Jennie Garth on the set of Books That Changed My Life
Jennie Garth in conversation about Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jennie Garth and the Book That Changed Her Life
Jennie Garth and Chris Collins
Books That Changed My Life
The “90210” star and bestselling author of “I Choose Me” remembers a little parable on her mother’s bookshelf and the long trip back to herself.
LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, June 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Before Jennie Garth chose herself on primetime and topped bestseller lists, she was a thirteen-year-old transplant from central Illinois, unpacking her mother’s home office in Arizona. She pulled down a slim, illustrated paperback about a bird. Without realizing it, that seagull’s story became her life’s flight plan.
In conversation with host Chris Collins on the YouTube series Books That Changed My Life, Jennie Garth traces Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” along the arc of her life: her restlessness, her courage to break away from the flock, and the radical self-love she discovered in her fifties. She reflects on coming full circle with her own New York Times bestseller, “I Choose Me,” returning, like Jonathan, to share what she’d learned.
The Seagull on the Shelf:
Garth grew up surrounded by books; her father founded the first adult-education center in Illinois, and her mother was a teacher. Seeking respite from the cold Midwestern winter, Garth’s family moved to Arizona. A thirteen-year-old Garth found herself in an unfamiliar environment, unpacking her mother’s home office.
Amidst a smattering of self-help titles, a slim, illustrated paperback about a seagull caught her eye. While Garth devoured Bach’s 1970 parable in a single sitting, she recalls that its impact was anything but immediate:
“I don’t think I was able to really grasp the concepts as a young person. It was inside of me, and I didn’t have the words to share it. And now it’s so profound.”
Garth hadn’t touched the book since that first encounter in Arizona. Something about it, though, had lodged itself deep inside her, unconsciously guiding her. She reflects on finally revisiting Bach’s work in the week before the conversation:
“It’s wild how real and accurate that book has been from my journey. I hadn’t read it since I originally read it, and visiting it again this last week—it’s so profound. It really is. And, you know, it’s about a bird.”
Leaving the Flock:
In Bach’s story, most seagulls fly to eat; Jonathan, by contrast, eats to fly. This transgression against seagull norms gets him banished from the flock. Garth sees herself in Jonathan: from an early age, she harbored a restless desire to push beyond the boundaries of the conventional life.
“I’ve always known there’s more for me. Not that I’m a chosen person, or any different than anyone else—it’s that within myself, I know there’s a drive, a curiosity to find out what that more is. I want to know.”
Like Jonathan, Garth has found that seeking more isn’t always welcomed. Breaking from convention—new friends, a new life, a new version of herself—meant disappointing those who wished she’d stayed put. Eventually, Garth learned to stop apologizing to old friends:
“They always love to say, ‘You’ve changed.’ And to that, I just say, ‘Yeah, I have. I hope you do, too.'”
Authenticity carries a steep price; Garth, by her own account, has paid it more than once. She maintains that it’s been a price worth paying in pursuit of herself.
Choosing Herself:
In Bach’s story, the most cryptic advice comes from an elder seagull named Chiang; he advises Jonathan that to fly at the speed of thought, you must “begin by knowing that you have already arrived.” It took Garth decades to register the significance of that line. As she puts it,
“I feel like that’s acceptance. The knowing that you belong everywhere.”
That feeling eluded Garth until a visit to a Buddhist temple recontextualized what “belonging” means. Surrounded by chanting practitioners, Garth recited a mantra about the Buddha being an “everlasting friend.” She recalls realizing, tearful and smiling, that she could be her own comfort:
“I felt that connection, that everlasting friend… I am my everlasting friend. And that was the moment I didn’t feel alone.”
The discovery that everything she needed already existed inside of her is the engine of Garth’s new book, “I Choose Me.” The title is borrowed from a line she delivered on “90210,” when her character, Kelly, was made to choose between two suitors. As Garth recalls,
“She didn’t choose either of them. She chose herself. I said that line in 1995—I had no idea what it really meant.”
The line’s reception surprised Garth. Women across the country reached out, thanking her for the permission to put themselves first. Garth was inspired to write “I Choose Me” not as a story of reinvention per se, but as a long, winding journey back to herself.
Writing “I Choose Me” meant telling stories she’d spent a career keeping out of interviews—including an account of a time she no longer wanted to be alive. For Garth, that honesty was less confession than survival: a means of supporting herself to live another day.
She hopes the book inspires readers to recognize that they, like Jonathan, have already arrived. In her words:
“We don’t need to reinvent ourselves. We are ourselves.”
Watch the full conversation HERE.
Press Contact: Ryan Oshinsky
Syndicate X
+1 650-773-8983
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
TikTok
X
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability
for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this
article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
