Tori Spelling stayed married to her estranged husband, Dean McDermott, “longer” because she was nervous about finding a man who would respect her success.
“One of my biggest fears, and this perhaps did make me stay longer, is I feel like in our world it’s difficult to be with a man and have him not feel emasculated,” the actress explained to her former “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-star Shannen Doherty on Thursday’s episode of her “misSpelling” podcast.
“Not by our doing, but by who we are and have been labeled by society,” Spelling, 50, added.
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Further explaining her viewpoint, she told Doherty, “We’re not just women who make money. We’re women that have power, we’re women that have fame. I don’t know any different. I feel guilty.”
“Like, how am I ever gonna be with a man and he doesn’t feel like less than me just because of my status?”
In response, Doherty, 53, reminded her longtime pal that there are also “men that have their own status.”
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Despite Doherty’s efforts to comfort her, the “Spelling It Like It Is” author did not seem convinced she would ever find a man who would be proud of her rather than feel emasculated by her.
“Every guy that I’ve ever been in a relationship with, I always say, ‘There’s a lot s–t that goes along with me,'” she noted. “I’m sorry, there’s the Tori Spelling of it all.”
Spelling was married to McDermott, 47, for 18 years before she filed for divorce in March, citing “irreconcilable differences” as the cause.
Spelling — who recently claimed no one has broken her heart since her teenage love Brian Austin Green — listed June 17, 2023, as their separation date.
Their date of separation falls on the same day the actor and television host shocked fans by announcing their breakup on Instagram. The announcement reportedly blindsided the former couple’s friends as well.
In November 2023, though, McDermott shed light on the “drunk and angry” fight and his subsequent suicide attempt that caused the end of their rocky marriage.
“It was the night that I raged against her and the children and I saw the light, the final flicker of the flame go out in her eyes,” he recalled to the Daily Mail.
“I posted [the breakup message] because I was at the end of my rope. I didn’t know what to do. I had burned everything down yet again.”
The pair share five kids: Liam, 17, Stella, 15, Hattie, 12, Finn, 11 and Beau, 7.
McDermott has moved on with senior account executive Lily Calo. They were first seen walking hand-in-hand into the Department of Social Services in Los Angeles in October 2023.
Spelling, meanwhile, was seen locking lips with advertising CEO Ryan Cramer in early November 2023, but their fling seems to have fizzled.
