Canadian actor Jason Priestley photographed at St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto in April, 2013.Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Jason Priestley dishes up some unflattering memories of his former Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Shannen Doherty in a new tell-all book.
The Vancouver-born actor looks back at his eventful life and times in the upcoming book Jason Priestley: A Memoir, which goes on sale next week.
And as might have been expected, Priestley devotes a good deal of space to his breakout role on the original 90210, which cast him and Doherty as the prototypical L.A. teens Brandon and Brenda Walsh.
In excerpts provided to Us magazine, Priestley, now 44, recalls the first season of 90210 and the occasion when Fox executives shipped the pair to New York to hobnob with advertisers. Even though the trip took place on a private jet, Priestley says Doherty made it a bumpy flight before liftoff.
In his words: "Her butt had barely hit her seat before she said loudly to the PR person, 'Really? A town car? You sent a town car to take me to the airport, not a limo?' She sighed a very put-upon sigh. I laughed, as I couldn't really tell if Shannen was kidding or not."
Turns out Doherty wasn't kidding.
Writes Priestley: "But that was just the beginning. I looked on, becoming more uneasy by the minute as she began bitching about the short notice and the food on board and the temperature in the cabin and everything else."
In the same vein, Priestley writes about the alleged rude behaviour exhibited by actress Mischa Barton, formerly of The O.C., with whom he shared a ride to a press event in the Bahamas back in 2004.
"I was sitting directly across from Mischa and her mother as the car prepared to leave," writes Priestley. "Mischa looked at her mother and said, 'Do we have to share a car with him?' 'He can hear you, you know'," Priestley recalls Barton's mother responding. "'He's sitting right here!'"
Barton reportedly sighed and rolled her eyes before sitting silently for the remainder of the ride.
In happier memories, Priestley recounts his pre-90210 days when he was still going on auditions and sharing an apartment with other struggling actors – including a young Brad Pitt, with whom he became roommates in 1987.
"Just for fun, we used to have competitions over who could go the longest without showering and shaving," he writes. "Brad always won. Having to go on an audition meant cleaning up, which is what usually put an end to the streak."
Jason Priestley: A Memoir arrives in book stores next Tuesday.