Jennie Garth’s memoir, I Choose Me, is out now, and it’s safe to say it doesn’t hold back. From eating disorders and a brain injury to cosmetic surgeries driven by Hollywood’s impossible standards and two hip replacements, Garth is unfiltered and candid in her storytelling. While the tales from 90210 may be getting the bulk of the buzz, at its core, it’s a genuinely generous guide to finding yourself on the other side.
On eating disorders, Hollywood beauty standards and body image today:
“Hollywood definitely shaped the way I saw and felt about my body at a very young age. I was working in an environment where appearance was actually part of the job, and when you’re constantly being looked at, photographed and talked about, it’s easy to start believing your value is tied to how others feel about how you look. That really distorted my relationship with food and with myself for a long time. Today, a healthy relationship with my body looks much more like respect for how incredible it is! I mean, think about it, our hearts beat 24 hours a day—even when we sleep, they are still working!
I look at food as fuel now, and I let myself be indulgent every now and then because it’s fun. I’ve learned that peace with your body is so much more powerful than perfection.”
On hip replacements, shame and “showing weakness:”
“I kept my hip replacements private because, at the time, I think I still equated needing help with somehow failing. There can be so much shame around physical limitations, especially for women, because we’re taught to keep going, keep it all together. But now I see it completely differently. Taking care of yourself is not weakness, it’s wisdom. I would tell any woman dealing with a medical procedure or physical challenge that there is nothing shameful about healing, adapting or needing support. That’s just being human.”
On aesthetic surgery and Hollywood pressure:
“Cosmetic surgery is such a personal subject, and I try to approach it with honesty and compassion because I understand how much pressure women are under. There were definitely choices I made from a place of insecurity and from absorbing Hollywood’s messages that aging or changing naturally wasn’t acceptable.
With time, I’ve come to see how important intention is. If you’re considering doing something to your body, I think the most important question is: Am I doing this out of self-love, or out of fear that I’m not enough as I am? If it’s coming from fear, that’s worth sitting with.
I’ve learned that confidence cannot be injected or surgically created; it really has to come from within. And I also respect anyone’s choice to do whatever they want with their bodies. You do you!”
On menopause and HRT:
“I wish someone had told me that perimenopause can affect everything…your mood, your sleep, your anxiety levels, your skin, your energy, your brain fog, your sense of self. I think so many women enter it feeling blindsided because we haven’t been given the language or education around it.
I also wish someone had told me that I didn’t have to just suffer through it silently. There are options, there is support and there is no shame in talking openly about what your body is doing. HRT changed things for me, and I hope women feel comfortable asking for help and finding the support we all deserve.”
On discovering a brain injury and listening to her body:
“Learning more about my brain health has changed everything because it made me pay closer attention to such an important part of living a satisfying life. We can easily forget how complex our bodies are. Our brains are our control centers and need to be cared for! I think for a lot of my life, I overrode what my body was telling me. I just charged on without truly appreciating things and pushing forward instead of giving myself the care I needed.
Learning about the impact of a brain injury, even one from your childhood, is very important. It helped me understand why I struggled with certain things more than others and taught me to give myself grace, to slow down, to respect rest and to make much more intentional choices about how I care for my nervous system. Sleep has become non-negotiable. Managing stress is non-negotiable. Quiet moments, time outdoors, good nutrition, hydration—all of those things matter in a deeper way now. It made me realize that wellness isn’t indulgent; it’s foundational.”
What “I Choose Me” looks like in ordinary life:
“Choosing yourself doesn’t always look grand or dramatic. Most days, it’s actually very small. It’s setting a boundary. It’s saying no without over-explaining. It’s getting enough sleep. It’s making time for a walk, for stillness, for a meal that actually nourishes you. It’s about paying attention to what you need, rather than automatically tending to everyone else first.
For me, ‘I Choose Me’ is really about checking in with myself honestly and asking, ‘What would support me today?’ Some days, that answer is rest; some days, it’s movement; some days, it’s speaking up. We need to take care of ourselves, and that starts with really listening to our instincts.”
On dressing and styling for herself:
“When you grow up on screen, you get very used to seeing yourself through other people’s eyes. For a long time, styling and beauty felt connected to expectation—what looked good on camera, what people wanted from me, what was most flattering from other people’s viewpoints. I think the turning point came later in life when I started becoming more comfortable in my own skin and less interested in performing femininity for approval. Now I dress much more for how I want to feel. I want ease, confidence and authenticity. That shift has been incredibly freeing because style feels less like armor and more like self-expression.”
On how her definition of beauty has evolved:
“In my 90210 days, beauty felt very external—youth, polish, thinness, perfection. That was the standard, and I absolutely internalized it. Now, beauty means something much deeper to me. Beauty is presence. It’s confidence. It’s self-acceptance. It’s someone who knows who they are and isn’t apologizing for taking up space.
If I could go back and reassure a younger version of myself, I would tell her that she never needed to work so hard to be enough. She already was. I would tell her to be gentler with herself and to understand that the things that make us real are often the things that make us beautiful.”
On writing the memoir and feeling more at home in herself:
“Writing the memoir was incredibly reflective and, at times, emotional because it required me to really look at my life with honesty. But it was also healing. When you put your story on the page, you start to see the patterns, the pain, the growth and the resilience in a new way.
I came out of the process with more compassion for myself. I think that was one of the biggest gifts of writing it. It helped me feel more integrated—more accepting of all the different versions of myself that got me here. And, yes, I do feel more at home in my own skin now because I’ve stopped caring about any shame from past mistakes, instead learning from them and loving how much I’ve grown into this version of me.”
