Tichina Arnold is opening up about a surprising chapter from her past — and it involves a famous face from the world of teen TV.
According to Brian Austin Green, the “Martin” actress wanted to keep their romance “quiet. Very quiet,” when the two began dating back in the ’90s. Green shared the memory during Wednesday’s episode of the Funny Knowing You podcast, where he reflected on meeting Arnold while working on Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” as she was starring across the network on “Martin.”
Green, who played David Silver on “90210” for all 10 seasons from 1990 to 2000, said the connection with Arnold — who portrayed Pamela James on “Martin” for all five seasons from 1992 to 1997 — started organically. The two became friends, and he said they even collaborated on music since they were both musicians. He has an affinity music production and she is a powerful vocalist.
“Because we were working together and we were around each other all the time, we just got along really well,” Green said, adding that they “ended up fooling around and kind of dating.”
He also described how immersed he was in hip-hop culture at the time — and how that influenced the people he dated.
“Hip-hop was my world,” Green said, explaining that he was spending time in hip-hop clubs and spaces where the culture was thriving. That meant the majority of women he dated were Black, he said, because they had common interests.
But Green pushed back on the idea that he was dating outside of his race as some sort of statement. Instead, he framed it as a reflection of who he was surrounded by and what he considered shared culture.
“That never even crossed my mind because we shared the same culture,” he said.
Still, Green admitted that the relationship began with tension, largely because Arnold allegedly laid down a boundary immediately.
“She was very clear on Day 1 [that] nobody can know about this,” Green said.
For the actor, who said he was in his early 20s at the time and already feeling insecure, the secrecy hit hard. Green described it as triggering a feeling that he wasn’t enough, and ultimately shaping his view of the entire relationship.
“I think somewhere in my mind,” he said, “I had that subconscious switch of like, ‘Oh, this isn’t a real relationship. This is just a thing that we’re doing.’”
Even when Arnold eventually came around and was “cool with it,” Green said he couldn’t shake how it started.
Despite the complicated feelings, Green emphasized that there’s no bad blood today. He said the two have “cleared the air,” and he still has love for her — adding that they had even spoken the day his podcast interview was filmed.
Arnold, meanwhile, has been candid about the relationship, too.
Green noted that Arnold appeared on the same podcast last month, where she spoke warmly about him and didn’t hold back her admiration.
She described the man she dated, later identified as Green, as a “really, really nice guy,” and she explained why she ultimately decided to end it.
“I told him, I said, ‘The reason why we’ve come to the end of our road, because I know I see you dating all these Black women now, you’re dating me and you’re not going to end up with a Black woman,’” Arnold said. “‘You’re going to share your riches and your legacy with someone white. And so I’m getting off this train.’”
Green later married Megan Fox in June 2010, and the two divorced in 2022. He’s been engaged to professional dancer Sharna Burgess since 2023, though they have not married yet.
While Arnold acknowledged that she didn’t believe the relationship was going anywhere, she still looks back on it as meaningful.
“But it was a great experience,” she said. “Because he was a good human being. And I think in life I had to experience that, so I know what the other side is.”
In the end, Arnold’s reflection lands with a kind of grown-woman clarity. Some love stories aren’t built to last, but they can still teach you exactly what you deserve.
