Jason Priestley says he ended several longtime friendships after Beverly Hills, 90210 made him famous. The men were people he had expected to remain close to for the rest of his life.
The actor, 57, discussed those falling-outs on the October 26 episode of Still Here Hollywood with Steve Kmetko. Some of the friendships dated back to before his move to Los Angeles.
The attention was a considerable change from his upbringing in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Before Hollywood, his days revolved around playing hockey and visiting the river with friends, an ordinary childhood he credited with helping him retain a sense of himself.
Priestley played Brandon Walsh on the Fox drama, which premiered in 1990. He left the regular cast in 1998, early in Season 9, before the series ended in 2000.
Priestley Expected Those Friendships to Last
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Kmetko asked whether becoming famous had exposed people who weren’t genuine friends. Priestley immediately agreed, explaining that he had begun seeing behavior he no longer wanted around him.
According to PEOPLE, he initially said he had cut many people out of his life, then corrected himself. It was a handful of men he had imagined would be his “ride or die bros forever.”
He attributed the breakdowns to jealousy and efforts to undercut him. The behavior surprised him, particularly because it came from male friends he had considered close. “I just had to cut those guys loose,” Priestley said.
Constant Photo Requests Changed His Social Life
Elsewhere in the conversation, Priestley described trying to enjoy an evening with companions while people kept approaching for photographs. The requests could become a continuous line, leaving him little chance to spend time with the people he had gone out to see.
He still wanted to accommodate fans because he appreciated their support. His solution was to invite friends to his house, where they could be together without those interruptions. Asked which ordinary part of life he unexpectedly missed, he pointed to his anonymity.
He Also Acknowledges His Own Early Overconfidence
Priestley took a more critical look at himself during a separate September 8 interview on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. He had already spent years acting when he landed Brandon Walsh, and acknowledged some “youthful hubris” during the show’s first season. “I thought I knew a little bit more than I did,” he said.
He placed the show’s worldwide breakthrough in its second season. His earlier overconfidence, he explained, hadn’t involved throwing tantrums, yelling at colleagues or treating people badly.
Looking back on becoming famous in his early 20s, Priestley said it accelerated his maturity. He and Rosenbaum also discussed the confidence actors need to withstand repeated rejection, and the importance of moving past an inflated sense of their own success.
His ‘90210’ Castmates Remained Part of His Life
Other relationships from that period endured. In a February 2025 interview with PEOPLE, Priestley said he remained in regular contact with most of his former castmates. They still turned to one another for advice, connected by an experience few other people had shared.
He also found that reunions brought back familiar habits. Even in middle age, the actors slipped into their old group dynamic, with Priestley again taking on the role of keeping everyone together.
As E! News reported, his conversation with Kmetko included memories of Luke Perry, a close family friend, and reconnecting with Shannen Doherty before her death in 2024. “I was super thankful for that when she passed away,” Priestley said of seeing Doherty again.