"There weren't many actresses willing to have kids, because they thought it would jeopardize their career or their desirability," Garth says. "There was an actress on an Aaron Spelling soap opera who got sued for getting pregnant. I got pregnant right after her, while I was on an Aaron Spelling show. But I knew he'd be supportive; [90210 was such a hit] he couldn't be anything but."
So Garth, surrounded by twenty-something costars at the peak of their fame, went it alone. "I had a whole camp set up for Luca by my trailer with a fake yard, toys, a waterslide, and a baby pool," she says. "The set designers built a little picket fence around my Baby Land. I joke that I moved out of Beverly Hills into my little trailer park in the back."
None of which is to say she has a single regret. A dozen years later, motherhood is Garth's number-one priority. But when the occasional workday (her role on the new 90210 is recurring) or volunteer commitment to the American Heart Association (her father passed away last year from a genetic heart condition) calls her away from home, switching gears is tough. "When you're a full-time mom and you work a few days here and there, it's hard to pace yourself," she says. "I want to know what my kids are eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I want to know how much activity they've had in a day. It's difficult to keep it all in order."
It's also difficult to discipline three girls who span 12 years in age. "I had to give my 6-year-old four time-outs two days ago," Garth recalls. "She kept hitting. I don't spank, though sometimes I think, These time-outs aren't working! What's next?" For now, she's sticking with "consistency, and not making idle threats. They have to know there are consequences for violence, name-calling, and not doing household chores. They're all in such different places, but all those places require boundaries."
Somehow Garth manages to be in three mind-sets (and, seemingly, places) at once. This year, the girls are in three different schools, and she's playing chauffeur. "We're always together, maybe to a fault!" she laughs. "We like to be together, I think more than most child psychologists or even my mother would say is healthy. But there will come a time when they don't want to be with me, so I'm reveling in it now."
Garth's biggest challenge these days is finding time to be with Facinelli, 35, who's busy with roles in the Twilight movies (creepy vampire-surgeon Carlisle Cullen) and the Showtime series Nurse Jackie (creepy ER doctor Fitch Cooper). During his downtime, Facinelli is an active dad, shuttling his girls to bowling alleys and ballgames. "He works like crazy," says Garth. "But when he's home and present, it's great." And as rough as his schedule has been on the family, "it's good for him, because it's what he's always wanted," she says. "[Early on,] all I wanted to do was work. Now all I want to do is not work. I've passed that stage of my life. I have to respect that we're at different places. Hopefully it'll balance out."
Until then, it appears that the Garth-Facinelli women are content to revel in their girl time, creating memories together that are impossible—even given Mom's shot memory—to forget.
