spirit throughout all of this. It also helped me come to an epiphany that my physical state has nothing to do with my spirit. And no matter what physical condition I’m dealing with, I still have a young spirit.
Jennie Garth urges others not to be afraid of aging. (Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images)
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“If I could offer any advice to someone approaching or past 50 and maybe in a similar position with their health, I’d want them to know that life starts to change at this age in the most beautiful ways. There are some scary and disappointing changes, like when you start to see and feel aging, but don’t be afraid of that.”