Expert: Carmen Curtis - 11/2/2006

Question
Do you happen to know if Tiffani Thiessen left 90210 on her own will, or was it more that the writers wrote her character off b/c Brandon's Jason Priestley had left the show two or so episodes before?  Thanks.

Answer
Hi AJ,
I don't think Val's leaving had anything to do with Brandon leaving the show. I read online that Tiffani Thiessen left because she wanted more time in her schedule to take movie offers or do other projects. There were rumors that Tiffani asked for a large amount of money per show to continue for the entire ninth season and that Spelling refused to meet her price, but these rumors were never confirmed. Another rumor is that she felt as if she was being used as a sex object on the show and did not like it. Basically, it seems that she did leave as her own choice, and in my opinion, the show never fully recovered from her absence!
Hope this helps,
Carmen