Ryan Eggold’s character on 90210 may seem too cool for school, but the actor is still learning how to keep his cool when it comes to kissing costar Jennie Garth.

“Isn’t that scary?” Eggold told reporters Sunday at the Emmys. “She’s married too, so I feel like I’m breaking another line.”

Eggold plays English teacher Ryan Matthews, a new love interest for Garth’s character Kelly Taylor on the show.

But Eggold isn’t about to cross any lines–not when Garth’s husband, actor Peter Facinelli, has made his feelings clear. “He hasn’t been on set, but he has been to functions, and when I met him he just squeezed my hand very tightly,” Eggold said. “Fair enough, Peter Facinelli, you are king. It’s cool.”

Jennie Garth may be reprising her role as the stylish Kelly Taylor on the new 90210, but earlier this year, looks were the last thing on her mind.

“I had this six months of hell,” the actress, 36, tells PEOPLE. “I had a sick daughter and then my father passed away, so there was a six month period in my life when I didn’t think about my looks or my weight or my body or anything.”

Fresh off her stint on Dancing With The Stars – and toned from months of 8-hour-a-day dance practices – Garth suddenly faced every mother’s worst nightmare. Her 5-year-old daughter Lola, “got very sick and we didn’t know what was wrong with her,” says Garth, who has three girls with husband Peter Facinelli. “I was basically locked in a closet with her for three months.”

Leaving all vanity behind, “I didn’t exercise or eat healthy,” she adds. “I had been a 27 in my jeans after Dancing With the Stars and I was so excited. But it really went back quickly. I definitely gained inches and a size.”

Finally, doctors were able to diagnose her daughter’s ailment. “It turned out to be a form of JRA [Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis] and we treated her and it’s in remission,” says Garth. “It was tough, but she’s better now.”