Tori Spelling Explains Her Decision to ‘Stay Longer’ With Dean McDermott
Tori Spelling candidly admitted that fear about the future made her stay in her marriage to Dean McDermott past its expiration date.
In a conversation with Shannen Doherty on the Thursday, April 25, episode of her podcast “misSPELLING,” Spelling, 50, said preconceived notions about her persona prevented her from moving on.
“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,” Spelling said. “Not by our doing, but by who we are and have been labeled by society.”
Spelling filed for divorce from McDermott, 57, in March after 18 years of marriage. Describing the breakup as still “fresh,” Spelling expressed pessimism about finding a new partner who could meet her on her level.
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“We’re not just women who make money,” she told Doherty, 53. “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?”
Doherty, who costarred with Spelling on Beverly Hills, 90210, gave her newly single friend plenty of pushback. “There’s men out there that don’t care about that,” she said emphatically.
“There are men that have their own status,” Doherty continued. “Maybe in a completely different field. Maybe a man is a partner at one of the top law firms. So everything he did — going to school, graduating, being an intern, working his way up the ladder — has shown that he’s a really hard worker with a ton of perseverance and believes in himself enough in order to get there.”
Doherty also expressed sympathy for Spelling’s situation, acknowledging it can be hard “to be with a woman that can get a reservation at any restaurant.”
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Still, Doherty insisted it was possible for Spelling to find a partner who would take pride in her success.
“Not a man that you can dominate,” Doherty said, “not a man that puts you down, not a man that has any red flags.”
Despite the words of encouragement, however, Spelling wasn’t having it. She countered, “At this point in my life, and this is all I know right now, I disagree with you.”
“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,’” Spelling explained. “I’m sorry, there’s the Tori Spelling of it all.”
