Tori Spelling Recalls Being Bullied for Her Looks While Starring on ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’: ‘I Was Eaten Alive’

Tori Spelling is looking back on her long journey to accepting her looks after being “eaten alive” during her early days in the spotlight on Beverly Hills, 90210. The actress, 47, shared a series of photos on Instagram Monday showing her face today, as well as during her days on the iconic teen show and while posing for Rolling Stone following her role in Scream 2.

Spelling revealed that while her father, famed producer Aaron Spelling, always told her that eyes were the window to the soul, she used to “hate” her own eyes. “When I started 90210 at 16 I was filled with low self confidence,” she revealed. “Then, internet trolls (yep we had them back then too!) called me frog and bug eyed.” Being put “under a microscope” as such a young girl, the actress recalled years spent begging makeup artists on set to try and make her eyes look smaller. “I would cry over my looks in the makeup trailer chair,” she wrote.

The eyes weren’t the Troop Beverly Hills star’s only insecurity. “Many people ask why I only show one side of my face. Some write hurtful things,” she continued. “Yes, it is a choice. My choice. Because, a vulnerable innocent excited girl showed all of her face at 16 and was eaten alive.” With cyberbullying following her through most of her career, Spelling said she makes the choice not to look straight on during photos because of “years of hurtful comments that I don’t even want to share to give them energy. Way worse than bug or frog eyes.”

She urged her followers to remember that next time they go to comment on someone’s appearance, “you don’t know them. They don’t know you. But, their soul will remember that unkind comment. It’ll be imprinted on them. Our memories can’t remember physical pain but we do remember emotional, verbal, and written pain.” With that being said, Spelling revealed she was done hiding from bullies and ready to embrace her face. “Here’s me. Straight on,” she concluded. “I love my eyes now. They make me uniquely me.”