Latest / Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald / Sam Asghari on Britney Spears, Iran and Hollywood

Transcript

Sam Asghari on Britney Spears, Iran and Hollywood · Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Heather MacDonald has got the Juicy Scoop. When you're on
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the road, when you're on the go, Juicy Scoop is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the show to know. She talks Hollywood tales for real life.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Saving Serial Data and Serial Sisters. You'll be addicted and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: addicted fast to the number one tabloid real life podcast.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Listen in, listen up. Woo, woo. Heather MacDonald. Juicy Scoop.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Juicy Scoop. You guys, I'm recording
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this on June 25th. You're listening to it on the 26th, 2025.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And actually today, June 25th, was when my first episode
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of Juicy Scoop ever dropped in 2015. That day, it
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: happened to be a Thursday. So thank you for sticking
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: with me all these years. I'm wearing one of our
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: special limited edition Juicy Scoop anniversary shirts. And very excited.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I'm also very excited to tell you guys, you've been
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: asking and wondering, Heather, are you going to be at
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: BravoCon weekend in Las Vegas? And please tell me you're
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: having a show. Well, your prayers have been answered. The
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: tickets are available right now if you're Patreon. There's a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: special code that you can only find on Patreon. For
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: everyone else, you can buy the ticket starting tomorrow. That's
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: June 27th and Friday. You'll be able to buy the tickets.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: It's a show on Friday, November 14th. It's a live
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Juicy Scoop, which will be very Bravo-centric, classic Bravo, funny,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: special guests. It'll be at MGM and that's at 10 p.m.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: on November 14th, which is perfect. So you can add
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: it to your plans if you're Going to just do
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: one day of BravoCon or a few special events. This
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: is perfect. You can get a beautiful dinner before and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: laugh your ass off Friday night, November 14th. So get
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: on that. Go to heathermcdonald.net. This is where you can
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: also buy the merch. Also this shirt, which I thought
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: was a little much to be wearing myself, but it's
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: been selling very well and very nice soft quality. There
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: you go. A couple updates before we get to our
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: very juicy interview that we did record last week. with
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Sam Asghari, who is Britney Spears' ex-husband and also a
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: rising actor and such, such an interesting conversation. It's pretty,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I was really surprised how much he shared. So very juicy,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: very exciting for you guys. Listen to that. First, let's
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: get into some hot topics. All right. This just happened
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: today in the Diddy trial. No, this is nothing gross.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I'm just giving you some updates. Prosecutors have dropped kidnapping, arson,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: and certain sex trafficking charges. So they're getting ready to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: close their arguments and then the jury will go. And
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: so the prosecution has said, don't focus on these things.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: We're not even going for those. So People are speculating,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: could he in fact walk? Now, in order to get
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the racketeering and all that, he would still have to,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: they still have to convict him of that. That's why
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: this case is confusing, and that's why I'm not going
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: to try to explain it perfectly. But, you know, because
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I think some of the victims, like Cassie and the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: other Jane Doe I think that it is going to
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  Speaker 1: be hard for a jury to say, well, I know
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: they were willing at this time, but this time they weren't.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: And is the sex trafficking of bringing male sex workers
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: across state lines to have these fun hotel nights in
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: which everyone was an adult, is that really a crime?
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  Speaker 1: So they have to basically, they have very specific instructions
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: on what crimes he in fact has broken. which would
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  Speaker 1: be part of the racketeering. So it's, it is very confusing. And,
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  Speaker 1: but I mean, I don't know. I don't know that
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  Speaker 1: he'll get 20 years or something. I would guess probably not.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I am going to predict that he's going to get
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: like 36 months and do 21 of them. That's just
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: my prediction.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, also.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Now, when I said a couple weeks ago, I think
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: it was for my YouTube thumbnail, as you will, you
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: have to do a short title. I said, Blake Lively wins.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Justin Baldoni, the judge had thrown out his defamation lawsuit
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: against her and New York Times and Ryan Reynolds. Then
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: people said, she didn't win. He's still going to refile more.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: He can still refile certain aspects of the lawsuit or something. Well,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: according to TMZ, Justin Baldoni's lawyer says he won't refile
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: claims against Blake Lively after all. So there's a lot
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: of speculation about why, if in fact this is a
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: real win for Blake, if, um, what other tactic they
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: might take, if they might just do some settlement, if
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: they might retract it all, I don't know. But, um,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Blake Lively and Taylor still not hanging out. Okay. And
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: just like that, we had another episode and you guys
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: are going to be shocked by what I'm going to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: tell you. There are certain things about, and just like that,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that I do think they are doing right. Okay. And
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: one actually is, I've now changed my mind based on
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the last episode, is Carrie dating Aiden. Because it's exploring
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the fact that he's divorced with kids. And where does
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: she fit into that? And that is juicy. Because when
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: you're in your 50s and the kids are almost out
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of the house, maybe a few years, I have friends
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: in that position. And the smart ones are waiting to
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: move in, actually, with their soon-to-be fiancé. They will get married,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: but they are actually waiting for the youngest one to
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: go off to college because financially they don't have to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: live together, so they're not going to fuck up those
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: teenage years that might already be fragile from a divorce.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I thought they captured this really, really well. Now we all,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: myself included, was like, Who the fuck would wait five
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: years when Aiden's like, just wait five years. And that
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: whole thing was weird. But then she gets there. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: we see the dynamic that he's really struggling with this
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: youngest child. And they play apples to apples. And let
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: me tell you, if you've played apples to apples with
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: your kids, this was a very... triggering episode for me.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get into it at Patreon, why I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: think this, they actually got this moment. And I do
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: think now she'll be able to date other people. And
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I would like to just see the storyline go away.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: But I, because, you know, in, I think one of
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the things, the problem is that people are like, this
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: isn't this, these characters are different than this isn't, you know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: sex in the city. And yeah, cause when you're in
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: your thirties during sex in the city, which they were,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: they would go on these dates and they should find
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: this cute guy and, Oh, he lives with his parents.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: And now I have to deal with the weird, you know,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: parents or like weird mother-in-laws. Like when Charlotte got married in, um,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: towards the end of the season, she had a mean mother-in-law. Well,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: now when you date in your fifties, it's not the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: parents that are barely hanging on to life. If they
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: are that you have to deal with the in-laws or
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: your boyfriend's parents, it is their kids, right? And at
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: that point, you're not looking to be a stepmom. You
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: can't parent them. And you're like, maybe I don't want
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to fuck with these weird kids right now at this
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: stage in my life. You know, it's not like you're
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: dating someone and the kid is three. It's a totally
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: different story. So that is very juicy. Miranda, we miss
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Che so much. I miss Rosie O'Donnell. This chick that
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: she's starting a relationship with is not funny. It's not clever.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: She's not particularly sexy. She's pretty boring. She's a boring English,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: you know, gold star lesbian. And it's just boring. So
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: that I didn't love. And there was one funny line.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: There was one funny line during the dinner with Charlotte.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Harry's old father comes and they announced that By the way,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: we're way too into the kid's sex life. I agree
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: with that. But her daughter is dating a hot ballerina,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: a male ballerina. And the old man goes, well, in
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: my day, male ballerinas had boyfriends. And then the guy goes, oh,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I have a boyfriend too. And they're like, and Charlotte
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: with her eyes. And then her daughter goes, yeah, whatever
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: his name is. Marco is polyamorous. He's poly. And then
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the old grandpa goes, Polly wants some brisket and like
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Polly wants a cracker. And I got to say, that
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: pun made me chuckle. Old Jew humor can be funny.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: It can be funny. And to me, it made me laugh.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: So the rest of the people, who cares? Don't matter.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: All right. The biggest wedding of the century. Bigger than... well,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: maybe not bigger than Meghan Markle, but since Meghan Markle's wedding,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: this wedding, in which Lauren Sanchez is getting married for
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: either her second or third time, not that it matters,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to Jeff Bezos, I think it's his second. They're doing
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: it in Venice. There's a lot of people in Venice
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: saying they're not happy about it, and they put these
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: big signs up, go away, all of this. Well, they
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: did an invite that Some people thought it was a
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: tacky invite. But I actually thought it was a pretty
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: smart way to ingratiate yourself to the people of Venice.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: And it was kind of the art around it is weird,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: which we'll show it. But it said, we're excited for
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: you to join us. The reports are that each guest
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: is costing about 50 grand from beginning to end. I mean,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine them picking up their flights. They all
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: have private planes. But For whatever this wedding is, they're
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: estimating each guest is costing them 50 grand. They're asking
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: for no gifts. Do you imagine? She's like registered at Macy's.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: And you're like, oh, I got you the butter house
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: or whatever. But they are saying, but instead, we're making
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: contributions in your honor with gratitude to you for making
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the journey to celebrate with us in Venice. Donations on
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: your behalf are being made Oh, they're not even asking
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: for donations. They're saying they are making all the donations
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: to two different charities in Venice for the lagoon habitat
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: to protect Venice's future. This magic place has gifted us
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: an unforgettable memory. Our hope is that through these efforts
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: and by you joining us, Venice will continue to inspire
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: generations to come. I want to say, you guys, pretty classy,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: pretty nice. All right. Meanwhile, Megan 2.0 had a premiere
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: party and I saw this video and I'm like, why
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: is Margaret Josephs dancing like that? I'm pretty impressed. Margaret
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Josephs of Real Housewives of New Jersey. And oh my God,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: between the hair and the glasses, and there were like
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: several of these Megan girls like dressed like this, dancing
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: in these robot outfits. And the first comment was, I
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: thought it was Margaret Josephs. It is, tell me that
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: does not look like her. Meghan Markle is releasing her
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: first rosé as ever to go with the raspberry jam.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sure this will sell out as well. So who
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: knows how many cases she made, but get on it.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: And it's things like this that is keeping her from
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: continuing her podcast, which has gone on pause. She's been
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: doing it for so long, almost as long as I have.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: She started April 6th of 2025 and just, whoo, she
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: is kaput, okay? Kim Kardashian, we knew this was coming,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: is going to produce the Bratz movie. Of course, Barbie
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: was a huge hit and Lego was a huge hit
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: and now it's going to be Bratz. I think this
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: is brilliant. I think, you know, we grew up with Barbies.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: We wanted to look like Barbies. We wanted Barbies legs.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: We liked Barbies looks, my generation, Gen X. Millennials grew
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: up with Bratz dolls. Hence why I think they like
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the fuller lip, the eye, the makeup, the eyelashes, all
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: of that became the look of the millennials for the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: last 15 years, 20s, whatever. And I mean, I remember
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Mackenzie had one of these Bratz dolls, and I'm like,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: does it come with underwear, or does she go without
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: to get into the club for free? These are the
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: things we used to play. Anyway, that's going to be
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: a show, and I believe it's going to be, yeah,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: live action, so there'll be girls. And there was a
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: funny part in Barbie where they thought it was supposed
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: to be like Bratz dolls doing something, but this is separate, obviously,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: because it's not a Mattel thing. And there was a
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: bidding war... bidding war and Kim's going to play a role,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: which she absolutely should. She, she started that look, but interestingly,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: plastic surgery and, um, the way girls, younger girls are
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: doing their makeup and stuff is moving away from the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: filler face, the big lips, that type of look in
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the plastic surgery is also not working and same with boobs.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: So Sammy Sheen, who is Denise Richard and Charlie Sheen's
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: daughter has a successful only fans page. And she did
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a big thing where I'm not going to show my
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: boobs until I get them done. And she got her
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: boobs done. She has since removed them. I don't know
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: if it was because she thought it wasn't making her
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: feel well, like health-wise. Some people, their body just doesn't
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: accept a foreign object like an implant. But plastic surgeons
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: are saying the new thing is people taking their own
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: fat to just make their own breasts a little fuller
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: and not putting any kind of implant in it. which
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: is kind of interesting movement. I've said tiny tits have
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: been in forever. Embrace those tiny tits. All right, you guys,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: get ready for an amazing Patreon, extra episodes this weekend.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about what I really thought about
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: my episode with Sherry Papini on Patreon and a special
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: look on that on the Juicy Crimes level. So make
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: sure that you're part of Patreon. And also if you're
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: on Patreon, go over right now if you missed the
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: post about how you can pre-order those tickets right now.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: It's just one show on November 14th in Vegas at
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: BravoCon and it's going to be no holds barred. We
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: will be snarky. We will tell the truth. We're going
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to be hilarious. There's going to be music. There's going
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: to be impressions. There's going to be guests. It's going
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: to be a fucking good time and we don't give
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: a shit. Okay? So that's where you want to be.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Talk to your friends. Get those tickets now. Before it
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: sells out, everything's at heathermcdahl.net. Okay, now for a very juicy,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: surprising interview that I did with Sam, and I hope
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I say his name right, and Skari. Hello, and welcome
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to Juicy Scoop. Well, I'm very excited for my guest today.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: We have a lot to discuss. I hope I say
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: your name right. Sam and Skari. No, ask Skari.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, that's pretty good. Asgari. Yes.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Asgari.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, Asgari.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: You know him as.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: With one A-S, not two A-S.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Yes. You know him as model, actor, also ex-husband to
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Britney Spears. But before we start, I just want to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: tell people that we recorded this on June 18th, 2025.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: You are originally from Iran.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: It's a very....
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Tumultuous time right now. We don't know when you guys
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: are listening to this, where we'll be in the world
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: right now, but we want to be really sensitive to
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: what's happening. So can you fill us in a little
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: bit right now of what you're going through?
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Personally, you know, I'm a citizen of the U.S. and
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I've been here for quite a bit.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Well, how old were you when you came over?
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: I was 11 and a half, almost 12 years old
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: in 2006 when I first moved here. And my family
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: always knew that we were going to come to America
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: and America was this, you know, land of opportunity, this
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: out of touch reality that we always knew we were
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: going to come. But it's a bittersweet moment to see
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: where the country is and what people understand Iranians and
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Persians are. In Los Angeles, there's a lot of Persians.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: And if you know them, you know that they are
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: not the same as their government. I mean, the government
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: is called the Islamic Republic Revolution that took over in 1979.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: And they sort of have had, you know, this control
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: over the people. And there's a false narrative of Persians
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: in Iran hate America and Israel and everything in the
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Western world. But the truth reality is back in history,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: throughout the Iranian history, we've always loved America and we
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: always loved Israel and Syria.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Everybody.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Matter of fact, that country is one of the most
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: peaceful countries in the world, and it's the oldest country
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: in the world. And the history just, you know, you
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: go back to Cyrus the Great, so many inspirations came
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: from that, anywhere between culture, history, everything. We used day-to-day
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: things that was invented in, you know, the Persian Empire
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: and things like that. And it's sort of a sad
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: moment that in America, when I first moved here, people
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: knew it as the government.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: And it's completely different.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Saturday morning, and the house is playing its greatest hits.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Sound familiar?
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: With Karcher, the volume drops. From sticky floors to bathroom buildup,
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: Karcher's indoor cleaning range conquers the chaos.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Ah!
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: That's the sound of a Karcher kind of calm. Shop
• 20:10
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• 20:14
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• 20:15
  Speaker 5: I'm Darman, and this is What Happens Next. Each week
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: on the show, I sit down with extraordinary people who
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: have faced tremendous setbacks, and yet somehow have found a
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: way to turn them into their greatest strengths.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Life is one long lesson of chaos.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: I'm heading to the Emmys, and I have police complaints
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: filed against me. When your free will was about to
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: be taken from you, what would you do if it
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: was given back?
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: Where did that need come from, where you thought that
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: you had to succeed in order to feel loved?
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: He said, I have a work dad. I need a
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: home dad. What happens next? When I came in, he
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: started crying.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: Everybody in life encounters hardships. What defines them is not
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: those hard moments that they go through.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: It's about what happens next.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I decided to risk it all.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: I realized how valuable every day was. You're worth the work.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Listen, Dara, I'm not going to pull punches.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: You can use your voice even if it's shaped.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: The stories are different, but the impact is the same.
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: Only one question matters. What happens next?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: So how old are you now?
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: I'm 31 now.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: So what year did you say you came here?
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: In 2006.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: So I grew up here too. And so I was,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I remember being young and, you know, knowing about the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: influx of Iranian citizens coming to, in particular, very much LA, Bali,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, Beverly Hills. And my parents were in real
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: estate And a lot of the real estate was being
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: bought by Iranians. A lot of realtors were Iranians. And
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in my home, it was very positive. So I hope
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: that you felt it was positive for you because it
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: was not ever a negative thing. It was the exact
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: same thing, that they left a regime that was not—
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: treating people well to come here and they were successful.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And my favorite thing about my Persian friends is the, uh,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: cultural thing of that. If you compliment them on something,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: they give it to you. Like I always tell the story.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I had a friend, my husband's friend, um, came over
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: kind of like your age, very American was in the
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: army and they were doing, um, medical sales together. And
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: so then our boys are the same age. And I
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: went to their house like in Sherman Oaks. And her
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: little boy was like just a couple months older than mine.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: And he had this like swinging bassinet thing. And I go, oh,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I want to get that for Drake. And she took
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: her son out. And she's like, no, you take it. Like,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: what are you talking about? She's like, he's fine. We
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: have something else. You take that. I want you to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: have it. And I was like, oh, my God, everyone
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: needs to compliment a Persian friend.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they will give it to you. They're generous. And
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: it's almost rude if you don't take it.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I took it.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a weird thing because, you know, I was
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: born in Iran. But when I moved here in 2006,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: my number one objective was to fit into the culture
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: because we loved America. I mean, like I was just
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: in love with the flag. It was just like this
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: happy moment of coming here. And, you know, even I
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: part ways from my family. I moved here alone. My
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: sisters were still stuck back there because of the immigration system.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: And were your sisters older?
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I have three sisters.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: The youngest one is eight years older than me. And
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: they're like my little sisters, to be honest with you.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Wait, your youngest? Wait, your oldest sister is eight years older?
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: The youngest older sister that I have is eight.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, so the little girls are all.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, so there's a big break between you.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: And the girls.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I got an eight-year gap difference between the youngest sister
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: and then I have a nine-year with the middle daughter.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Of my dad.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: And then the oldest is 10 years. And they're three sisters.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: They're all here. Long story short, my dad was... a
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: player grown up and he wanted a son and God
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: sort of punished him by giving him three daughters. And
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: he told me, he said, listen, I am a daddy's
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: girl and I love being a daddy's girl. And I
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: would never change that. He wanted a son because in
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: that culture, the son is to carry, you know, the
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: family name.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: So you came over here then with who?
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I came here, I moved with my dad and my
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: father was kind of in a situation where he had
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: to go back and get my sister's situation right. And
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: because of the relationships with the U.S. and Iranian government,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: there is not an American embassy in Iran. You have
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: to go through Turkey or different countries to sort of
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: get the visa. And it took around 10 to 15
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: years for my sisters to get their visa. They were
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: over the age of 18 and they had to be
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: FBI checked. For me, it was a little bit easier
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: because I was under the age and I didn't have
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: to go through all that process. So my visa was,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: they give it to me right there. When we took the, um, uh,
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: when we went for an interview, I remember, uh, I
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: went to Turkey, Istanbul to go to the American embassy. Um,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: and I was talking to a lady and she was Korean,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: but she worked for the immigration and she was sort
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: of asking me questions and things like that. And right away,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: she sort of, um, give me a visa. And then
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: that's when I had to say bye to my mom.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: And my sisters were back in Iran.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: So who did you live with at 11?
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: So I said bye to my mom.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: I moved here. My dad was here. I met with
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: my dad. And I was with my dad for a
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: few years. And my uncle sort of took care of
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: me at that moment. And my dad went back to
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: situate my sister's situations. And then they moved here six
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: years after me, slowly.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: So when you came over here at 11, did you
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: speak English?
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: I did not, no.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: And where in L.A. were you living?
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: I was in Westlake Village, California.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's where I live now.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: Well, actually, at the time it was Camarillo. And then
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: I moved to Westlake for pretty much all my life.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: I went to school there.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: How did you learn and go to school at 11?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: For me, it was, you know, like I say, it
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: was just such a cool moment to be here. And
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: I think at that age, you know, I spoke Farsi.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: I went to school in Iran. I knew how to
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: read and write. And I was just so enthusiastic about
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: just being in this country that it wasn't even an
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: issue speaking English. It was sort of a fast thing to,
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: you know, learn.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's amazing.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's impressive. And how was it like making friends
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: and things? Was that difficult?
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: It was very easy. No, at the time, Borat came out.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Do you remember Borat? Oh, yeah. With Sasha Baron-Conan. And
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: that was like.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: I was watching all these comedy movies because comedies is, is,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: is very effective when it comes to, you know, learning.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: A lot of people say they would learn watching TV
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and stuff that, that really helped them get it quick.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: And you know, there's the actions and it's like, you know,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: the Mr. Bean, the Borat comedians that, you know, they're
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: over the top and they sort of come here and
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: they make fun of themselves. And, and people were, you know,
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: I was, doing the phrase and all the popular kids
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: in school were like, Oh, you know, they were calling
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: us Borat. I have, I had a few Persian friends
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: as well. And we kind of fit in, you know,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: using such a crazy comedy to, to sort of like
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: ease our way into the popular kids and the people
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: that were cool. And we thought we were cool, but
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: the reality was they were just making fun of us.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: They were like, Oh, let's just use these guys as
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: our clown and as our thing. So It was easy.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: You know, I played American sports. I played American football.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: I used to drink Gatorade in the morning. I thought
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: that was like an American thing to do, to fit in.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: So everything was, you know.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: So did you go to Westlake High?
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: At this time, I was in middle school, eighth grade
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: in middle school in Camarillo, a school called Monta Vista.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: And after that, I came to Westlake because they had
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: like a really cool football program. And my uncle lived
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: in Westlake. So that's where I went to Westlake High School.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: And then was high school better? Like, was it, or
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: was it still a big adjustment for you?
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I wasn't really, I was just so happy to be here.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I wasn't even focused on the adjustment. I mean, I
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: was so delusional that I thought people were making fun
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: of you was that you were complimentary.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: It was complimentary. Okay.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: You know, it was just a sweet moment and it
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: was never, I never had a tough time fitting in
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: and I kind of made light of the situation, made,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: made fun of myself. It was an adjustment for sure. Like,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Because when I was in Iran, I went to all-boys schools.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: So it was sort of— I had sisters, so that whole
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: guy-to-girl situation was a little bit different for people to
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: fit in. But for me, I was raised by women,
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: so it wasn't too awkward for me. I wasn't saying
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: anything weird to scare off the white girls in school
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: and things like that. But people still found it weird
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: that I looked older.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: I looked much older. I was this size.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I had a certain haircut and facial
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: hair that the white kids couldn't even, you know, grow
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: their beards and things like that. And I was, you know,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I was sort of like this 40 year old in
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: high school.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: That's so funny.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: It was fun.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: And so after high school, then what did you do?
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: After high school, when high school was over, I tried
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: playing football. I went to Nebraska. We had a family
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: member in Nebraska. And part of what really helped me
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: when you move here, you got to sort of America
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: is a melting pot of cultures. You know, you got Latinos,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: you got Persians, you got, especially in LA, there's towns
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: like the little, you know, Tokyo or whatever you think of,
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: you can sort of move into that area and you
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: can get by, but not even speaking English. I wanted
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: to do the opposite. I wanted to go to like
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: the far away from Iranians and really like part ways
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: from that culture and because.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: Of our government.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Our government is so terrible that we don't even want
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: to be associated with that. I wanted to change my name.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: My name was Hassam, my first name, H-E-S-A-M. And I
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: changed it to Sam because it was more pleasant.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, more American, yeah.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: More American.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: And I did all that stuff and sort of it
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: took me maybe about two years to speak fluent English
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: and sort of, you know, learn how to sit down
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: and eat properly and, and, and, and become American and
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: celebrate American things. And that lifestyle was just so cool
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: for me that I embraced it really fast.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: So when you were in Nebraska, were you going to
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the college there playing, trying.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: To play football?
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I went to, my family had businesses there. We had, uh,
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: they had a couple of gas stations. So I was
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: going there to help them out for summer. Um, and
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: because I was working multiple jobs, trying to support myself
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: and things like that. And And at that time, I
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: went there to play sports as well. I was like,
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: maybe I'm here. Let's just play football there for a
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: few months.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: But Nebraska is tough.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: I was homesick. When you come to California.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: Or New York.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: There's no place like it.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: There's no... It was a bunch of corn and food,
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: and I was gaining so much weight. So I came
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: back to LA. I went to this community college, Moorpark
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: Community College. And I played football there. But at that time,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: it was... I was an adult, so I had to
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: take care of myself and things like that. So I
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: was working multiple jobs and playing a sport and things
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: like that. And then sports were becoming, when you play sports,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: it's sort of a full-time job. And I was getting
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: fired from my work because I was trying to navigate
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: and go back and forth between practices. And I was
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: lying to people, taking a lunch break, but going to
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: football practice and showing up late to places. And then
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: I got fired from a few things. So You know,
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: that's when reality hit is like, are you going to
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: make it into sports or are you going to focus
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: on certain things? And I was at that time I
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: was adjusting with my weight because when you play sports,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: you're you weigh a certain way and things like that.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: And that's when the opportunity of commercial acting and modeling
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: came into place.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: So how did someone approach you or what?
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: Uh, it wasn't somebody that approached me.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, in, in school I was also doing, you know,
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: drama and, and, and all that good stuff. I always
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: had loved for acting and things like that. So it
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: was sort of a moment where I was realizing that
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: what was working for me. And then, uh, yeah, I mean,
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: I got into like a couple of music videos and,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: and a couple of agents reached out, a couple of
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: fashion shows wanted me to, to walk on the thing.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: And at that time I didn't want to do modeling.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: I wanted to focus on acting. So I started reaching
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: out to agents and started like fake it till you
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: make it moment where I was, you know, one of
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: my good friends made a fake Gmail and was pitching
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: me out to agents.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: So he was pretending to be your agent.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was pretending to be. And my whole life
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: has been sort of, you know, you have to go
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: above and beyond and sort of fake it till you
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: make it to get there. And it's a cool moment
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: to look back and make fun of that. uh, reality
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Did you ever find, cause I, I noticed this too about, um,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: your luck and, and what's good is like, if I
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: was casting director, if I was an agent, I was
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: trying to pitch you. What's great about you for an
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: actor is that you could play many different ethnicities. Like
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you could play Latino, you could play Italian as well
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: as well as something Middle Eastern.
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Did you find that was a good thing? Like people,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: clued into that too.
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah at that time i still i was still you
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: know more.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Muscular and that was an issue because i you don't
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: want to be too muscular.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: You get to fit in the suits and stuff to
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: fit in you.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Know anything really like i was still wearing you know
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: it's not a good look and that was the only
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: issue that i was fighting with and but as far
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: as being ethnic uh ethnically ambiguous.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah That was really good to have. Like I was
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: playing Latinos.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: I did a Target commercial right off the bat, one
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: of my first commercials, Super Bowl commercial and things like that.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: And that's when it was like I want to start
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: going into TV and film. And how much of that
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: do I want to do commercial? Do I want to
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: do sports modeling? I have to pick and choose to
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: see where I go from there. So.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: It was a music video in which you met your ex-wife,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Britney Spears, right? And that was quite a while ago,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: like 10 years ago now, that you guys first got together?
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: I think it was in 2017, that music video, yes.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: And when you started to date and become romantic, what
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: did your friends and family think? You're with this very,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: very famous pop star. Was it.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm blessed, and it's a very unique thing
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: to have in... everywhere because you don't pick your family.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: So certain people are not blessed with the love and
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: support that I've had from my family that went beyond
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: what was, you know, what was the Hollywood like. Like
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: nobody really cared about that as much.
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: It was surreal.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: But our biggest, especially me, my biggest accomplishment to this
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: day or the biggest thing was Coming to America was
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: just so far-fetched and such an amazing thing. And that's
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: what the biggest win was, and the rest of it
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: was icing on the cake. And we're here now, and
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: my responsibility is to take advantage of the opportunities that
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: we have. And anything that comes to it, it's an
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: icing on the cake. And the greatest thing about that
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: is my sisters and my mom and dad at the
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: time they were just happy to see me, you know,
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: be here and take advantage of the opportunity because where
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: I'm from, it takes a lot of luck and it
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: takes a lot of things to just be here. Like
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: I said, fake it till you make it, like hustling,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: going out of your way and doing things, but also
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: a lot of it was luck. So it was sort
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: of enjoying the moment and going with the flow and
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: it wasn't sort of... Because things could get weird, you know,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: when people get popular, when people... Get known for something.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Your loved ones are the people that could damage you.
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: And I'm just so blessed that I never had that.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: It was just they wanted me to be okay, be happy,
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: and protect myself. And because of my upbringing and my
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: culture and the experiences that I had growing up, I
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: was maybe at that time 20, 21. But, you know,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: the experiences I had was equivalent to like a 40-year-old,
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: not just my looks.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: You know, so.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: It was sort of a, I was a grounded person
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: to realize that it was a blessing to have all
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: these opportunities. But it wasn't sort of, they weren't so
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: excited for me because something was happening that usually doesn't happen.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: They just wanted me to protect myself.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: I remember a few years ago, before you got married,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: I had Lance Bass on the show.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: And I said, um, and he had been friends with
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Brittany for many years. He happened to be there the
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: crazy night that she had her, you know, 72 hour
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Vegas marriage or whatever of like how random that was.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: But I said, what is with this guy? You know, Sam,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: what do you think? And he said, he's great. He
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: says a really good guy. I remember that. He's like, no,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: he's really great for her. And, um, what was it
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: like when you guys were together and she wasn't out
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: of the conservatorship? Because I think people were always like,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: you weren't the husband, but how awkward it must have been,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: like how you were navigating that time. Can you speak
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: on that at all?
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's just, you know, coming to America was this,
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: America is this free country, right? And having three sisters,
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: the main reason why we even came here was to
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: have freedom. And when we came here, that was the
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: main thing. And for me to see somebody in America,
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: regardless of being a pop star, regardless of being famous,
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: that is not free, it was sort of really weird
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: for me. And that's when I realized this is a
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: very weird situation and this is unheard of. I didn't
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: think this could have happened in America. So it was
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: about just going... through the flow and seeing why that
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: even happened and why somebody's family could, you know, take
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: an advantage, you know, advantage, taking control of a situation,
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: how Hollywood could, you know, sort of be evil in
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: a way. And it happens to many other people as well.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: This wasn't the situation. But that experience alone sort of
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: got me ready to where I want to be in life.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: to see what is the most important. Is it important
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: to be famous? Is it important to sort of sacrifice
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: certain things just to get a certain thing? So that experience,
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: I was blessed to sort of have like a college
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: crash course into Hollywood. And that taught me, the whole
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: experience taught me so much. And, you know, I've already
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: experienced so much in my life as a 21-year-old that
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: was already, you know, far, more experienced than most of
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: the 21-year-olds here, and now I get to experience Hollywood.
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: Backwards, sort of.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Right. Because you were, yeah, so famous, and now you're, like,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: you know, building your way like a normal actor. I
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about the wedding.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: Because, you know, it was, like, this surprise wedding, and
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: these big stars were there, Paris and, you know, Kathy Hilton,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Drew Barrymore... all these friends, these people that were her friends,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: but we, as the people at home, it looked like
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: you guys like called up people that morning. Like how,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: how impromptu because of the media, did you guys, was
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: that wedding?
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: Everything was that my whole relationship was, you know, it doesn't,
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: you don't need to call up media for it. It's,
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: it was always on the news. It was always anything
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: you do. You post the Instagram thing. It, it, it
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: makes it to TMZ and, and, and all these different outlets.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: So it's, it's just, you don't even have to go.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: It was sort of actually a private intimate moment and
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: it was people that she admired and she wanted there.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: So, um, it's just, and your family was there.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: My family was there.
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Of course they have to be there. My family, you know,
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: but my family was always supportive. They did not, you know,
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: nobody was, nobody on my side that a family really
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: cared of who, who was, I mean, one of my
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: friends didn't even know who Madonna was.
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: So it's sort of.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, Madonna was there too, right?
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: So it's sort of like, you know, I've had this
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: blessing of my circle was the only thing they cared
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: about is my happiness and, you know, if I have
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: to protect myself and my health.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: And so I'm guessing, because I had said this, you know,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing it was a difficult place to be, to be.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Uh, her husband?
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't say difficult at all.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: Like I said, my life has been, you know, I've,
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: I've gone through far, uh, experiences throughout my life just
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: to be in this country. And so like Hollywood was
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: sort of, uh, very easy for me to handle. And
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: I was blessed to have the experience to sort of, uh,
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: understand what it is and kind of dissect it and.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: Reverse psychology it.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: And see where it goes so I can use it
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: in my career.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Right. But I'm just saying, like, I remember, you know,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: I think people were always, it must have been hard
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: is what I'm saying, where people must have, were trying
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: to be like, oh, you know, Sam's in this for
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: the wrong reasons or what's Sam doing? But they really
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: couldn't find a lot of criticism with you. Nobody really
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: had anything tangible that you ever really did wrong in
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: this thing. And then when you guys broke up, I
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: kind of said, well, like, imagine if you're Sam. Like,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: that is, I would imagine from what we see from
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: the outside without, you know, getting too critical of her,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: it must have been a challenging relationship that I'm guessing
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: you may have thought would go in a different direction
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: after you were married.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: Sure, sure.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: And it appeared to have not.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I totally get it, you know, looking
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: from the outside in. The situation and, you know, the
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: age gap difference, the fame gap difference, everything that you
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: see could be, you know, looked at as could be judgmental.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: I would have judged myself as well. And I would
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: have judged the situation as well. But the truth is
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: that before that, prior to that, I was already working
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: on acting. I was worried already. I'm here in America
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: and that's already good enough. And that's already the biggest
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: achievement that anybody that's out of touch is so far
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: fetched for me to be here. It's sort of, and
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: part of my growing up was that, you know, I
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: saw on Good Morning America, Arnold Schwarzenegger said this, that
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: he was so thankful to be here. And with the
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: immigration system that we have, it's a sensitive situation. But
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: he was saying all the criminals that are coming to America,
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: it's almost foolish to use this country's opportunity to commit
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: crime because opportunities are just so much here that, Anything
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: you put in your mind to, you can succeed. And
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: when you commit a crime, you sort of are, you know,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: kind of stabbing the country in its back when it
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: gives you so much more. And it's foolish instead of
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: going through it legally and becoming a legal citizen and
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: sort of having America embrace you because America loves immigrants.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: We're built on immigrants. You know, everybody's an immigrant, including you.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: your family far back came through Ellis Island.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: Well, actually my, my dad's mom came to Ellis Island
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: from Ireland.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: And my kind of favorite story about her is, so
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: when she got there, she was a 29 year old
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: single woman, which, you know, in the 1920s is like,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, I can't believe. So she just wrote
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: 19 down.
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Her change range 19. Yeah. And then she met my
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: grandpa who was also 19. And then, got married, had
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: her kids and not till she died at like 96,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: did the grandkids and kids like realize that she was
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: 10 years older than their dad this entire time because
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: she was just, you know, like, who cares? Like, I don't,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: I don't know that he knew honestly, like it was
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: because of that, you know, exactly what you said.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: Just the, how cool is that?
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: You know how, so it's sort of, I had this
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: mentality of, I have this blessing and with my blessing,
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: there comes a, you know, responsibility. And if I do
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: anything to hurt that, that's going to be the universe.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: I always, throughout my life, so many great blessings that
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: happen that I often, you know, I can't say it's
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: hard work because it's total luck. And if I mess
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: with that, if I do anything wrong, I'm sort of
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: messing with the blessings that are still coming. Because I
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: still have confidence in myself. I'm always going to work
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: extremely hard and put myself out there. But if I
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: do anything to hurt that, it's sort of I believe
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: in karma and universe. And, you know, the truth speaks
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: for itself.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: So when you realized this marriage was not going to
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: last forever, how long were you guys married for?
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: It was close to a year.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's it? But you were together for like what?
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: About seven years. Marriage wasn't.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: You know, the timeframe of the marriage wasn't as important
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: as the whole experience together. I'm always super blessed for
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: the experiences that I had and super blessed for everything
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: that we shared together. And even the, even the, even
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: the tough moments that we had to share together with
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: the media and the conservatorship and all that taught me
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: so much.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: And did her, did the parents like you or did
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: they think that you were, someone that changed the, had
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: something to do with changing the conservatorship?
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: You know, I, I sort of always wanted to support
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: what she really wanted. And for me, it's irrelevant who
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: likes me or who doesn't. Obviously I'm very respectful to anyone,
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: even if they are, if they don't have a good agenda.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: But for me, I don't think there was, you know,
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: I don't mean to sound cocky and say, Oh, for me,
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: it's not, you know, how could you not like me?
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: It's not the case. It's, It's the fact that I
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: always handled things with respect. So it was nothing to dislike,
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: sort of. And I hope to this day I'm always
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: respectful and I'm always truth. And sometimes the truth may
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: be difficult to hear, but even when you hear the
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: truth yourself and.
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: So can I ask you in a respectful way?
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: Did you, and you know, don't have to get that specific,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: but like, was there a moment where you kind of
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: was like, you know what, it's better that we don't,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: stay together? Like, did you have a moment with yourself
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: where you were like, I don't think this is going
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: to work out. I don't think this is good for,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: for me.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: You know, that's everybody's, uh, everybody has relationships and relationships
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: are already tough. Uh, especially here, um, in Los Angeles,
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: especially in Hollywood, when your relationship is on, you know,
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: on the media all the time, especially when other people
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: have influences, especially when there's, you know, people that, that
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: block certain things and in certain situations. And it's just,
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: it's life, you know, it sucks when things don't work out,
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: but I never dwell on the past. If it's good
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: or bad, I take the experience as it was. And
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: I appreciate the experience and I loved what happened. And
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: it's a big part of my life. I'm always going
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: to embrace it. I'm never going to dwell on it
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: and never going to speak badly on it. And I'm
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: always going to be thankful for the moments that happened
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: and the experiences that I shared.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: Did you read her book?
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, I was pretty much there the whole time
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: she was writing it.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's great.
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: That's good. So you're encouraging her to do that. Do
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: you want to see it being made into a movie
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: or a TV show? Because I do.
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: I think they're working on a movie.
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: And I hope, you know, having three sisters and my
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: whole life goal with what's happening in the country that
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: I was born is everything's women-driven. And I always love
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: to see women thrive. And three of my sisters are,
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: you should see them. They're like, you know, these lionesses.
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: And I always called women lionesses. I think women are
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: a very powerful and us men, we learned so much
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: from them. And I, I think that story, her story is,
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: is very powerful, what she's gone through and, and, uh,
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: pretty much everybody in her life took advantage of her.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: And I think it's, it's a good way to sort
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: of show that. And I hope one day that that's done, uh,
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: you know, with her voice and nobody else's influence. So
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: I'm always going to be supportive of that.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: And, um, are you dating anyone now?
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
• 50:36
  Speaker 5: You are?
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: Yes. She's in the waiting room. You haven't met her yet.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: No. Can you tell us anything?
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: Yes. I can tell you all the things.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Well, tell us. How'd you meet her?
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: It's, you know, I wasn't planning on meeting anybody. I
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: was just focused on myself. And I think it was,
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: I think it was a selfless moment of me taking
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: the time to kind of heal from what was happening
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: and kind of uh, setting myself, you know, restarting and, and, and,
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: and kind of like a rebooting my emotions and, and
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: getting my life together and things like that. Because at
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: the end of the day, divorces, seven year, seven year
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: relationship is still a long relationship to adjust from. Um,
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: so I wasn't looking for, uh, you know, anybody or anything.
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: And that's when the best things happen. And we kind
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: of met, uh, one time and, uh, we spoke a
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: little bit and, uh, And then life went on and
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: I came back again and we ran into each other
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: again and it kind of naturally happened. And she wasn't
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: into the entertainment industry.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: She's not.
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: She's not into entertainment industry whatsoever. And she could sort
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: of care less about what was happening on the media.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: And that's a fresh breath of air because at the
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: end of the day, what you see online and things
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: like that, it's not exactly what it is. And I
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: don't really necessarily like to consider myself as, you know, actor, model,
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: social media, whatever it is that I, that I do.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: I still have a personal life and I like to
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: keep that private. And it was really sweet to have
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: someone that took me in for who I was as
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: a person rather than a brand, rather than, you know,
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: somebody that was, uh, married to.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: A famous person.
• 52:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: You know, on the media for whatever reason. And, uh,
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: that was, that was the best part about it.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting because when all that stuff was
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: going on and there were all the conspiracy theories, I
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: don't know how much you saw the conspiracy theories, but
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: I was like, you know, fascinating about what, what people
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: could kind of put together that the, that there was
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: a body double at the wedding that, you know, it's
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: not her. And I've met her, I met her one
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: night with Cade and, um, And now talking to you too,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: like looking back at everybody wondering what was really happening.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: And it's like, were you aware that those things were
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: going on? That they thought like there was like a
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: body double, like she wasn't the person that you're with. Like,
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: would you just ever open up your phone and see
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: something like that? And laugh at it or what was
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: the reaction to that?
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: You know, it's like I said, it's always going to
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: be when you're as famous as her. You're always going
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: to get judged on, you know, posting certain things on
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: social media. In her case, she was so suppressed from
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: expressing herself. And if you look at artists, Michael Jackson,
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about like out of touch artists that I
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: think some people are born to be a certain thing.
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: And for her, she started so young.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: And she's both child stars.
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, anybody that's a child star that gets mega famous
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: and they have some sort of a control over them,
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: they're not allowed to express themselves artistically. And for me,
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: the social media posts and everything that went around was
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: her expressing herself, whatever she wanted to do. And it
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: wasn't about what other people said or I could care less.
• 54:10
  Speaker 3: It's not me.
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: It's somebody else posting. She has total control. And that's
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: what it was. I think anybody should have total control.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: It's ridiculous to take that away. She was posting those things.
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: Because that was the other thing. People were always like, oh,
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: it's this media company that's like taking the stuff and
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: it's a filter and then they put it out. I
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: said the same thing after a while. I was like, no,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, she gets, she likes to see
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: the response. She likes to do it. She likes to
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: see the likes. I mean, eventually she got rid of
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: the comments. But, yeah, it's her way of expressing herself.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: And she's fun. And, you know, I think now people
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: have kind of, like, laid off a little bit of, like,
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: wondering what it is. And what it is is just
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: this is who she is now. And what she does
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: in the future, we'll see. And, like, you know, it's
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: not people evolve and change and do other things. So
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: I think it's really that.
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And so you have done– quite a bit of
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: acting and like, tell us what, what has been your
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: favorite role? What are you excited to get into? I,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: you know, I always love comedy.
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: I think, uh, comedians in general, as you know, and
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: it takes a certain talent and it's comedic timing is
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: something that you can't teach. You can't teach somebody to
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: be funny. And I, I have a love for comedy
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: and my favorite things to do was, uh, comedy shows.
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: I did black Monday. I did hacks and all those things.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: They're just so fun. It doesn't feel real.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: It doesn't feel like you were in Hacks. But what
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: was your part in Hacks?
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: I was the sexy Santa with Jean Smart.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, yes.
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: So, you know, it was just a blessing to be
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: a small part of that.
• 55:53
  Speaker 3: And I was in it.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: Because you are a personality as well. Do you get
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: offered roles or do you still have to like go
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: and audition or both?
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: I get offered and. Auditions as well. Auditions is something
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: that all the actors do. I was just in a
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: director session yesterday.
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: Wish me luck.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: But it's something that I love to, I love the process.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: I love the fact that to put in work into
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: something and I'm willing to do the work that brings
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: back sort of, it brings me this high of teamwork.
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: I'm a former athlete. I always love the teamwork aspect
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: of film and TV. I love the fact that it
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: takes so many people to create this amazing thing. And
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: I love that, that you have to prepare to show something.
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: That's the job of the actor. It's not to show
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: up and just to say a bunch of things or
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: offer me this role because I'm good looking. I actually
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: want to be offered roles that have nothing to do
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: with the look whatsoever. So, uh, but comedy is something
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: that I get offered more just because I feel more
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: comfortable doing comedy and, and, uh, it's something that, that
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: I love doing.
• 57:00
  Speaker 3: It's just amazing.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I remember you did like Randall's movies.
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: You did a Randall movie. And that was not a comedy.
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: No, that's action.
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: Yes. So you probably do a lot of action stuff too.
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: Action is, I don't think action, it takes, there's a
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: lot of talent that takes action. But for me, action
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: was also a thing that I watched growing up because
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: you don't have to speak the language. It's one of
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: the most international things.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: Which is why those movies, yeah, that's why they seem
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: to pick more of those than the smaller comedies, which
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: is the kind of stuff I like to watch. But
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: it's true. It's like the big blockbuster thing. It's because
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: it can be an international thing.
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes. So it's sort of... So that's good. That
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: was for fun. It's always.
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: That's something, you know, I do a lot of stunt
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: training and it comes across really well.
• 57:47
  Speaker 3: Those are fun to make.
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: And we just did another one with John Travolta in
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: Miami and.
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: The beautiful state of Mississippi.
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: And, uh, Mississippi reminded me of Nebraska, which was cool,
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: but I just love to be on set and doing the,
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: doing the stuff. But the mostly what I love about
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: acting is what it takes to make a movie.
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Like all the elements of all the.
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: Elements of it.
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: You know, you talk about an idea one day and
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: then next day it's green lit and then they're going
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: for it. And then what you read on the script you're,
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: you're doing.
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: So it's, it's, you'd ever want to direct.
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: So it, I think I have to establish being an
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: actor first and then I can, you know, change shoes and, and,
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: and put on my directing shoes. But at the moment
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: I'm really focused on just acting itself. I, I did
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, we've, I did a creation
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: of this really cool TV series and called glitch. And
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: it's sort of about AI and how new AI is
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: going to be effective in our world. And I've done
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: a few things where I kind of co-create and things
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: like that. And, And I want to build a great
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: team to make those things. So eventually I want to
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: get into I think that's a part of part of
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: the entertainment careers.
• 59:04
  Speaker 3: What's next? What would you do after?
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: You spoke of Arnold. Have you met him?
• 59:08
  Speaker 3: I've met Arnold.
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: Yes. I would imagine that he was fond of you
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: with your attitude.
• 59:14
  Speaker 3: I think it was a brief moment. It was sort
• 59:17
  Speaker 3: of we spoke. And what I.
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: Relate to him the most is the fact that an
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: immigrant came here with such a crazy accent and such
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: a crazy thing.
• 59:27
  Speaker 3: And he pretty much.
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: sort of started, you know, going after his goals. And
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: that just tells you how America could embrace you and
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: how you could sort of become the highest paid actor
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: in the world. And you could become governor and you
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: could become, you know, someone that's inspirational, that reminds other
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: people that anything's possible. You just have to sort of
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: not be afraid and go after things. And rejection is
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: something that's a good thing. And you shouldn't be disencouraged
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: because of the rejections. You could embrace it and get better.
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: And that's what makes the whole story so sweet.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: I know you're extremely positive and grateful, but what was
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: one of the most difficult, like misconceptions that you had
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: to see or read about yourself in the last, you know,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: seven years or 10 years?
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: You know, the, the conspiracy theory stuff, um, it wasn't
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: difficult because I, At the end of the day, some things,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: even if there's truth to it, you got to do
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: what's right and you have to stick to it. It's not,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: you know, you can care less about what anybody says.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: You have to do it. It's your morals. You have
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: to be honest. You have to stand up for what's right,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: regardless of what other people are saying. But again, you're
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: a human being. So if you see something on the
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: news or you see, not necessarily in news, it's just
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: comments and things like that.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: It's very difficult. But, you know, for me, for me,
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: also those are positive as well.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: And those are those are some things that I'm not,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't blame other people for thinking a
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: certain way because the situation is what it is. For example,
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: I went on this show called Traders.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: Oh, yes. I want to ask you about Traders. You
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: did well on Traders.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: So because I went on that, there's a lot of.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: that that type of world has a lot of fans
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: pop culture fans they love it they anticipation and when
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: we did the show no one knew about it and
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: when they did the cast the cast got leaked at
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: the time and uh there was on youtube there was
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: a guy that was kind of breaking down uh of
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: what the cast was like and he was going person
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: to person saying how he's gonna do he was persian
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: himself And he said, oh, that's the Sam guy. You know,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: he's dating, he was married to this and we don't
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: really claim him as Persians. And then after the show
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: came out, they set me up a podcast with him.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: And when he was kind of talking to me, he was,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: you know, very, he was like, oh, I'm so proud
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: of you. You're my people. And then I said, wait
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: a minute, you're people because you said you didn't claim me.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: And he's like, no, no, I never said that. You know,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: I was kind of joking with him. He's got a podcast.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: He's got a platform. He's got to say certain things
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: to do it. But even he didn't believe it. Even
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: him watching a certain show and watching everything on the news,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: like you said, when you go so deep, you dig
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: so deep. What I love about conspiracy theorists and people that,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: you know, go so deep into research is they are
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: on a mission to find something. And when they don't
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: find something, they turn it around and become fans. And
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's a fan now, but you know,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: it gives them a different perspective. And I think sometimes
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: you can make friends with the enemy at the end.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: They will become the best friends of you.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a great point. Now, let's talk a
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: little bit about Traitors. So they just announced the latest season.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: Were you on season one or two?
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 3: I was on season three.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, three.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 3: So this is the fourth one.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, three. And what did you love about doing that show?
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: Because I think that would be a fun one to do.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: I think everybody's trying to get on that show. It shows, uh,
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: it's got a really good, uh, format.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: And people love to be on. I mean, when I
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: went on it, I didn't really want to get into
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: something gossipy because.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: You know, uh, the whole time it was a podcast about,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: you know, what we're talking about now. Yeah.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: So I didn't really want to get into that, but
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: because the format and because you're in the castle sort
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: of trying to figure out things that quickly goes away. And,
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: It was a fun way for me to show myself
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: and show who I really am and show how far
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: things could take you if you're just yourself, especially in
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: a show of strategies and things like that.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: Right, because you discovered a real juicy thing that nobody
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: else figured out.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: Sure, but I mean, in that show, you go on there.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: A lot of people from reality, it's a big platform.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: You have to be careful of who you are and
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: you have to be careful to say a certain thing
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: not to say a certain thing you even sometimes say
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: things for it to be popular or for it to
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: go viral but for me it was just to you
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: know I had a few months off off of acting
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: things it was a free ticket to Scotland and I
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 2: wanted I always wanted to go see Scotland so and
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: then it was this game and I figured I'm just
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: gonna go be myself I don't have a strategy I
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 2: don't even know what the game is about let me
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: just go on there and be myself so That sort of.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: Have you been offered any other reality show?
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, almost all the other reality shows.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Did you get offered Special Forces?
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: I don't think... I think at some point for the
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: previous seasons, yes. Yes, multiple times.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 3: But I think.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: Why don't you want to do that?
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 3: I do want to do that. But right now.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: Because that's so physically enduring. It'd be my worst nightmare.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: But for you, I think you'd probably win.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 3: For me, I.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: Think it's a cool format. I haven't watched it, but
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: the clips that I've seen... There's a lot of people
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: that are not physically.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 3: And I think you're in great shape, by the way.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 3: You can definitely do it.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: Please, I can barely play pickleball. No, I don't think
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: I should be jumping out of a plane.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: But I have jumped out of a plane with someone
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: attached to me. But I mean, like, whatever. I could
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: do a swimming thing.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: And I'm not scared of jumping on a plane. It
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: would be like carrying anything or whatever. I don't want
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: to do things.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 2: That I'm not good at because I want to not
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: prove myself. I want to surprise myself.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 3: Because I think.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: Would you do dancing with the stars?
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: I think I would do it before I was, you know,
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: afraid because I, if you know me, I'm as limber
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: as this, uh, this couch is actually pretty limber, but that,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: that table right there. So I w it would have
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: to take a lot of stretching Pilates and, and, and, and,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: many other things.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: If you were on Dash of the Stars, I'm just
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: going to say, you know the first song would be
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: like a Britney song.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: And then you'd have to dance to that, which is fine.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: You'd embrace it. You'd say it's an opportunity. I'm grateful, right?
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: As long as I can dance, as long as I can,
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: you know, get my instrumental, you know, rhythm together.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: Routines, yeah.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: Because it takes a rhythm and me being Persian, Persians
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: love to dance. I'm not a dancer whatsoever. I can
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: do many other things, but again, it's a cool way
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 2: to sort of test The abilities.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Maybe there is a ballerina in me.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that would be a good one. So
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: what's your next thing that we should look for?
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 2: We're doing a few projects at the end of summer,
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: which I'm really excited about. It's an acting project. I
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: will be announcing those soon as well. But this past
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: year has just been a blessing of really focus on acting,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: really focus on what's out there. What's the second phase
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: of my career? I'm in phase two of my career.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: As you can see, I'm growing out my hair, the beard,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: And you're doing that just to get different looks going?
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 3: No, we have a project coming up for that. Oh,
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 3: that's why you're growing it. Oh, okay.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: You'll have to tell me off camera.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's a very exciting part of my life.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: And for me, you know, this is fun. And for me,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: it takes a lot of hard work. And as much
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: as I am humble in my personal life, My goals
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 2: in the entertainment industry are not humble whatsoever. And for
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 2: that reason being, I think what really helps me out
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: to go about life is the fact that these things are,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't find entertainment is hard. It takes
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: a lot of hard work. A lot of people are
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 2: working very hard and it's a lot of people that
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: takes to make a project. But at the end of
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: the day, it's not a real job. It's for fun.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: It's what we dreamt of doing and we're doing. We're
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: living our dreams.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 3: The real jobs.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 2: Are nurses and doctors and firefighters and policemen, those people
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: that are without them that we wouldn't have a world.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: And like we said earlier, the country that I was
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: born in is in desperate times right now. They're getting
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 2: attacked by their own regime. They're getting bombed from you know,
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: all over the place. My dad, I haven't spoke to
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: in four days. I'm just waiting for a text. So
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: it's those that ground me and makes me realize what is,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: you know, important. And should I be worried about an
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: audition or should I do my best and walk in
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: there and just sort of have fun and be myself
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: and walk out of it and not worry about it whatsoever.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: So I think the experience in my life, whether if
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 2: it was moving here, whether if it was, playing a
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: certain sport whether if it was being away from my
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: family if it was uh being in a relationship for
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 2: seven years in a situation that was uh you know
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 2: one of the uh strangest hollywood stories i would say
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: and what is to come now which i personally i
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: don't think i've even started yet is just a blessing. And,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: you know, the good or bad, I'm never going to
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: dwell on them. I'm going to embrace it. I'm going
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: to not be afraid of aging and I'm just going
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: to have fun and I'm just going to embrace life
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: as it is.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm really glad you came by. I'll be honest.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: I didn't think you'd be as forthcoming and honest as
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: you were and you're a delight. And I, I see
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: a lot of success in your future because you are
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: so determined and you're right. You've got to ask for
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: the job. You got to say, this is what I
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: want to do. And you clearly know that. And, um, I'm,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: I pray for your family and your country and that
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: things will get resolved and everyone is safe. And thank
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: you for coming on Juicy Scoop. This was great.
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: And this is your Instagram. Is that the best place
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: for people to follow you? I know you already have
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of followers, but it's just your name. Yeah,
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: it's just Sam. What was that ad for?
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 2: That was just the photo shoot that we did for
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 2: a couple of magazines.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 3: That was one of the pictures they didn't choose, which
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 3: was cool.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: Very nice. Well, thank you so much.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 4: Thanks.
• 1:10:11
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• 1:10:13
  Speaker 5: Ireland's Blue Book has just what you need.
• 1:10:16
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• 1:10:19
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