Tori Spelling 'always suspected' dad Aaron Spelling was behind her 90210 character staying a virgin

The reasons for Donna Martin's longtime status as a virgin on Beverly Hills, 90210 are finally being spelled out for its star.

On the latest episode of the 9021OMG podcast, host Tori Spelling, who played Donna for all 10 seasons of the popular series from 1990-2000, put producer and writer Charles Rosin on the hot seat about where the character arc originated.

Rosin broached the topic first, reminiscing about a time when Spelling's father and series producer Aaron Spelling told him "that Donna should be a virgin." "And it was like, 'Yes, absolutely she should,'" Rosin recalled thinking.

"I never knew where it came from," Spelling said of the decision. "I always suspected, and people say, like, 'He kept his daughter a virgin.'"

Everett Collection Tori Spelling as Donna Martin in 'Beverly Hills, 90210'

Spelling, who cohosts the podcast with fellow 90210 alum Jennie Garth, then asked Rosin if it was "literally" her late father's idea, and he replied without hesitation, "Oh, absolutely."

"We just went, 'Oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense!'" he added of the writers room. "Because we were able now to differentiate you."

Spelling has talked about her suspicions surrounding her character's longtime virginity before. In a 2013 interview with Vulture, Spelling explained that when she was first cast she was just "a friend of Kelly and Brenda's, so there was never a discussion about her character staying a virgin."

She continued, "I think she stayed a virgin because once we established that she was a fan favorite, people really started relating to her. Teens constantly would approach me and tell me that they were virgins and they had times where they were scared that being a virgin would make them seem uncool, but then Donna made it okay."

However, Donna did eventually lose her virginity to her longtime boyfriend, David, in season 7. "We knew it was inevitable," Spelling told Vulture of the big episode. "I think at one point I jokingly said, 'Come on, Dad. It's time.'"

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