Shannen Doherty has told how it was tough dealing with her Beverly Hills 90210 fame in an era before sites like Twitter and Facebook.

The actress rocketed to stardom as Brenda Walsh in the 90s drama, when she was in her teens, and said that back then there was no way of addressing false stories.

Asked if it was hard to deal with the fame, she said: "Yeah. We didn't have social media back then, so some really bad trash magazine could write something bad about you and there was no way to combat it.

"But now with social media, you can instantly combat it. You can call somebody out for writing something that's not true, and get the truth out there, whereas before, we didn't have that."

Shannen, 43, also told how initially she didn't think she had won the part.

She said: "To be honest, I thought I blew it, I was very nervous. They had a reading with different guys and with Jason Priestley, and they'd also flown in a girl from New York to audition for the part. Traditionally in those days, if they were flying someone out, they were the first choice, so I thought, 'she's going to get it', slumped my shoulders and walked away.

"But the casting director came after me and asked where I was going. I said, 'I know I didn't get it, so I'm just going home', and he was like, 'Oh no, you're staying, you got it'.

"It was really cool because I was so shocked. I was convinced I hadn't got it. So now, whenever I screw up an audition, I'm like, 'you know, I think I got the part!'.The sad thing is, it's never happened like that since..."

:: Beverly Hills 90210 is on weeknights at 9pm on CBS Drama.