Latest / Drama, Darling: A Real Housewives Comedy Podcast / Reza Farahan on "Memoirs of a Gay Shah" Persian Hustle, Grace, Grief and Resilience

Transcript

Reza Farahan on "Memoirs of a Gay Shah" Persian Hustle, Grace, Grief and Resilience · Drama, Darling: A Real Housewives Comedy Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Drama, darling. Drama, darling. Drama, darling.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Drama, Darling. It's me, your
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: bish wife. And I'm here with a friend and... Truly
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: an incredible American citizen with a heck of a story
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: to tell. It's Reza Farahan. Reza, welcome to Drama, darling.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Oh my God, I'm so happy to be here with you.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I've been looking forward to this.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: This is so great. Your book, Memoirs of a Gay Shah,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: was selected as our Bravo Book Club and everyone's been
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: dying to read it. So, so many of my darlings...
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: read the book. So many loved it. And so we're
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: going to have a little kiki. We're going to ask
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: some questions about the book and just talk a little
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: bit about you and what else is going on.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: I'm here for it.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: And I have to tell you, some of these darlings
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: hit me up in my DMs. to let me know
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: what they thought of the book. And I was so
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: flattered and so honored that you guys chose the book
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: and that the feedback was really positive.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: So thank you very much for doing that.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, darlings. You heard it from Reza. He
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: got your messages. That's so cool. I love it. It's
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: such a, we have such a great, supportive, amazing, intellectual, fun,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: sassy group of listeners that are incredible. So thank, And
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I have some questions for you from some of the darlings.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: So we'll get to that in a second. I can
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: believe that I loved your book so much. It's exactly
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: what I would want to read from you and what
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: I think we've all been waiting for for a long time.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I listened to it because I love an audiobook. And
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I knew that you reading it was going to be
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a real treat, which it was.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: I mean, it really.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Starts out with a shot out of a cannon. Like,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing this and I'm not doing that. And
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: this is what we're here to do. And I'm like,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: this is what we signed up for with you. And
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: this is why I think that you've got such a
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: great following and why I think this book was great timing.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I've read a ton of Bravo Liberty books, you know,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think we all have. And what I
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: loved about your book is, is that it does not
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: start with my time on Shaz, my journey in reality TV.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: It didn't come out that way because you have such
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: a rich, compelling story to tell that it's like you
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: forget that you're even someone that we've watched on reality
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: television because your story stands alone besides the fact that
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: you've been a reality star, you know?
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: So I guess- the one thing that.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: I really wanted to achieve with the book, Amy is
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: give people something they didn't get from watching Shots of Sunset.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Cause like Eddie Murphy, one of my all time favorite comedians,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: he would say, if you came to this standup comedy
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: show thinking I was going to do that SNL shit,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: you're an idiot. Like I wasn't going to write a
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: book and regurgitate nine seasons and 10 years of Shots
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: of Sunset. I wanted to give, you know, the viewers
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: and people that have followed me and supported me and
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: been a fan of me, something that they didn't know
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: about me, like what got me to where I was
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: at when I got onto Shards of Sunset, because they
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: know the Shards of Sunset story already. Why would I
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: just retell that story for them?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: That's what I loved about it. And was this your decision?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Or was this like a publisher thing? I mean, was
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that your idea going into writing the book?
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  Speaker 4: A hundred percent.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: I did not want the book to be just like
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: a snippet. Like I'm a reality television star. Like, you know,
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: this it's like, people already know that I've been on
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: reality TV.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Who were you? What led you to where you were at?
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: How did you get on reality TV? Like, you know,
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  Speaker 3: people know I'm on reality TV, but they don't know
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: that like my parents were, were on vacation, and then
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: a revolution started in the country that.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: They were from.
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  Speaker 3: And we had to literally.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: Start a brand new life.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: And I always think to myself, Amy, if my dad,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: he's now he's passed on.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: But when I think about.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Him, I think, Would I be as successful as he
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: was if you picked me up and dropped me in
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  Speaker 3: Japan tomorrow with no language skills, no friends, nothing? Would
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  Speaker 3: I be able to kill the game the way my
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  Speaker 3: dad did?
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  Speaker 2: I have the answer. It's yes.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Well, because you're your father and your mother's son. And
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: that's very clear from reading this book. That was such
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: an eye opener to learn that you're family was really
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: like systematically almost like the core of building the Persian
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: community within Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. I did not
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: realize that. I did not realize that when you were here,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: there was such a huge transition where you didn't really
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: feel like you fit in because there weren't many Persian
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: people here. And then all of a sudden, because of
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: your dad's impact with his Persian rug store, he was
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: able to get people over here. They would sell their
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: prayer rug, right? And have a good chunk of money
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: to come over here. So, I was astounded by how
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: much the Persian community built in such a short amount
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: of time. That blew my mind, because you're talking about
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: when you first got here, You're like, I couldn't get
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: my special cookies, and I couldn't drink the milk that
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I wanted. And then cut to, I don't know what,
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  Speaker 2: middle school, high school, and you're like, I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: the Persian bakery. My dad's going to the Persian barber.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: We're going here. We're going there. And it's like this
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: huge community. Can you talk to me about how quickly,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: how that felt, the transition going from feeling alone to
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: populating so much of Los Angeles?
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: So I remember when I started in the Beverly Hills
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  Speaker 3: school system, I was one of the only Persian kids
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: in school. And then all of a sudden I was
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: blinking an eye and I became like the chaperone, like
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  Speaker 3: any new Persian kid that came to my school, I
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: was like giving them the tour.
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  Speaker 4: Amy, it was instantaneous.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Like, the Persians lost their homes, their businesses, their country,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: their everything. But it was kind of like, well, we're
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: here now. So we're going to start doing what we
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: did back home in this new country.
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  Speaker 4: It was overnight.
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  Speaker 3: And when I tell you, that I can't even remember
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: the time where I didn't have access. I wrote it
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: in the book, but I can't tap into the emotion
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: of not having a Persian market, a Persian doctor. The
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: guy at Beverly Hills Mercedes that sold us our cars
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: was Persian.
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  Speaker 4: Everything. I grew up in a Persian bubble.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I did not have a non-Persian friend until I went
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: to college.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 4: Literally.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: That's wild.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: I didn't.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: And then obviously this all happened because of the revolution
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: and because people were trying to get out. I loved
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: how you told the story. It's something that we don't
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: know about Iran. You know, we saw you go to Istanbul, right?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: And then that's where you went to go to see
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Iran with Asa and her mom. We saw that. That
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: was some of the greatest educational television I think a
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: lot of people on Bravo has seen. and beyond that,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: but telling the story about what happened there and the
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: fall and how Muhammad Reza Shah did not realize what
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: was coming. And that kind of still sticks with me. Like,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: how did he not realize what was happening? Because it
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: all happened so fast and then people had to flee
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  Speaker 2: so quickly.
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  Speaker 3: So the thing that people don't realize is when you're
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: really rich and powerful and you get sometimes the best
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: care or the worst care. Like look at Michael Jackson,
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  Speaker 3: because of his fame and fortune, he was able to
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  Speaker 3: have a doctor do what he wanted him to do.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: And the Shah was so powerful. People were telling him
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  Speaker 3: what he wanted to hear. Sling the country were the
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  Speaker 3: lucky ones. We're not talking about the mass executions, the
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: people jailed, the relatives who's Faces are burned from acid because.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: Their hair was shown from under their head job.
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  Speaker 3: Like this is, you know, we're making light of a very, very,
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  Speaker 3: very heavy subject. Like we were the lucky ones. We,
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  Speaker 3: we were here on a vacation and we never went back.
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  Speaker 3: We lost a lot of our money. We lost our homes.
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  Speaker 3: We lost our fortune, but my dad was smart and
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  Speaker 3: he rebuilt a lot of what he lost in America.
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people were not that lucky. They were executed,
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  Speaker 3: hung from cranes. Women had acid thrown in their faces.
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  Speaker 3: Women lost all their rights. You can't get a divorce
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: from your husband. If you divorce your husband, he gets
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: to keep the kids. You have to ask permission to
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: leave the country. It's Sharia law is so dangerous.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Sharia law was, when did that begin? Like when was that?
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  Speaker 3: The day Khomeini came back, from Paris to Europe. all
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  Speaker 3: of the stuff he had promised, none of it happened.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: He became a religious fanatical dictator and he imposed the
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: hijab and women lost their rights overnight.
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  Speaker 4: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Sharia law I know a little bit about
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  Speaker 2: and it's horrific. Okay, so let me let me pull
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: back to you guys came here on vacation with your
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: aunt to get her settled, right?
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So Iran is very, very, very hot during the summers.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: If you know, like friends that go to Dubai or
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: live in Dubai, they leave Dubai during the summertime because
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: it's unbearably hot. So we thought we're going to come
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: get my aunt and her husband and my cousin settled
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  Speaker 3: in their new home in America, we'll escape the heat
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: of the Tehran summer, help them get settled, enjoy America.
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  Speaker 3: And then once they're nice and settled, and the heat
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  Speaker 3: is gone, we'll go back to Iran.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I see. Okay. By the way, speaking of that, when
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you were talking about that party that you had for
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: your 35th birthday, and how someone Pamela or someone left
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the heater on in the pool. And you had to
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: get like you had to pay thousands of dollars. It
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: reminded me of Dubai because like, I mean, the Real
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Housewives of Dubai, because I remember, they had a whole
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: ice cube in their pool. And they were, you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: talking about how expensive the ice cube was and how
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: this is such a huge deal. And I was like, wow,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I just never like considered that. So the second that
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: you were like, you put ice in there, I'm like,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: oh my God, that's Dubai.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: But yeah, so it gets really hot. So you came here.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you really were extremely lucky, right? I mean,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: you had family members though that were still there or did,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: were they able to come over too?
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: No, I have tons of family members that got stuck there.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: We had family members, like one of my aunts, my
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: other aunt, her husband was in the Air Force. So
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: when he retired from the Air Force, he became a
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: commercial airline pilot. Like, you can't leave Iran. You know
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: how expensive it is to leave Iran?
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Like, you can't leave.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Iran and start a life as, you know, it's... Plus,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: he was a pilot. And like, it's not like he
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: could come to America and start a business. They had
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: to stay and... they never, they stayed. I never saw
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: them again.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Oh man. Well, this begs my next question because it
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: seems like every Persian that moved here is like super rich.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: So how do they get so rich so fast? And like, yeah,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I mean that, how do they get so rich?
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: So first and foremost, you have to understand the ones
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: that were able to come here had money.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: The poor ones aren't like able to come here.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, it seems like then there's a lot of
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: rich Persians.
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  Speaker 4: A hundred percent.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: And Persians, if you do like a little Google search
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: or ask AI about like immigrant communities in the United
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: States that have killed the game in not even one generation,
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  Speaker 3: Iranians are in the top five of immigrants that come
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: to America, assimilate.
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  Speaker 4: And kill the game. Wow.
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  Speaker 3: As opposed to coming here and trying to make this
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: country what their other country was like and change everything.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: from capitalism to socialism iranians were not like that they
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: were like where are we let's learn the language let's
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: learn the culture and customs and let's do well.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Here wow okay well why don't we go with the
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: darling question let's break it up a little bit let's
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: go with the darling question okay who do we have
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: here always zen wants to know if if your mustache
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: will ever make a comeback i miss that thing she
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: said i'm sure you get that a lot right.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: I do get that a lot. It's crept back in
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: a couple times here and there, but.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: It never stays very long. I end up.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: It's like a house guest, basically.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: Comes in, hangs out.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, totally.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: After a certain amount of time, I want it gone.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Gotta get it out.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Tracy. Okay. Tracy Quinn McLennan says, can you please ask
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: him his thoughts on how Americans can work to reverse
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: the xenophobic anti-immigrant perspective that seems to be pervasive nowadays?
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: So....
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: It's a very difficult question for me to answer because
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: I feel like I have a fear of Islam. We
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: lost our country to radical Islam. And so seeing.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: The rise of radical Islam here.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: I have people trying to globalize the Intifada or talking
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: about supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. Those people, or socialism. Those
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: are all things that I'm petrified of. I feel like
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: if you talk to people that come from Cuba, Venezuela,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: or Iran, they will educate you on the things that
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: you should be looking out for.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: In America, because you guys have been very blessed.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Well, I did find it interesting in the book when
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: you came here and you're being taught American history and
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: how you had to acclimate to that. Had to have
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: been very challenging as a young child. And not to
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: mention what was happening in your family and your relationships
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: with your mom who, oh my God, what an amazing
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: mother you have. And your father.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: So lucky.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Those are the parts in the book
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: that just, it really made me tear up because... as
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: a mom myself, it's like, that's, I want to be
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: that kind of mom and your father, the, the journey
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: that you went on with him and what an incredibly charismatic, vivacious, spirited, brilliant, hustling,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: loving person he was. And to come to find out
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: so much of what you discovered, um, during their marriage,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: when things were falling apart, things that you began to
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: understand and how you saw him differently, and then seeing
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: it come full circle and feeling like if you were
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: married and had a family, how would you do things?
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Do you still feel like that sits with you in
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: the same way?
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: Definitely.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: You know, as a kid, you don't realize your parent
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: has a whole entire life before you ever came along.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: And This man went through a lot himself. He lost
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: his country. He lost a lot of relatives. A lot
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: of his friends were killed. My dad was Jewish. And
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: when you live in a radically, a country that goes
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: from being open to radical Islam, a lot of his
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: relatives suffered tremendously. And he went through a lot. And
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: I didn't realize he deserved that much grace that he deserved.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: I had to do some retrospection and thinking and the
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: book was very cathartic and he deserved way more grace
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: than I gave him because I only looked at him
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: as my dad and not this man who had this
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: very complicated life with so many nuances and he deserved
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: way more grace than I gave him because he was
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: very amazing. And for what he went through to be
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: able to accomplish as much as he did and provide
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: the life that he did for me and my mom
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: and my sister is, I, I, I mean, I know
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: a lot of people that went down the path of, drugs, alcohol, suicide, depression,
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: and he did not do that. He killed the game.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he did. And it's also, by the way, it's
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: not your fault, and you shouldn't have had, you wouldn't
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: have known that. Anyway, when you're a child, you can't
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: see those things, and you shouldn't. You don't have the capability.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: And the fact that you were even thinking about this
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: now is amazing so i hope that you are giving
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: yourself a little bit of grace you know and you're
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: not beating yourself up because i i did read in
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: the book i remember you're kind of making a point
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: to say you wish you could have done this or
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: but i just was like no it's okay reza it's
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: okay like you You can't be so hard on yourself.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: So give yourself the same grace that you feel like
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: you want to give your dad, you know?
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: It was my journey. That's the way it was supposed
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: to be. Do I wish I could have done some
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: things differently?
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: But I do understand that everything was supposed to happen
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: in that way for me to get to where I
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: am today. He literally walked so I could run. He
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: walked so I could run. I have the life that
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: I have today because that man set me up for
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: success in every way, from the lessons he taught me,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: from the things he gave me, from how he showed
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: me how to be a man and how to build
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: wealth and the things to think about. When you have
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: an immigrant parent who loses everything and starts over from scratch,
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: you have a constant TED talk of wealth building and
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: awareness and hypervigilance in a way that you don't when
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: you're blessed to be born in this beautiful beautiful country
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: where you have all of the opportunities and liberties that
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: we did not have and that we would have lost
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: had we stayed in iran.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, perfect example. I mean, you went used to
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: go with him when he would go find these Persian
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: rugs when he was trying to build up his collection.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: And that story when you went to is it Kentucky? Yeah,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that was wild. I loved that story. Can you just
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: tell that story about being you went with him to
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: he used to send out art ads to find Persian rugs, right?
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: My dad, he was so smart. He used to put
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: ads in penny savers across America. And for younger people
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: who don't know what penny savers are, they're kind of
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: like this throwaway magazine newspaper thing. And it had ads
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: in the back of it. And my dad would place
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: ads kind of like wanted ads. Like if you have
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: a Persian rug or an Oriental rug or a middle
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Eastern rug that you want to sell, I will send
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: you a self-addressed stamped envelope because they didn't want to
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: pay for the stamp or the envelope. I will send
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: you a self-addressed stamped envelope. You send me a photograph
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: of your rug. I'll potentially make you an offer. And
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: he would get hundreds of those a month.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Hundreds.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Hundreds. Hundreds.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: A lot.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: Most of them were junk.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: But sometimes there would be rugs that he would want.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: And once a year, we would make a plan and
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: we would fly somewhere like Lexington, Kentucky. And we would
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: have like a helper slash bodyguard person because we would
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: go with like.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: A suitcase of cash.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. Okay.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: This bodyguard who would help my dad with the rugs
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: and a man van. And we would go from location
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: to location. He would map it out and we would
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: go and we would buy these rugs from people. And
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: this one time we went into this lady's house and
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: she was on read. She was feisty. They would call
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: her a firecracker. Um, We went into her house and
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: my dad looks at the rug, poker face, poker face,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: stone cold killer face, like showing no emotion. We walk in.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: I can't tell if the rug is, you know, machine
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: made or if it's an antique Persian rug. So he
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: sees the rug. There's tons of furniture over it. It's
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: in her living room. There's a dog there, coffee table
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: on top of it, sofas, everything. And he says, how
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: much do you want? And she loses her shit. And
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: she's like, Mr. Farhan, I told you it was $ 5, 000.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: It was $ 5, 000 when I talked to you. It was $ 5, 000
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: when you.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: Told me you were coming. And it's still $ 5, 000. I
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: want $ 5, 000. And my dad goes, OK, so you want $ 5, 000?
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: She's like, yes!
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: I said $ 5, 000. So my dad goes, man. The helper
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: opens the suitcase. He counts out $ 5, 000.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Gives her the money.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: She counts it like two, three times to make sure.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: And then my dad and the helper move the furniture around.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: They roll the rug up.
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: And I'm thinking my dad is a putz.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: What an idiot. He didn't even negotiate with the lady.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: What is he doing? My dad is a Persian Esfahani Jew,
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: like from the bazaars of Iran.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: And he's not even negotiating with the lady.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: So I knew better than to say anything in front
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: of him, you know, in the middle of a business transaction.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: I was a young kid.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: So when we get outside and the door slammed, I
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: said to him, I go, What are you doing?
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: You didn't even negotiate with her.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: What? He goes, that is an antique Haris Serapi. It
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: belongs in a museum.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: It's worth $ 250, 000. Amy, before we left Lexington, Kentucky- My
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: dad had sold that rug. No. A phone call. The
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: rug was gone.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: 250 was being wired and the rug was gone, gone, gone. Wow.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: From a phone call.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. Because they knew that he knew rugs.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: My dad would tell you he would flip a rug over,
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: look at the back of it.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: He could tell you where it was from.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: If it had been re-dyed, if someone had died and
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: someone else took over while they were weaving it, he
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: could show you the break in the weave. He was
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: brilliant when it comes to Persian rugs.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: And his dad made rugs, right?
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: My last name is the name of a type of
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: a weave of rug.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, really? I didn't know that. That's cool.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: So, like, my people were in the rug business. They invented, like, imagine, like, Cadillac. Like,
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: my family invented a certain type of a rug, like
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: a pattern, color.
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: It's called a Saru Horohan. You can Google it. It's
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: a rug. That's where my last name comes from.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's cool. Do you have, I mean, so what's like,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: what are the rugs that you have? I'm so curious.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: You know what's crazy?
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: You don't have one.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Don't tell me.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: I don't have any rugs. They're all at my mom's house.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: I do have rugs. But I have cats and they
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: will scratch. Oh, right.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: The rugs up, but growing up, I didn't have an
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: appreciation for them. We would, I would walk around my
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: house and I'd be like, how much is that one?
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: And my dad would be like 80 grand. I'm like
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: 80 grand. You could buy a Rolls Royce. Why would
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: anyone buy that rug for 80 grand?
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: I didn't appreciate them enough growing up.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, what are you going to do? I loved
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: hearing about that. I mean, just the craft, the talent, the,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: the expertise. It's so fascinating to me. And, um, Awesome.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Because it was before Google, you know, cause like if
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: this gal would have just like tried to Google it,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: she would have maybe found out, you know, what it's
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: somewhat worth.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: My dad was the antiques roadshow before there was an
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: antiques roadshow. He was Google, eBay, all of that before
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: any of that existed.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: And so he built, he got all these rugs. He
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: began his company, um, his business and had a rug store, um,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: which was so successful, obviously, and like I said, had
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: a hand in really helping other people come over here.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: You know, I.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Always found it fascinating watching you on Shaws of Sunset
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: when we learned just the dichotomy of your upbringing, which
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: is that you know, to be Jewish, your mom has
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: to be Jewish and to be Muslim, your dad has
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: to be Muslim. And those wires were crossed for you. So,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, you were just dealt so much, so many
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: different conflicting cards. And I wonder if, did your dad
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: ever share with you, acknowledge to you how difficult and
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: challenging that must have been on top of the other
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: things and when you came out and you know, living
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: here and having the success that you had. Did he
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: ever share with you his feelings on how proud of
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: you he was?
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: He did. He was very, very proud of me. He
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: was an amazing dad.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: And I would learn sometimes how proud he was from
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: hearing stories from other people, which would let me.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Know what he was saying to other people. Yes. What
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: he was saying to other people about.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I know what you mean. I remember hearing that too.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Cause my, I would remember hearing my dad. I mean,
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: other people tell me like, Oh, your dad talks about
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: you all the time. I'm like, he does, you know,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: sometimes you just don't know these things.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: They would know so many things that I had accomplished,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: like from running the marathon or, you know, like, selling
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: the first time I sold a house that was worth
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: more than $ 10 million or all the things that I
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: had done in my life that I was really, really
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: proud of that my dad knew about that he was
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: clearly sharing with other people and like.
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: Bragging about his kid, which is so sweet.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: It's so sweet. I love that. That's, that's great to hear.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Everything about your upbringing and just reading about the history
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: of Which leads you to, you know, you go to
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: San Francisco. You know, we got to hear a lot
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: about some of the relationships you had, which were fabulous,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: so freaking fun and fascinating, and I loved every second
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: of it. I loved visualizing you in the convertible in
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: San Francisco, just being like, yes!
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Just, you know, flying over hills like Ferris Bueller's Day Off,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: like flying over a hill on a joyride.
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: A hundred percent.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Singing at the top of my lungs or at the
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: top down, looking over at the car next to me
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: with a car full of people in stitches, laughing their
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: asses off at me.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: They're probably like, that guy's going to be on TV someday. But,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: you know, watching your journey from San Francisco and then
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: back to L.A. and, you know, just hustling and just
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: being so successful in real estate to then have this
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: random situation of MJ's friends, boyfriends. works at a production company,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Ryan Seacrest wants a meeting and you're like, I'll go
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: because there's charcuterie. And just never thinking, and I loved
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: you talking about Hollywood and living here and nothing becomes anything.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: And why would you think, you know, you don't ever
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: want to put your eggs in one basket. You never
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: want to think, Things come to fruition because, you know,
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: from your Uber driver to your dentist, everyone's got a
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: pilot that's being looked at and, you know, things like that.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: So no expectations. And you had this meeting and you thought,
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know if this is going to go anywhere.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Sounds great. But to then have this guy just run
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: with it and have it actually happen, sizzle reel, and
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: then boom, you guys are filming, is like the craziest story.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: Craziest.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: So, I mean, so obviously you did not expect that
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: to happen. Did any of your cast members ever anticipate
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: this happening? Were you all kind of like, what is
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: happening right now? Why is this? Yeah.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: None of us anticipated that it would happen. But I
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: will tell you, once we got the green light, I
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: thought to myself, if they put me on camera.
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: And they hear.
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: The things in my head and I get to say
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: the things that I'm thinking, it'll be a wrap.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: Like the show will get picked up. If they let
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: me talk. It'll be a wrap.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: If they let me talk, it'll be a wrap. That's
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: so funny. And it was. And it was. It really,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: really was. It's so incredible. And that's why I've always
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: loved Shaws of Sunset. You guys living this really special
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: life and with your rich backgrounds. It's something that we
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: hadn't seen on Bravo and, well, anywhere, right?
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: And it was crazy because, Amy, people started hitting me up.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: And growing up in a post-Islamic revolutionary hostage crisis America,
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: I grew up with people side-eyeing me the whole time
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: I was here, not appreciating that we're not like those
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: hostage takers in Iran. Like I literally remember my parents
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: picking me up from like kindergarten and preschool, getting side-eyed
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: by parents thinking like, are your relatives the ones holding
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: those hostages in Iran? To people watching us on TV
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: and tweeting at me that they wish they were Persian.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: Do you know what kind of mind-blowing shit that is?
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: Growing up, getting side-eyed the whole time, and then people
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: wishing they were Persian.
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: I was like, wait a minute.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: Did we single-handedly, because there's never been other Persians on.
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: TV like that.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Did we help change the narrative from terrorist to like, oh.
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: We're Greek and you guys are just like us. We're Peruvian.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: You guys are just like us. We're Italian. Your family's
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: just like us.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, you did. And I also think it's like the
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: bigger the bigger idea is that it's like not everybody
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: who is of a certain culture. or a certain religion
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: is going to be extremist, can't make these assumptions. And so,
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: and we needed to see that. How did you reconcile
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: that going from getting the side eye to getting basically
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: praised and admired?
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: So I'm a little bit of a skeptic anyway, because
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: I grew up like, like you said, half Jewish, half Muslim.
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: Gay.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: So even let's say, for example, I was on the
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: right side of the religion track, which I wasn't, I
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: was getting side-eyed, but it's not like I grew up
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: in the most accepting culture. It's not like middle Easterners
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: are like, Oh, this is my gay son. I love gays.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: It was not like that growing up. So I always
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: felt like I was on an Island by myself. So
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: when the love started coming, I was just kind of like,
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: you know, appreciating it, but also thinking, you know, that
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: that shoe about to do that other shoe could drop
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: at any moment.
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: I'm used to, I'm used to a lot of hate.
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: So let me appreciate this good. Yes. That hate train
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: is never late.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: But that never happened. I mean, it just it never did,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: which is great. It only grew into more understanding and
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: which got us to several seasons in and then you
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: went to visit Iran. You wrap that up. I love
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: that chapter going to Iran and leaving there the big
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: epiphany of like, we you can't we can't have you
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: there because you're American. And then leaving and seeing all
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: the signs go by the other direction of Iran. And
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: you're like that you shed that skin. Would you have
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: gotten to that place if you weren't on the Shaz
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: of Sunset?
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: Like, do you think? Never.
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: Never. Not ever. Never.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: The biggest gift I ever got in my whole life
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: was from a random guide in a van.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: On the way to the border of Iran.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: He validated this feeling that I am an American.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: Like, who knew? Like, he... I knew it was out there.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: I did not know that he would be the presenter
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: at the award show giving it to me.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Right, right.
• 35:15
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  Speaker 2: we can talk about that for a little while because,
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: you know, I remember talking to you when we finally
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: heard that it was not going to come back for
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: the ninth season, right?
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: Ninth? Tenth. Tenth.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. That's just mean. And I remember on SiriusXM,
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: and you were so transparent about it, which I love,
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: because nobody who's on these shows... is ever like, I
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: was in shock. I didn't know what to do with myself,
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: you know? And I fucking love that because you can't
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: tell me that people don't automatically have that reaction when
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: their whole life and career shifts in the drop of
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: like a Zoom call, you know, when you're expecting to
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: go for another season. And that I want to applaud
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: you for. I remember being there and you're like, I
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: was like, well, you had to have known, right? Rumors
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: are like, no, they were saying this, they were saying that.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: And I remember you said in your book, like, or
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: I think it was the producer was like, oh, I'm
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: not going to be with you this season, but I'll
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: be with you next. All these things were pointing to
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: you're having another season.
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: So- I spent $ 10, 000 on confessional wardrobe options to have
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: things lined up for my confessional interviews. So I wouldn't
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: be scrambling. Like when I tell you, I am a
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: realist and every season leading up I always thought to myself,
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: there's the option that the show will go away and
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: it could get canceled. But this particular season, I let
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: my guard down. I thought to myself, you know, Don't
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: be negative. All the signs are pointing. It's going to happen.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: Just enjoy it. Embrace it. Be positive about it. So
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: when I tell you I had no idea, I was blindsided.
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: But the worst thing was, Amy, it's they didn't tell
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: me that the show wasn't coming back. They told me
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: the show was being going on pause. And then TMZ,
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: because there was something going on with Mike with one
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: of my other castmates.
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: One of your castmates. Yeah.
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: There was some legal stuff that he was dealing with
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: that was in the news and TMZ dropped that shots
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: was canceled.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: They actually never told me it was canceled. So it's yeah.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: It was horrible.
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, again, part of your story, right? Like it's,
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Do you feel like that was something that should have happened?
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess it's hard. That's kind of a
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: tough question to ask. But I mean, it's because of course,
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: you're gonna be like, everything is meant to happen, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: But like, do you feel now like that should have
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: been the course?
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it should have been the course.
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: But I'll tell you three things that happened to me
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: in my life that have made me a much stronger
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: human being because I endured them. I lost like, my,
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: my soul cat, like the pet that I grew up with,
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: I had for 16 years and losing a pet is
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: a very lonely, sad experience. I lost a parent and
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: I lost shots of sunset. And those three things were
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: the scariest things to me in life, losing a pet,
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: losing a parent and losing a career that was so
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: important to me. And now it's like, What are you
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: going to do to me that I can't endure or survive? Like,
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: what can you do to me? What can you take
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: away from me? I've already lost a parent. I don't
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: have kids. God forbid. I mean, obviously, but I lost
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: a pet that was, I worshiped and adored. That felt
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: like a child to me. I felt like I birthed
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: it and I lost something that was so important to
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: me and defined a decade of my life.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: And those three things were taken away from me and
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: I survived. I came out on the other side, a
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: better person. And this time around, it's very different. Once
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: they take it away from you and then you're back
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: in the mix and It's very different.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: How so?
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: And I like this. But you remember what happened when
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: you were little. Oh, shit. You know what I'm saying?
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: I did not expect you to go there. I didn't
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: know that's what you were going to say.
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: It's like.
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: You've got a bombastic side eye. You're watching. You've learned.
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: Like.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: You know what's up. Right. You're not going to pull
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: one over.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Please.
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're not going to do it to me again.
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: I'm older now. Yeah, no. I'm older and wiser.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: That's a great way to put it.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: That's how it feels, right?
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: When I was on Shots, I was watching every show.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: I felt like Bravo was my life.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it had to have been.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: It was such a big part of my life. It
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: was such a big part of my identity. It was
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: like all consuming. And now it's not like that.
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: And I like this. I like this better.
• 42:55
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: Oh man, that's cool. You know, you just don't hear
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: people talk about that. It's usually a bunch of BS about,
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: you know, cause they, and I understand, you know, you
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: want to save your pride. I get it. You know,
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: I probably would too. I don't know if I'd be
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: as transparent, but I like that you are so willing
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: to go for it. You go so hard in every direction.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: So why would it be any different with this? You're
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: going to go hard with loss and then rebuilding.
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: Why would I want to lie to you guys? It
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: was devastating.
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: It was If you had told me that the end
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: was going to look like that, I would have bet
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: my life savings that they would never do it like that.
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: It wouldn't get handled in that way.
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: And I'll tell you one of the best things, the sweetest,
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: sweetest revenge was coming back to Bravo with a different
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: production company than the one that made Shadows of Sunset.
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: Because when.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: the cancellation Zoom happened, it was with the production company.
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: It wasn't with Bravo. So the bad news comes from
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: the production company.
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: And in my opinion, it was handled in the most.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: Fugazi way that you could handle a situation like that,
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: leaving the worst taste in my mouth. And so when
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: The new show was coming back and I was going
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: to BravoCon and I went and I ran into the
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: owner of that production company and the lady that was
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: the head of the company that I had the most
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: interactions with. And I saw them there and I was
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: back and I could just like, just be short and,
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: not give them much. Cause I had nothing left to
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: give them that moment made up.
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: For all of everything else that I had gone through
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: in dealing with the demise of the show.
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: I bet that's, that's the moment that everybody wants to
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: be when they see it in a movie, you know, that's.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: The moment you want to live. Right.
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: So they never like me.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: I was thinner. I was wearing Fendi. It was so good. Yeah.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: I love you. So they never like made it right.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: They never came back and said like, hey, I'm sorry,
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: by the way, that went down. Our hands were tied.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: We were told this, you know, no one ever came
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: back to you and said anything.
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: So the lady at the production company called a.
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: Week after the Zoom to check in.
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: But I used that as an opportunity to let her
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: know how I felt.
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And I told her how I felt.
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: And I wasn't really open to hearing anything that she
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: had to say. I told her how I felt. And
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: that was it. And I didn't want to really hear anything.
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: And I didn't give her an opportunity. But I felt
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: like the opportunity would have been in that Zoom.
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, right. Not a week later when... And.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: You could probably tell, you know, in that Zoom, how
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: they'd be feeling, you know, if they're like, if they
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: were emotional and felt bad about it and had a
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: hard time, you would be able to sense that.
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: And it just sounded like from the book, it sounded
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: like it was really just business and then just cut
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: ties and moving on. And, you know, this is one
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: of the bigger questions I have for you because... With
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: you guys, you were this show that never existed. You're
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: a group of people that we've never seen. You're not
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: the Real Housewives. You're not below deck. It's not this
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: already pre-made structure where they fit a cast into, right?
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: They were completely reliant on you, your personalities, your lives,
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: your friendships, everything. So you had so much more skin
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: in the game when this show was created. I mean,
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: it was like you were the ones making the show.
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: To have the weight of the world on you, I think,
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: makes so much sense, as opposed to other reality shows
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: that we watch. Because when I was reading your book
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: and the chapter about how much anxiety you had, because...
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: If you don't bring everything from yourselves and your friendships,
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: there's no show. You are not replaceable. And there is
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: one thing about housewives that someone told me a long
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: time ago in production, one of the higher ups at Bravo.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: Housewives are replaceable, period, stop. So like when you get
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: Elisa Rinna or Ramona, they're replaceable. Even though you feel
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: like there's no one like them and there isn't, there's
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: still a hundred other people lined up ready to take
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: that job. Whereas with your show, it just was never
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: like that. And so I feel like you bear the
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: burden of a lot more than I think that us
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: as viewers gave it credit for. And I didn't realize
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: that until I like read your book. I was like,
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: oh my God, it was so much. So when you're
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: dealing with other like reality stars, are you kind of like,
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: you're different than me? Your show's different than us.
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: I would tell Mike at the end of the season, bitch,
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: I'm billing you for part of your episodic fees because
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: I carried your ass.
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: I want some of that money.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: Because percent, like if you look at the cast of
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: The Real Housewives of Atlanta, for example, None of those
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: people on that show are the original cast. Even Portia
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: left and came back. Phaedra left and came back. And,
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: you know, Angela Oakley's new. And there's Kelly.
• 48:53
  Speaker 4: She's new.
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: And, like, there's so many new cast members. And those
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: shows are great for.
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: The network because... You only have one person that's like
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: Kyle Richards.
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: She's getting a raise every season and she's getting.
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: A lot of money.
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: But a lot of those cast members, they bring new
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: people who appreciate being on the show and you start
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: them down here.
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: And like you can.
• 49:18
  Speaker 5: Rotate people and you don't realize that there's a rotation
• 49:23
  Speaker 5: happening and why it's happening sometimes but on our show
• 49:26
  Speaker 5: they couldn't do that because we're these we're like a
• 49:30
  Speaker 5: friend group.
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: And It's like MJ and I go back 20 years.
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: You're going to go find some random person off the
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: street and put them on our show.
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: What's going to happen? It's not going to work.
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: By the way, remember Lily Galici?
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: Of course. I talk to Lily regularly.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: You do? I loved her. I was so bummed when
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: she left the show.
• 49:55
  Speaker 4: Talk about leaving the show and taking what... you got
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: and turning it into so much more.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: Like, but isn't that, isn't that like another example of
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: taking like the smallest thing and just blowing it up? Yeah. I,
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: let me, let me go to another darling question. Oh,
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: this is cute. Chef Lauren says, I'd love to have
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: more information on why he went vegan for a short
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: period of time. And now his husband, Adam is vegan. Also,
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: if he has any interest in writing a Persian cookbook,
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: I would love to read recipes of his also vegan
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: ones of Adam's that show beautiful pictures of how he
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: would decorate and set up for a party.
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: Thank you for the question, Chef Lauren. I actually won
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: season 30 of Worst Cooks in America. And I learned
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: how to cook because I'm great at presentation and like
• 50:46
  Speaker 3: making a salad, but I wasn't really good at cooking.
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: I used to date someone that was vegan before I
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: met my husband many, many years before. I dated someone
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: who was vegan and I was so effing impressed with
• 51:02
  Speaker 3: the dedication that it took to be vegan. And I'm
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: one of those people that thinks to myself, like, why
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: admire equality in someone else? This is why persons are successful.
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: Why admire it in someone else?
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: Do it, bitch.
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: And that's why I did it. And I loved it
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: while I was doing it. And I have a huge
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: family that cooks and vegan is very.
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: Hard when you're Persian.
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: And it's very offensive to be going to Persian people's
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: homes and not being able to eat anything because you're vegan.
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: And so I did it for a while to prove
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: to myself that I could do it. But my husband
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: is vegan and he loves it. And my mom loves
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: my husband so much. And anytime we go over to
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: her house for a meal, she makes modifications and does
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: vegan meals for him with Persian flair.
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: With Persian flair.
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 51:58
  Speaker 4: And I have thought of doing a cookbook. So I might,
• 52:01
  Speaker 4: you know. Great.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: I think it could be. you know, an entertaining book
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: as well. Like, you know, a combo of those two
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: things would be great.
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: 100% like presentation.
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: And like, when I'm posting, like, I do like special
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: ice cubes with like blueberries and mint leaves inside the
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: ice cube. I like to go out my mom was
• 52:23
  Speaker 3: someone who would go all out. And Persians entertain. I
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: don't know if you've ever been to a wedding or
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: a bar mitzvah or a bat mitzvah of a Persian,
• 52:33
  Speaker 3: but your mind will be blown.
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it seems like a no-brainer. I mean,
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: this book is out, right? I mean, now it's time to...
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: By the way, Folio is my literary.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Agent, too.
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: That's crazy.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: Isn't that why?
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: Is it Steve?
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: No, it's not Steve.
• 52:52
  Speaker 5: It's S.
• 52:52
  Speaker 4: Steve.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: That freaking prank.
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: How good was that?
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: That killed me. I had a jaw drop moment because
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: I'm listening to the book and I'm like cleaning over whatever.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: And you're like, and it was me.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: I was like, what?
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: It was like plot twist. That was so funny, Reza.
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: That was hilarious. I love Gigi going off. God, I
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: love Gigi. I love MJ. I love everybody. I'm so
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: glad that we have the Valley Persian style. Another question.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: Leah Q wants to know if you could be on
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: any other Bravo show besides Shaw's the Valley person style
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: or Beverly's housewives, which would you choose to be on?
• 53:29
  Speaker 4: Because I've been on Bravo since 1847.
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: I have so many friends on so many different shows.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: I feel like I would love to be on like
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: Salt Lake or Potomac. Cause I, I love the girls
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: on Potomac. I love the girls on Salt Lake. I
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: love Atlanta. I, I, And throw me, except for Rhode Island,
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: which I have not watched yet.
• 53:55
  Speaker 4: It's like queued up in my DVR. I need to
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: just binge it.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: We'll get there.
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: Throw me into a Housewives franchise and I will tear
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: it up.
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: I wonder if they didn't put you on The Valley
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: that they would have put you on Beverly Hills. That
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: would have been great.
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Yeah. Are you kidding?
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: With all the stuff I say about Kyle, I don't
• 54:18
  Speaker 4: know if Kyle would put a host in.
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Kyle wouldn't let it happen. But it would be
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: great TV because you guys would come to the other side.
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: You'd be fighting for the first maybe two seasons, and
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: then you would be best fucking friends is what would happen.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: And listen- I think because of her power and longevity,
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: she gets to skate and do a lot less than
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: a lot of other people have. Like, on our show,
• 54:44
  Speaker 3: you have to get the knife, cut yourself, bleed, and
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: show the white meat.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you do.
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: They're not.
• 54:52
  Speaker 3: You know, you have a date, you're dating someone, we
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: don't care about what privacy they want. You need to
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: talk about your end of the dating. You can keep
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: them private, but like... I feel like she gets special
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: treatment that other people I don't think would be able
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: to get.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, you're obviously watching all of those Housewives shows. Do
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: you have any other shows that you're watching that aren't
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: like Bravo related that you're into right now?
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: I just wrapped Love is Blind UK season three. And
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: I'm obsessed with Love is Blind. I love that show.
• 55:32
  Speaker 4: That's great. It's so good.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: Um, do you talk to Mike ever?
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: I talked to Mike a lot. We DM a lot.
• 55:42
  Speaker 3: We text a lot. I talked to Mike regularly.
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: Is he doing okay? Like, is he getting help for,
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: you know, the things that he did?
• 55:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 55:51
  Speaker 3: And, you know, obviously it's not my story to share,
• 55:55
  Speaker 3: but I think that he was in a terrible situation and, um,
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: It ended as poorly as that type of situation can end,
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: but he, he's done a lot of work, a lot
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: of work on himself and getting to a much, much
• 56:18
  Speaker 3: better place.
• 56:19
  Speaker 4: And so he's definitely. In a different place.
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: So I watched the Go-Go's documentary and I was devastated
• 56:29
  Speaker 3: that these people that made this music that had such
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: a huge impact on my.
• 56:33
  Speaker 4: Life hated each other.
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: Not only hated each other while they were making the music,
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: but hated each other after. And Shaws of Sunset was
• 56:43
  Speaker 3: so special to me. It was such a huge part
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: of my life. I cherish that.
• 56:50
  Speaker 4: Everything.
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: I sop it up with a biscuit. And the thought
• 56:54
  Speaker 3: of not being cool with these people is not okay
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: with me. And I am not a perfect human being.
• 57:01
  Speaker 3: And I am not the judge, the jury, and the executioner.
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: And I would like to think that if I made
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: mistakes in my life, that not every human would turn
• 57:13
  Speaker 3: their back on me. And that if I did some
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: work to get myself to a better place... that maybe
• 57:20
  Speaker 3: people would be open to having something to do with me.
• 57:26
  Speaker 3: And so I know a lot of people are going
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: to be upset with me that like I talked to
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: him or I have a friendship with him or I
• 57:34
  Speaker 3: have a relationship with him, but I have a very
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: special place in my heart for every single person that
• 57:41
  Speaker 3: I worked with on Shaws of Sunset. And I don't
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: know that anyone else can understand unless you are in
• 57:48
  Speaker 3: a a reality TV environment for 10 years and nine seasons.
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: If you have a true friendship with somebody, it's hard
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: to turn your back on them forever, especially if they
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: need help or if they're in a bad way. It
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: shows so much about your character. And I know that
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: we've seen that over the years. I mean, a perfect
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: example is, you know, you and MJ. I mean, you
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: were just constantly going back and asking for more and
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: more opportunities to make it right with her. And I'm
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: so glad that you guys did. That was the worst
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: time of my life. Oh my God. It was awful.
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: And I mean, now that she and Tommy are, they're
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: fully divorced. Is that right?
• 58:31
  Speaker 4: Are they fully divorced yet? They're in the process.
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: Do you feel like once their relationship started to disintegrate,
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: that it opened more of a door for you to
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: come back into her life?
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: I feel like once she and I opened the door
• 58:48
  Speaker 3: to our relationship again, Her marriage was something that I
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: didn't want to talk about. And it was very deliberate.
• 58:57
  Speaker 3: Like we would talk about everything except her relationship.
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: So it was.
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: Really nice because it was, I was treating her. as
• 59:10
  Speaker 3: if he wasn't there out of abundance of caution and
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: respect and just thinking that this is.
• 59:19
  Speaker 4: Not any where I want to go or need to be.
• 59:23
  Speaker 3: So when, she started talking about potentially wanting to divorce him.
• 59:30
  Speaker 3: I also wanted to make sure I played a very
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: neutral role in that I wasn't advocating for it. Like, listen,
• 59:38
  Speaker 3: I have a lot of friends who go back. Like,
• 59:41
  Speaker 3: I do not want to be that guy who's like.
• 59:43
  Speaker 4: Yes, let's go, let's go. And then she's like, well,
• 59:47
  Speaker 4: we worked it out.
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: You're like, oh, I guess I'll return that banner. Okay.
• 59:53
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 59:53
  Speaker 3: I wanted to make sure that she knew that I
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: could go back to just because we did it for
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: a long time where we just didn't acknowledge it.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 4: And it was as if it wasn't happening.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: I love that there was a trio of you, MJ
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: and Gigi, who after Shaw's stuck together and you were
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: there for each other and you wanted to keep your friendships.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden you've got Alex Baskin
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: knocking on your door in the valley saying, hey, guys.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 3: With Jen Levy as the president of 32 Flavors, who
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: was my executive at Bravo, and who's the reason why
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: Shadows of Sunset happened in the first place.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't know that.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Wow. Jen Levy. Shout out, Jen Levy.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 4: That's awesome.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 3: So it was like, I prayed on that. The same way... Amy,
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 3: I wanted to be my mom when I was little.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: She'd be like, what do you want to be when
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: you grow up? I wanted to be the Shah of Iran,
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: which means the king of Iran. And the monarchy was
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: abolished and I manifested a show. And some might say
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 3: I was the Shah of Sunset on that show.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: I would say all would.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 3: I literally prayed and manifested the show coming back with
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: a different production company. I didn't know what the name
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 3: of the show was going to be, but I was like, me, Gonesa,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 3: and MJ still have stories to tell. We are not
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: done at Bravo, and we need to come back. And please,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 3: can we come back with a different production company?
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: P.S., universe.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 4: P.S. We're coming back.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: Can you just make sure it's with a different production company?
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: So being Muslim and Jewish, what is your religion? Do
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: you have a religion? Who do you pray to? What's
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: your vibes, your spiritual vibes?
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: So my spiritual vibes are that Islam is not pro-gay.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 3: And I consider myself Jewish. Because I don't, it's not.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: You're not accepted. So why would you be over in that?
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 3: Trying to be over here with people that want to
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 3: see me killed. No, I'm over here with the Jews
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 3: who have The biggest pride celebration outside of the U.S.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 4: Is in Israel.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 3: Is it really?
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: I didn't know that. Oh, that's cool.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 4: Religion-wise, I lean Jewish.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 2: I thought so. I know we need to wrap up,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: but is there anything that you want to share or
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: put out there that I haven't asked you about?
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 3: I think that the one thing that I want to
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: say to people that are watching is that If you
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 3: watch reality shows and people slip up and they do
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 3: things you don't like, give them grace. In real life,
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: those people would get a lot more grace like Amanda
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 3: Batola and Wes and Sierra. And I'm not picking sides
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 3: or picking a team. But in real life, when you
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 3: make a mistake, you do not want an angry mob
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 3: coming at you on social media saying, making you feel
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 3: a thousand times worse about a situation you probably feel
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 3: terrible about anyway. Like, I don't think people realize how
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 3: hard it is to be vulnerable, live your life, be
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 3: honest with what you're going through. You know, like when
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: you were saying to me, I don't know that I would,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: might be more prideful and I wouldn't share how difficult
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 3: a cancellation would be.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 4: And it was very, very, Very difficult for me. And
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 4: I want it to be very real and very honest.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 3: But it's very hard when you have a mob of
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 3: people who are like peanut gallery style telling you.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 4: That you're a horrible person.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 3: So to the listeners out there, to the darlings, give
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 3: these people, me included, a little grace if we slip up.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: I like that message. I honestly, I think that should
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: be a very big message that it should be a
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: message at the end of every Bravo show, like with
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: a black screen and like, just a subtext of like,
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 2: find it in your hearts to give some of these
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: villains a break, because that's what kind of makes the
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: show interesting for one and also other people. And it
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: could be you. Have a nice day. Yeah, I think
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: that you make a great point. I mean, you know,
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: our passion is what drives us to these shows and
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: the vitriol can be just poisonous. So I hear you
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: on that. And the Valley Persian style is coming back, right?
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: And have you shot your second season yet? Does everybody
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: know this yet or should I not say this?
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 3: So I don't know if everyone knows it yet. I
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: know the show got picked up and was announced. And
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 3: there's been some articles about how I was filming and
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 3: I stormed out of a scene because.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 4: Of someone showing up.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 3: So I feel like I'm disclosing something that's already out there.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 4: So if you Google.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 3: you'll see that I was in a scene and someone
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 3: who I didn't know was coming, showed up and I
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 3: stormed out and they wrote about it.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 4: Amazing.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: I'm so excited. That's great. And obviously congratulations. I knew
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: that we'd see you. I didn't know in what aspect,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, but it, it feels like no time has
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: gone by. Although I know you've lived a million lives
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: and you've been through so much, but it's, It's just
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: so wonderful that you guys are back on our screens
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: and we get to see you again. There's no one
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: like you, Reza. There's just no one like you. And
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: your book is amazing. Your book is amazing. I laughed.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: I cried. I learned a lot, a lot. I learned
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: a lot. And I appreciate the reminder of telling us
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: to Google things more often. That was funny. So if
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: you haven't read it, Memoirs of a Gay Shaw by
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: Reza Farahan. Please get it or listen to the audiobook.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: I highly recommend. It's so great. And watch The Valley
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: Persian Style, Season 1. It's streaming on Peacock. You can
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: follow Reza Farahan on Instagram.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 3: And thank you for supporting the book and reading it
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 3: with the darlings. This has been an absolute pleasure. I've
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 3: been looking forward to this and I knew I was
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 3: going to have a great time. And it feels like
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 3: talking to an old friend, which you are not that old.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 3: I've known you for a long time.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: We're the same age. But I guess if I'm saying
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 2: I'm old, then I'm saying you're old. So no, we're
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: not old.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 4: You're at least 10 years younger than me.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you. So do you.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: This has been so great and I can't wait to
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: see you in person sometime soon. And then also come
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: back on the show. I'd love to, I don't know
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: if you're, if you're available to like do recaps or
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: anything like that, but if you ever are, let me,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: you are.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 4: Hell yeah. Let's do a recap.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 4: Great. Recap. Yes.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Reza.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 4: Bye.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: Drama, darling. Drama, darling. Drama, darling.