Jennie Garth on Being 'in Love' with Luke Perry & Making Peace with Shannen Doherty (Exclusive)

Jennie Garth is promoting her new memoir “I Choose Me.”

“Extra’s” Derek Hough (her former “Dancing with the Stars” partner!) spoke with Jennie, who opened up about her life like never before — a painful divorce, multiple miscarriages, and behind-the-scenes drama and feuds with her “90210” co-stars. 

Jennie recalled her relationship with Luke, calling him “the best guy,” saying, “He made everybody feel like they were the only person in the room, and I felt that way whenever I was with him.”

She shared, "It got very blurry for me as a young woman. I can’t speak to how it felt for him, but of course, like I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with this guy.’ And then when we cut the camera, I’m still feeling it." Garth noted, “Looking back now, I thought I was in love with Luke Perry, but it think everybody thought they were in love.”

Jennie admitted that confessing her feelings for Luke publicly was “really hard,” saying, “That was just an internal story that I carried around with me for so long."

As for her infamous feud with Shannen, they buried the hatchet years ago.

Jennie said, “We did. Absolutely. As women we, you know, went out to dinner a couple of times with our then spouses and it was just great because we really did not have the capabilities to handle what we were being thrust into and what kind of, like, pitting one another against each other from the scripts to the media to the people. We didn’t know how to handle that when we were younger but as grown women, we were able to see it for what it was… and accept apologies from one another and just move on."

Garth’s time on “90210” actually inspired her book title.

Reference her character Kelly’s line in an episode, she explained, “It came when Kelly was asked to choose between Brandon and Dylan in 1995... I kept hearing it from women who grew up watching the show, that I choose me moment and they said to me, like, ‘I never knew I could choose myself in a situation.’”

Jennie had an “eye-opening” experience rewatching the series, saying, ‘I get why this show was so successful… just, like, this incredible ability to like step back and appreciate that young girl that was playing that young character.”

Garth has been proactive about her own mental health and finding joy again after struggling with some dark days, including a scary incident when her daughter walked in on her cutting herself.

She shared, “Went through a lot of like big life changes in my late 30s… divorce, my father passed away, my daughter got really sick, I thought we were losing her and it was just a lot of grieving, a lot of loss, a lot of fear."

Nowadays, Jennie is in a better place, spreading joy at her second annual “I Choose Me” summit this Saturday.

She dished, “We put together a really great group of women and this year we’re going to be having not just panels with women. We’re going to have manel."

Jennie and Derek also recounted their time on “Dancing with the Stars.” She called Derek “the best teacher,” adding, “I put all my faith in you."