Jason Priestley says he had to cut off friends after 'Beverly Hills, 90210'

Jason Priestley has revealed that he had to cut ties with some close friends after Beverly Hills, 90210 made him famous, saying he began to see behaviour in them that he no longer wanted around him.

The actor, 56, who played Brandon Walsh on the hit teen drama, discussed the topic on the Still Here Hollywood podcast with host Steve Kmetko. 

Asked whether fame had shown him that some friends were not genuine, Priestley said that some longtime friends, including a few from before he moved to Los Angeles, changed how he saw them. 

“I started to recognise behaviour in them that wasn’t anything I wanted to be around anymore,” he said.

He explained that he had to cut out “a handful of guys” he had expected to be lifelong friends, noting that he did not have a large circle to begin with. 

Priestley said jealousy had led some people to undermine him, and that he was surprised to see it from male friends. In the end, he said, he “just had to cut those guys loose.” 

He did not name any of them.

Priestley also reflected on his own early fame in a separate conversation on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast. 

Even in the show’s first season, he said, he was a “victim of youthful hubris”, believing he knew more than he did. He added that he was never unkind to anyone and never threw tantrums.

Beverly Hills, 90210 first aired in October 1990 and followed a group of siblings and friends through high school and beyond. 

The cast also included Tori Spelling, Jennie Garth, Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry, Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering and Gabrielle Carteris. It spawned the spin-off Melrose Place and a 2008 reboot, 90210.