Grant Show, 62, admits his Beverly Hills 90210 romance with Jennie Garth, 52, would be ‘illegal’ now

Grant Show opens up about his romance with Jennie Garth on Beverly Hills 90210, before his starring role on Melrose Place.

Both 90210 and Melrose Place were created by Darren Star, who cast Show, 62, as Jake Hanson to appear in 90210 and set up Melrose Place.

Show was the first guest on the brand new Melrose Place rewatch podcast Still The Place, starring Daphne Zuniga, Laura Leighton and Courtney Thorne-Smith.

They brought him in first because they said his character was “the bridge that would launch Melrose Place from 90210.”

He revealed that the brief romance between his character Jake Hanson and Garth’s 52-year-old Kelly Taylor would now be considered “illegal” due to the large age difference.

He revealed that the brief romance between his character Jake Hanson and Garth’s 52-year-old Kelly Taylor would be seen as “illegal” today due to the large age difference

When asked about his casting, Show said, “No, they cast me in Melrose Place and when they knew they were going to put that character in 90210, that was kind of a springboard for Melrose Place.”

“It wasn’t the spinoff. It wasn’t, you know, anything like that. It was like, they already knew all this. And then I did three episodes of 90210,” he added.

When asked how his character related to the world of high school, he said his character was: ‘building a gazebo for Kelly’s family in “Her backyard building and what would now be illegal and like MeToo,” he said, joking about the taboo romance.

He added, “Well, I think we just kissed, but still, you know, not good,” while one of the hosts mentioned that Garth also appeared in the pilot episode of Melrose Place, where they shared the aforementioned kiss.

The show was told that when the hosts rewatched the pilot after all these years, they were surprised to see them kissing. They thought he would back off and say she was too young.

“Is it true that we are more prudish now than we were thirty years ago?”, says Show. “Maybe that’s right, I don’t want to pass judgment on it.”

Another presenter said: ‘I mean, my whole body was like, oh my god, this is really not good because this is 2024..

However, they also spoke to Garth for her 90210MG rewatch podcast and asked her if she thought he was too old, but she said no.

When asked about his casting, Show said, “No, they cast me from Melrose Place, and when they knew they were going to put that character in 90210, that was kind of a springboard for Melrose Place.”

He added, “Well, I think we just kissed, but still, you know, not good,” while one of the hosts mentioned that Garth also appeared in the pilot episode of Melrose Place, where they shared the aforementioned kiss.

“Is it true that we are more of that kind, and maybe rightly so, I don’t want to judge, but more prudish than we were thirty years ago,” Show said

Toon added that they, ‘were relatively contemporaries,’ and they, ‘were both adults, as Garth was 20 at the time and Snow was 30.

In the series, Jake Hanson was 25 and Kelly Taylor was 16 or 17. Snow admitted, “Well, when you look at it that way, it’s creepy.”

Show was asked to rewatch the pilot and added that he hadn’t thought about the age difference at all during filming.

“I didn’t think about it at all, I really didn’t. She was a mature, professional actress, I didn’t really think about it when we were filming. When I saw it, I was like, oh yeah,” Show admitted.