Tiffani Thiessen’s teen daughter, Harper, has been watching some of her mom’s old shows — and so far she’s not impressed.
“Recently she’s like, ‘I’m going to give 90210 a try,’ and she could not sit through it,” Thiessen, 50, exclusively told Us Weekly at the VOW for Girls Back-to-School Fundraising Event, which was held at Cosette Wine Bar in Studio City, California on Sunday, October 20. “I think the reason is not because it’s not a good show. I’m not going to diminish the show.”
Thiessen, who joined the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210 in season 5, advised Harper, 14, to not just watch her episodes but to watch from the beginning.
“What she watches right now and is obsessed with and is almost at the end of is Friends. She loves Friends and we watch it together,” the actress said. “We tried doing 90210. She kept looking at me and going, ‘When is anything going to happen?’”
Thiessen added that Harper found the “pace” of the series “super slow,” but her daughter did admit that “the boys are kind of cute.”
Beverly Hills, 90210, which premiered in 1990 starred Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestly, Luke Perry, Tori Spelling and Ian Ziering.
Beverly Hills, 90210 wasn’t the only one of Thiessen’s old shows that Harper couldn’t get invested in. Thiessen shared that her daughter had some harsh words for Saved by the Bell, the show that gave Thiessen her big break.
“She was like, ‘The show’s kind of dumb, mom.’ She was real honest,” Thiessen said of Harper’s Saved by the Bell review. “And she found it more funny just to watch me at that age and the way I dressed.”
Thiessen noted that her daughter really enjoyed her more recent show, Alexa & Katie.
“She absolutely loved Alexa & Katie, I think because she was at an age and we’re at a time where that kind of TV was very much her speed,” Thiessen told Us. “It’s fast, it’s funny, it’s cute. And so that was her speed.”
In addition to Harper, Thiessen shares son Holt, 9, with husband Brady Smith. Thiessen gushed about how proud she is of her daughter as she continues to blossom.
“She’s becoming a very independent girl, which makes me proud that she kind of has her stuff together and she comes in and gets her homework done,” Thiessen told Us. “It’s different. I have to say it’s shifted this year big time. And it’s exciting to see that she’s becoming an independent young woman.”
Thiessen’s connection with Harper inspired her to team up with the nonprofit VOW for Girls which focuses on protecting the futures of girls worldwide by helping them stay in school.
“I think being a mother of a daughter, especially a teen daughter, and thinking that so many girls in other places don’t have the choices that my daughter has [inspired me to team up with VOW],” the actress explained at the event, which was produced by Jason Rhee of the Rheefined Company. “She just started high school this year, and thinking about her future, her dreams and her passions and all those things that I want her to really put forth and really be able to do. And it’s heartbreaking to think that girls don’t have those choices in other places in the world.”
Thiessen also got Harper and her friends involved in the organization to show that their voices matter.
“I think that’s what I want to do with VOW for Girls, is really getting the awareness out there and understanding that sometimes we live in a little bit of a bubble,” she told Us, adding how crucial it was to keep the younger generation informed and aware of what’s going on in the world. “Their voice is very powerful — especially with social media now. Speaking up for other girls that might not be able to speak up for themselves is super, super powerful. And I wanted my daughter to be one of those [advocates].”
With reporting by Mariel Turner