Jennie Garth Relives Steamy Kiss with Gavin DeGraw on “What I Like About You”: 'He Didn't Know That Was Coming' (Exclusive)
Garth, who is launching her 'I Choose Me with Jennie Garth' podcast on April 30, co-starred on 'What I Like About You' with Amanda Bynes from 2002 to 2006 for four seasons
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(L-R) Jennie Garth and Gavin DeGraw.What I Like About You fans may remember Jennie Garth and Gavin DeGraw's steamy on-camera smooch, but that rather memorable moment wasn't exactly a part of the original plan.
Speaking to PEOPLE ahead of the launch of her I Choose Me with Jennie Garth podcast, the actress admits that she "forgot all the specifics" about how the WB (now The CW) sitcom concluded. However, there is one thing she can recall as if it were yesterday.
"I definitely remember making out with Gavin DeGraw in that one scene," Garth, who played Val Tyler, confesses, referencing the season 3 moment where the famed crooner appeared as himself and played Val's wedding singer. "It was fun, because I just saw Gavin recently. We both did a show together, I Can See Your Voice. We were both judges on it. I walked up to him and we just both chuckled at each other when we saw each other, because the last time we saw each other was when we did that scene."
According to Garth, 52, "He didn't know that kiss was coming."
"My character was a little drunk, I think, and so the director was like, 'I want you to sit down next to him, and then I just want you to jump on him and start making out with him,'" she recalls of shooting the scene, which was done before a live studio audience in 2004. "I was like, 'Oh, my God. Okay, I'll try.'"
"I think I did it with so much excitement that we actually fell off the piano bench," she adds, noting that DeGraw found humor in the unexpected onscreen smooch.
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(L-R) Jennie Garth and Gavin DeGraw on 'What I Like About You'.What I Like About You ran from 2002 to 2006 for four seasons. The series, which followed two sisters navigating life together in New York City, also starred Amanda Bynes, Leslie Grossman, Nick Zano, Wesley Jonathan, Allison Munn and Michael McMillian.
In the years since the show's mid-2000s conclusion, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum has admittedly not stayed as close to the cast as she would like.
"I wish," she shares. "I talk time to time to Leslie Grossman. I ran into [season 1 alum] Simon Rex not that long ago. But we haven't all gotten together as a cast. That would be so amazing."
The past has been on Garth's mind as of late as she prepares to launch her brand new iHeart podcast, I Choose Me with Jennie Garth, later this month The upcoming endeavor is set to be a raw and vulnerable exploration of never-before-heard stories from both her personal and professional life.
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The cover art for iHeart's 'I Choose Me with Jennie Garth' podcast.Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
While Garth still hasn't "gotten to the therapeutic part" of her recordings just yet, she teases that some of the topics being discussed range from "the choice of staying married" after she briefly separated from her husband Dave Abrams several years ago to "choosing to become a mom" as a young adult.
Reflecting on her marriage, in particular, Garth calls her husband "the king of keeping things light."
Johnny Nunez/Getty
(L-R) Dave Abrams and Jennie Garth at Austin 360 Amphitheatre on November 09, 2019 in Austin, Texas."This is why I married a younger man, precisely, because he can keep up with me and keep me excited and just laughing, which is, for me, key," she continues. "He is so silly and he can be incredibly helpful on matters, things that are stressing me out, or if I'm getting overwhelmed, he's great at bringing me back down to earth and calming me down."
The mother of three adds, "He can just twist it into making me laugh right away, which just diffuses anything in my life, which really helps."
I Choose Me with Jennie Garth podcast, distributed by iHeartPodcasts, launches on April 30 and can be listened to anywhere podcasts are heard.
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