Tiffani Thiessen Shares Daughter’s Unfiltered ‘Saved By the Bell’ Review
Tiffani Thiessen, Harper Renn Smith. Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for LeeTiffani Thiessen’s daughter, Harper, didn’t hold back when asked to review her hit ‘90s show Saved By the Bell. “She actually just recently finished going through the entire few seasons of the show,” Thiessen, 49, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Wednesday, September 27. Thiessen revealed that her 13-year-old was unimpressed after binging the teen drama. “She’s like, ‘TV back then was kinda boring,’” the actress said with a laugh. She noted that her 8-year-old son, Holt, isn’t aware of her TV fame just yet. Related: Celebrity Parents Share What Their Kids Thought of Their Projects Celebrity parents such as Kristin Cavallari and Sarah Michelle Gellar rose to stardom on television — and have since shared what their kids thought about the projects. Cavallari, who starred on MTV’s Laguna Beach and The Hills, opened up about how her three children, Camden, Jax
Tiffani Thiessen’s daughter, Harper, didn’t hold back when asked to review her hit ‘90s show Saved By the Bell.
“She actually just recently finished going through the entire few seasons of the show,” Thiessen, 49, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Wednesday, September 27.
Thiessen revealed that her 13-year-old was unimpressed after binging the teen drama. “She’s like, ‘TV back then was kinda boring,’” the actress said with a laugh. She noted that her 8-year-old son, Holt, isn’t aware of her TV fame just yet.
According to Thiessen — who played Kelly Kapowski for 1989 to 1992 before reprising the role on Saved By the Bell: The College Years and two spinoff movies — Harper’s opinion of the show has changed over the years. (Thiessen also played Kelly Kapowski-Morris on the Peacock revival of Saved By the Bell from 2020 to 2021.)
In August 2018, a then-8-year-old Harper saw a “tiny, tiny bit” of the show and “was into it.” Thiessen told Ellen DeGeneres at the time that Harper “wanted to keep going” after one season because she was into Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez’s characters, Zack Morris and A.C. Slater.
“She’s so boy crazy already,” Thiessen said at the time, noting she turned off the series once kissing began.
Four years later, Thiessen’s daughter took another stab at the show but wasn’t as impressed. “She’d laugh, like, ‘Mom, this is kind of a dumb show,’” Thiessen told Scary Mommy in October 2022.
Harper’s recent lackluster reaction to Saved By the Bell, however, doesn’t extend to her mom’s fashion from the same era.
“She stole my ‘90s awesome boots and I have not gotten them back yet,” Thiessen said on Wednesday, noting Harper frequently raids her closet.
Looking back, Thiessen also had a few critiques of the show that made her famous — mainly the fact that her scene partners weren’t skilled at making out.
“I didn’t have a crush on anyone,” Thiessen confessed. “Best kisser? I know you’re gonna want me to say one of those boys, but it’s not. We didn’t know what we were doing back then.”
Thiessen picked her White Collar costar Tim DeKay as her No. 1 smooch instead. Thiessen and DeKay, 60, portrayed married couple, Elizabeth and Peter Burke, on the USA Network drama from 2009 to 2014.
Off camera, Thiessen found The One in husband Brady Smith, whom she married in July 2005. The couple welcomed Harper in 2010 and Holt in 2015. Two years later, Thiessen confirmed that two was the magic number when it came to her kids.
“Being a mom, it’s up and down. It’s a little bit of a rollercoaster,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2017. “I have two and I feel very blessed. Yes, I have my hands full but there’s people out there with five or six, so this feels very easy.”
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