TV Guide September 2006
On your new show, you do the breaking up for other people. In real life, are you the breaker-upper or the break-uppee?

Shannen: I think I may have broken up with more people than I’ve been broken up with… [Laughs] But I’ve been dumped, which I hate, by the way. It’s not such a good feeling.

Your romantic past could rival any daytime soap for plot twists. Are you the been-there, done-that gal in your crowd?

Shannen: In my group of girls, any of us can turn to the other for advice. But the majority of them come to me. I’m the one who says, [sternly] “You need to set your standarts higher” or “You need to make a list of what you want in a man and stick to that list.” Back when I was younger, my mom used to say, “You give the best advice to others - now if you can only take it for yourself.” [Laughs] She was always right.

Which of your co-stars from Charmed or Beverly Hills, 90210 are you still close to? Tori? Luke? Alyssa?

Shannen: Some people you get along with and some you don’t. That’s how it is with any job. I don’t care if you go to an office from 9 to 5, there will always be a coworker who you don’t get along with. Holly Marie Combs and I keep in very close contact since Charmed. I had lunch with her five days ago. She’s pregrant again! Brian Austin Green did a show with my friend, Freddie Prinze Jr. His wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar, is a friend of mine, so I keep in touch with Brian through Freddie. But really? I like keeping work life and my person life separate.

True or false: There isn’t a club or restaurant on the planet that you don’t know the secret VIP entrance to.

Shannen: [Laughs] Do you know how that started? Crazy little Sarah Michelle Gellar! Once she called me and wanted me to go with her to a Ricky Martin concert at Staples [Center in L.A.]. I was like, “Why?” and she said, “It’ll be fun!” When we got there, I said, “Drive to the back entrance -there’s this ramp we’ll go down then we can get in through the back door.” She said, “How do you know this?” I know because I’m a big Lakers fan. But I wouldn’t know the back entrance to a club if you paid me. I won’t go to clubs anymore.

Why not?

Shannen: To be honest, it’s because I’m just too old. There’s a point where it just looks pathetic. Instead, I go to a little hole in the wall Cuban restaurant with, like, 10 friends, and we do a big dinner and salsa dancing. That’s my night out.

You’re 35. Do you feel like you still have to prove that you’re not a bad girl?

Shannen: I’ve never felt like I’ve had to prove anything to anybody but myself and my parents. Does it hurt me that people think I’m a bad girl? Absolutely. It used to make me crazy and depressed and sad. Now I just can’t worry about it. I’m busy with my show. My company produces it, so I pretty much work five days a week.

Recently you said that your life is so quiet that your current boyfriend is a video game. So how is Mr. Right?

Shannen: I was playing Diablo. I actually got so hooked on it that my parents and friends came and literally took the game away from me!

When you’re channel surfing, which of your shows do you stop on: 90210, Charmed or Little House on the Prairie?

Shannen: None! I don’t watch myself. I think that if I watch myself, I’ll become even more self-consious than I already am.

How did you feel after the recent passing of Aaron Spelling, who hired and dismissed you from both 90210 and Charmed?

Shannen: What’s amazing is that people think they understand our relationship, but we got along great. I don’t want to talk about it much, [but] the man did so much for me. I loved him. He certainly contributed a lot to this bussiness, but, on a personal note, he contributed a lot to me. I feel like I owe him. He’s definately going to be missed.