NEED TO KNOW
Andrea Zuckerman always dressed a little differently than the other female characters of Beverly Hills, 90210 — and according to actress Gabrielle Carteris, that was by design.
During an appearance on her former costar Jennie Garth’s I Choose Me podcast, Carteris, 65, explained why her character was never seen in a bathing suit throughout her duration on the show.
“Aaron Spelling, I remember before we started the summer episodes, [saying,] ‘All right, ladies, we’re going to be wearing bathing suits in the summer, so you might want to know that,'” she said of the show’s executive producer.
“I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ I refused to wear a bathing suit. I don’t know if you ever saw, I never wore a bathing suit,” she added.
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While Carteris still filmed the beach scenes, she always chose to wear shorts instead of a bathing suit.
“I wore shorts, or I had my leotard and my shorts,” Carteris said. “I wore my overalls and my tank top, but I refused to wear [a swimsuit], because it infuriated me. I mean, I had a cute little body at the time, I think, but it enraged me that that was the conversation.”
“I just didn’t want to objectify myself. So I never did,” she added.
She was quick to note, however, that it was never an issue with producers.
“They never challenged me on it at 90210. I’m sure it made it so certain things they chose for me not to do in the show, because I just wouldn’t do that. I don’t want to be seen that way,” she said.
Carteris’ character, Andrea — the smart and socially awkward editor of the school newspaper — was one of the primary leads of Beverly Hills, 90210 for its first five seasons. She has previously said that she left the show when the writers struggled to develop her character after she got married and had a baby, though she returned for cameo appearances later.
In May 2025, the actress marked her 33rd wedding anniversary with husband Charles Isaacs. They share two daughters, Kelsey, 30, and Mollie, 26.
