E883 Going Deeper with Sam Asghari: Moving on From Britney Spears

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I heard it's preventable.

Sit around on the sofa.

You did it to yourself.

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You're crazy. you don't have to wear the headphones but if you pull the mic close i'll wear it it'll tuck my ears on are you insecure about your ears no but they're still out there no minor't mind Nick thinks his are out there too

what is it

they used to call me Dumbo

when I was a kid

what were you called

um

what I mean

it's okay

you don't have to relive

different

yeah we don't have to live

your childhood trauma

different languages

uh

I was bullied in different ways

we don't call it bullying

so

what do you call it

torture

we call it uh just growing up and and i was born in iran and i think the cultures are different because in iran a child is never being you know watched by their parents they're out and about my father was working when he was seven years old it's a different culture i think just it was different growing up and when i came here i was like oh you need your parents signatures to go to a field trip when you're like 17 yeah you know so it's it's different you know and other people uh kind of if you see a child you know misbehaving in public you kind of discipline and that's okay that's the type of culture like never here yeah especially especially in l.a yeah especially in l.a you can't do that but in where i grew up it was you know if you misbehave somebody's there to make sure you're like even a stranger yeah so you know there's no bullying wow that's crazy you guys don't wear the headphones you want to wear them yeah well if you wear them i'll wear them let's wear them sam welcome to the valve files man thank you for having me hi thanks for being here we're excited to have you on i've been wanting to have you on for some time now oh okay cool yeah we've uh i well i'm because i'm very fascinated with you because i feel like everyone knows who you are and no one knows who you are yes right i mean do you feel that way Is that like an accurate kind of representation of sometimes how you feel when it comes to the public eye? I think so. I think so.
You know, it's sort of a thing that you have to deal with. I think just being in the public eye, there's a perception of you.
Even when people do know things about you, there's still your selfness thatness that nobody really gets to know. And even with some of these reality people that you think that's their personality, there's still someone out there that they just, that's who they are.
And you put up this mask to go out and sort of, you know, even if you're not in Hollywood and you're not in the industry, but you still have to wear a mask of this, you know, positive person or whatever, but you might be struggling deep down. So everybody's dealing with that.
But I think when it comes to, you know, being in the public eye and being in the industry, it's even worse because people put presumptions and based on your past based you know, the people that you are involved with and they kind of sort of make assumptions and that's, that's what it is. Certainly we know a little bit what it's like to be in that position.
I think with you, it's like a whole nother level. So I am definitely excited to sit down with you and, you know, just kind of get to know you.
Cause I feel like a lot of people have this fascination with you and whether they're

fascinated because they've been fans or fascinated with you because they're a critic of you.

I think there's just more questions about who you are than answers.

And yeah, that's why I thought it would be really excited to sit down with you and talk.

Yeah, absolutely, man.

It's really good to do this.

Podcasts are always amazing because, you know, you're talking and there's no clickbaits and there's no, let's take this and put it next to this and then put it on a sweet end. Sometimes I try to do that, but there's always at least the tape.
You can always refer to the long form.

Yeah, I think that's one of my favorite things about what Natalie and I get to do.

I think back in the day when people like yourselves would go out and do press, they would do kind of the typical late night TV or the GMA and have a five minute interview. And they have to come up with some sort of anecdotal story.
And it was kind of a bit, and it wasn't really a conversation. And I think, you know, especially with the guests we like to do our Going Deeper episodes with, you know, I always want my audience to feel like they're in the room with us, they're sitting down with us and kind of actually getting to know the person, you know, like all the little things that as humans do, like, you know, that kind of slogan when they say like, celebrities, they're just like us, you know, and like, of course of course you know like we all have the same interests or you know fears insecurities and things like that so it's always fun to sit down and actually get to know people when we get to when we get to talk to them i think that's great because you know doing interviews with anybody i don't want to name names because i love all the media stuff i think they do a great job.
And I think it's weird when celebrities do complain about media because that media gives you some sort of a platform. But they do like to focus on specific things.
And you go into an interview and nobody really gets to know you. Your personality doesn't even show up besides one thing you said that they think might make people click on it.
So that's the difference. So you moved to the States when you were 13? I was 12 and a half.
12 and a half. And I'm assuming you came with your family? No.
So what happened was we were always supposed to come to the U.S. And where I'm from, the country of Iran, it's such a privilege to come to America.
It's such an amazing opportunity. It feel so weird speaking about this because I sound like a super proud American, which I am.
And I always said- I think that's okay. I know nowadays, sometimes in certain circles, people act like it's not, but we still are.
I feel very grateful that we get to be here. Absolutely.
But if you were born here, you don't understand that, you know, a lot of my friends, my best friend doesn't understand that what you really have and certain things like we had to leave because I had three sisters in my family and in that country, their basic human rights, especially for women, is next to nothing. They can't sing in public.
They can't do many things in public. They don't have control of themselves when they get married and things like that.
So being in a family with three sisters, we have to get out of here. And they're just such amazing people at accomplishing.
They just want to reach the sky. One of them is a forensic scientist.
The other one is a doctor. And the other one has their medical spa.
And I'm the stupid one in the family. Where do you fall in line? I'm last.
I'm last. You're the baby? I'm the baby.
And the difference is by eight years. And then they're back to back.
In long story short, my dad was wanting a son because of those reasons. And he was a player.
So God or whatever the case was like, no, you're not getting a son. You're getting three daughters.
That's crazy. Do you still have family in Iran? I have family that I don't keep in touch with.
But luckily, all of my mom's here and everybody that's close to me is here.

And it's sad because it's a different culture and it's a different government that took over that country. And it's not the people.
Talking about perception, when I moved here, I think I went to seventh grade. seventh grade and everybody everybody was like, the only thing we know about Iran is the same thing we know about Iraq or those Middle Eastern countries.
There's a bunch of sands and camels and a bunch of suicide bombers. I'm like, wait a minute.
I've never seen a camel in my life. I mean, the first camel was here in a zoo, whatever.
The first llamas and camels I've seen are here. And I haven't seen sand.
We have mountains and it's a diverse culture. But unfortunately, the government is taking the people as hostage and taking the country as hostage.
So I have to fight that perception in America. And everybody's like, oh, you're this, you're that.
But I was so enthusiastic that that perception didn't matter. It's me.
You get to know me. Let me make American friends.
Let me make all the people that all the other immigrants that are here. We're all here for a reason.
I always really enjoy talking to first-generation immigrants and people who weren't here, because like yourself, they very much come with a very different perspective. And I think we do live in a time where, you know, I think even our younger generations, I think obviously every country has its problems and, you know, we don't talk politics on the show, but obviously I think it's just very easy to complain about what you have and the current situation or not like things that are going on here.
And it's always fascinating in the perspective of people like yourself, because despite all the issues going on in the United States, I think it's still a place where we should feel very lucky to be a part of. And we do have a lot of very basic rights that, like you were saying, your sisters, I mean, like you're saying, they're essentially considered property.
I mean, listen, I remember when I was, I think five or six, we got a call, me and my mom, and they were taken into some sort of a morale police. They have morale police that kind of go around the city and see if you're mistressed, if your hair is out, You got to cover your hair.
If any skin is showing, then they're going to take you. And the whole purpose of the morale police is to teach you the proper ways of a Muslim woman.
By the way, I'm not religious, but Islam is a beautiful religion. But that country, they've taken that religion to sort of make it a propaganda.

For sure.

You know, suppress. I mean, it's the same thing with like, I grew up Catholic.

Yeah.

You know, I'm not actively like going to church these days, but I think it's a beautiful

religion.

I think Christianity is a beautiful religion, but there's also a lot of radical Christians

out there who do terrible things.

Basically what happened was they take you in and then they're going to teach you about this, you know, how to properly dress and how to do this, but they don't do that. What they do is they do things that, you know, nobody hears from and, you know, they, they, anywhere between, you know, torturing people, they do weird stuff to a point.
Two years ago, they, they did something with this girl, this young girl, a 19 year old girl old girl and she died she suffocated and there was a lot of protest around and that raised a lot of awareness uh some guy did a song about it it was like some sort of a youtube song and he won a grammy for it he couldn't even collect the grammy because he lives there they took him to prison so but long story short, I'm here now. I'm an American.
But coming from that country to the total opposite, it was just such a great experience to where perception was, any perception. Hollywood is easy.
Let's handle that with no problem coming from that. You know what I mean? So you were saying you were six or seven and your sisters were taken by the morality police oh absolutely i mean they were probably out doing whatever you know they were teenagers and they were dressed in a certain way that you're not supposed to dress uh which i don't know if you can show a couple inches of skin they can take you in and they're not there's no laws there's no uh you know to decide.
They just get to decide, yeah. You came here when you were 12 with your sisters and your mom? So when I migrated, I was alone.
The reason why I was alone was because I was under the age of 18 and you don't need some sort of a background check or anything to go further in an American visa. So I came here first.
Two of my sisters, it took them about six years. And then the other one was about eight years.
Where did you go when you got here and you were alone? I had family here. My uncle was here and my dad was here for a brief amount of time.
And he went back to kind of sort them out. But pretty much when I was in high school and middle school and high school years, I was pretty much with my uncle, which was, you know, keep in mind it's different culture.
So nobody really needed to watch me. So I was staying at my uncle's condo and he had OCD and I couldn't stay at his house and all sorts of stuff.
It was an interesting time, but the number one thing I did the second I came to the U S and I was so proud to be here and I changed my name to Sam. And one of my best friends that I met right when I moved here in eighth grade, his name was Sam.
My name was Hassam, H-E-S-A-M. His name was already Sam.
It was already changed. And when I went to school, I met this guy and I knew right away from the way he looked.
I said, he's one of my kind. He's going to speak my language.
So I went and spoke to him. It was already changed.
And when I went to school, I met this guy and I knew right away from the way he looked, I said, he's one of my kind. He's going to speak my language.
So I went and spoke to him and I think the counselors put us together and they said like, you know, go to the classes and he speaks a little bit of English. He'll translate for you.
So we went to a math class and, you know, we have this math teacher, wonderful teacher. I think her name was Miss Ortega or something.
or something and you know she's explaining this thing for like 10 minutes like she's talking about how the homeworks work and how the school works she's being helpful and my friend is my translator he doesn't speak much english so he turns to me and says one word and then the teacher is like wait a minute i just spoke for 10 minutes how could you just translate and she's like you know he gets it and then she's like what's your name she asked me and then i teacher's like, wait a minute, I just spoke for 10 minutes. How could you just translate? And she's like, you know, he gets it.
And then she's like, what's your name? She asked me. And then I look at my friend, Sam, and I look at her and then I say, Sam.
And then he goes, wait a minute, that's my name. You can't, your name is not Sam.
You can't take my name. I said, no, my name is closer.
Just cancel the H E and it's Sam. Your name is S A J J J A D.
That's not Sam. You can change it.
And he's like, oh, try Henry. Why don't you try Henry? I was like, I don't want Henry.
That sounds old. So, you know.
Well, yeah, Sam, like with your given name is just like a nickname. At the time you have to change it.
You know, again, I'm not going to fall into the trap of people were calling me names. People, they were, but they're kids.
That's part of growing up. It's tough, tough, tough skin.
I'm not going to take away from bullying. I think I stand up against bullies any time of the day.
But for me, what I was made out of, I was able to handle. I needed it.
You know what I mean? So people were going to call you names. They're just going to assume that name is something else or they're just not going to pronounce it.

And what was it like?

I mean, you didn't speak much English at all.

How did you learn English?

I had it nice because I was, I don't know, but I think, I don't think I'm stupid.

I'm only stupid in school and subjects that I don't like.

I don't, I don't, because I don't pay attention.

If I don't, if I don't like something, I genuinely don't pay attention to it. I just can't.
That's me with math. Me with every subject, but history, I was, I was very smart and, you know, it was just fascinating.
I don't know why I liked history. I was in drama and arts at the time and that helps me a lot.
Drama was, because you get to improv and you get to talk and you get to learn Shakespeare. And that's far more advanced English than it is.
And then I had friends, I played football and that was a big factor of learning. I learned it right away.
I think, I don't think I struggled much. fascinating yeah yeah i could probably talk with you for hours about just like your upbringing in Iran, just because like you said, I think there's, I mean, I think I knew more than like, I knew that like Iran has a beautiful landscape and doesn't have the deserts, but there's so much I think people don't know.
Yeah. Is there any hope from you or your family that things might never change there in Iran? You know what? I think when it comes to politics and what's happening there, you take out whoever the dictator is, then do you have to replace it with the right one? The problem is the country has a lot of history.
It has beautiful people, but it's very diverse. It's 88 million people.
I think it's 80 million to 88 million people, but they're sort of diverse, kind of like America where you got, you know, Kurds and Turks and, you know, people from the South there, people from the North and people from my capital city, which was Tehran. It's very diverse.
So you have to make sure it's, there's a perfect, you know, democracy put in place or whatever the case that's going to work. But unfortunately, when you take out those dictators, there's always someone that's worse that takes, takes place.
So I hope so one day. Did neighbors like tell on each other sometimes that it ever get to that level or were citizens more protective of each other? You know what? I think now if you go back because of the new generation, everybody, there's, if somebody, if there's a morale police that, you know, goes up to a girl, I've seen videos, goes up to a girl, says something, there's a bunch of other people come in and get involved and make sure that doesn't happen.
People have each other's back. But yeah, of course, I mean, you know, half of the people are happy with the government, half are not, majority are not.
So it's tough. It's tough, but it's a blessing.
Like I said, it's a blessing to sort of have that. And it makes me very upset sometimes when I go to Dubai and Saudi Arabia and they do it, and these people, they do it amazing.
And what Iran had in the seventies, they were much further than Saudi Arabia and Dubai. And what they have now, they're back by 50 years.
Yeah. So once you graduated from high school, how did you find your way into entertainment? So in high school, I was half of my time I was spending in the theater program.
And we had a great theater program at Westlake High School in California here. And we had a really good football program.

So I was going from, you know, hanging out with the jocks to hanging out with the drama kids.

Nothing wrong with the drama kids, but there's something about when you're creative and you're an artist, it makes you different and you do things different. So I was doing that.
I was doing both. And when football was no longer an option for me, I had to, you know, some sort of part ways from it and part ways from the size that you have when you're playing football.
You're a little bit bigger. You don't really care about physique and the way you look.
You care about performance. What position did you play? I played, when I stopped, I played tight end.
But in high school, I was a D-lineman. Okay.
So I was, you know, already 300 pounds 300 pounds it was much bigger you can't get into the entertainment when you're 300 pounds uh the way i wanted to i mean sure you can be a comedian there's a lot a lot of other stuff around it or you can take ozampic that's a new thing nowadays people do you're like i got this face you know like i gotta well you don't know you gotta you got some sort of a face until you lose it because then you know uh the puff goes away and everything goes away so i i had that you know i had that going naturally and i was paying attention to what i was eating and exercising and and so on and my sister and one of my friends really was like oh you should get into uh modeling i was like okay i don't want to model because I'm not a model. I didn't grow up with people throwing compliments of the way you look and things like that.
But I do genuinely love acting and I want to get into acting and maybe I'll go into get an agent and start doing commercial acting. And that's what I did.
I got into commercial acting. And after that, that went really well.
And after that, I want to get to TV and film. And we did a, with the same commercial agent, I did a music video audition one time.
It was for Fifth Harmony Group with, you know, I don't know if you've seen that one. It's called Work From Home.
It was some sort of it's a good song it's a catchy song but uh you know they had us dress in construction clothes and you got jackhammer you're like a jackhammering yeah jackhammering it was a cool one and i think that was one of the times where i already had a social media but pop culture is crazy because they they love it's just like the biggest thing in the in the world and they did cosmopolitan ran an article on that music video and they were introducing all the people that were on it and i think that was my first time of getting some sort of uh you know a taste of pop culture and a little notoriety yeah yeah yeah yeah is that how you eventually ended up meeting britney so what happened was at the time uh you know music videos are great but mtv is no longer around so music video people aren't really watching them like they used to yeah people are not watching them unless you know it goes viral and people love it and whatever the case may be times are different so we're not i'm not longer going to be at that level. There's nothing wrong with commercial acting.
There's nothing wrong with soap opera acting and that stuff and music videos. But there's a respect that the TV and film side, they don't really have for that acting part, even though you might make more money on the commercial side.
So I wanted to really get into that. My passion was to do TV and film.
And so we said, let's no longer do a music video. Let's no longer do any commercial, put a stop to that so I can go to the next level.
And one day, one of my agents, I think it was some sort of a print agent I had at the time, they reached out and they said, oh, there's a music video for you. And I said, oh, immediately, no.
And then they're like, okay, good. And then they went away and then they came back another day and then they asked again.
And then I was like, I don't think so. And they weren't giving any details or anything like that.
And then a friend of mine, a mentor that does makeup and hair has done it for many years in Hollywood called me and said, oh, just so you know, somebody might reach out to do a music video. I'm working on a music video.
And my friend is a good director, Colin Tilly. He does a lot of great music videos and he does feature films now.
And he's really respected in that world. And he said, you know, my friend's doing it.
I'm doing it. Just come do it.
Who cares? And I said, okay, cool. I'll tell my agent yes.
And so I told him I'm available. Then they revealed who the music video was for and whatever it is.
Britney Spears with Tinashe and it's called Slumber Party. Anyway, I go into this house in Beverly Hills on cold water.
And we start, you know, it was a two-day shoot. And it was a really beautiful set.
And it was really fun. It was really great.
Except the food that they gave me, whoever the production was, had worm in it. The salmon had worm in it.
So I couldn't eat for two. Oh, it was crazy.
So a worm was crawling outside the outside the salmon and you ate it and then you saw the worm i i wanted to eat it toughen up and eat it but i didn't eat it no no i didn't know if you took a bite and then you saw the worm or if you saw the worm first i was i was eating it i was eating it then i saw it but you know that stuff doesn't... You survived.
I just put it away. Craft services.
Yeah, whoever that craft services was. I don't know.
I'm not the type of person to tell on you or whatever the case is. It might be a mistake.
You handled it well, it sounds like. I just put it away, didn't tell anybody.
I don't want to freak anybody out. But that happened and it was know it was it was a really good time what was your role in the music video so in the music video is a very um i don't know how to explain it it's some sort of a uh masquerade party type of theme it's a slumber party but there's a lot of different people on it and and some of her dancers they're amazing people by the way uh i think this was uh one of her her dancers.
His name is Willie Gomez. And he had some sort of a, like a tundra type of mark on his eye.
Like a scar? Like a tundra mark, like an emoji of a tundra or something like that. But it was in between a scar and some sort of a drawing.
And so I was a leading man where, you know, there's a big, the first scene was a big long table and I'm in a suit sitting down with that because I wanted to get that. I saw her dance.
I was like, just give me that too, because you know, why not? And it's, she's crawling like a cat and she's licking milk from the glass that I spilled or something like that. It's really interesting.
Hot. Yeah, whatever.
It's a music video, you know? It's a music video. Everyone's weird.
Everyone's, yeah, no. It all makes sense in a music video.
Once it all comes together, it all makes sense. No, you know, it's shot really well.
It's dark themed. There's a lot of costumes and a lot of dancing.
There's a lot of things that go into it and by the way it's i think it's weird for tv and film not to have respect for music video or commercial because they're doing this thing in two days so if you pick up anybody from production anybody that's worked in music video they will get the work done much faster than the tv people shout out to the TV people, but I'm just saying, I think they deserve some more respect as well. They're very efficient people.
They're efficient. You got a budget, you got time, you got people.
Everybody works hard. I mean, listen, the video vixens are sitting on this couch.
So I myself am a video vixen. I was in a Bad Bunny music video.
I love it Bad Bunny I love Bad Bunny so you're there doing the video who made the first move between you and Brittany so long story short it happened very naturally and I there's something about work that it's going to sound cliche and it's going to sound like I'm you know saying this but this, but really, truly, I want to be a professional because in my life, in my personal life, I'm messy and, you know, I have to work really hard to be on time. I am on time, not today.
You're a bad. You know, but when it comes to professional job, I'd like to be as professional as possible and, you know, be there and be excited be on time and and not really do any of that or not to try to make anything out of it and i'm not a even though i was in a music video already and i'm not really too familiar with her songs or i know she's a icon well i'm familiar now very familiar i was going to ask you because you grew up in ir Iran.
I'm guessing there wasn't a lot of pop culture available. I'm going to tell you something about fame.
When it comes to fame, pop culture, you know, Bad Bunny, for example, international pop culture, and then also there's a thing that says Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Britney Spears. Michael Jackson is the king of pop, Madonna is the queen of pop, and Britney Spears is the princess of pop, period.
I wasn't aware, right? I'm not aware of that because the music I listen to is 50 Cent and Eminem and all these things and trying to be very manly and not really pink and Barbie and pop culture-y and things like that. You weren't oopsing, I did it again.
I was familiar, but I didn't know any of the songs. If you put it on, I couldn't tell you different.
So it wasn't anything like that. We kind of spoke and everything went naturally.
And in between, you know, everything was moving fast, but it's two days. So in between things, we kind of had a conversation of, well, have you had, you know, sushi? I was like, oh yeah, believe it or not, I had sushi.
And matter of fact, I had one with a worm in it just about two hours ago. And, you know, we kind of hit it off and we were talking and everything was normal.
And she mentioned, let's grab sushi sometime. And I said, okay, cool.
And then when music video was done on the second day, one of her assistant came up to me and is like, oh, a special goodbye. She's not here.
So just give me your number and then I'll have her reach outside. She had me write my number on a piece of paper.
And then I think a weeks later she texted me and said let's go grab sushi weeks yeah it took it took about but i don't remember exactly it took about it took about a couple weeks okay yeah were you sweating or were you like she probably just read about no no but the reason why is because i was just focused on what in this industry yeah you have to forget, you have to have short-term memory. Like that's, I built that up with sports.
When you mess up in a sport, when you throw an interception and you're the quarterback, you have to, it has to go out of your mind. It's short-term memory.
It's called, if you keep it up, then you're going to keep messing up. And when you audition or you go into a job or you go do something you can't keep your hopes up you have to do the best thing possible then forget about it on to the next so that way if you if i keep my hopes up every single audition i'm gonna get disencouraged and i'm gonna give it back but she was asking you to sushi you know but like i said every for me it was you didn't really know it happened yeah if it happened listen i messaged nick and then i was like forgot about it don't care and then two hours later he messaged me back and i was like oh my god two hours so fast yeah i know you know you had two weeks he messaged me back right away really yeah he slid into his dms yeah? Sushi was great.
You know, I sort of, okay, I'm not too nervous about super mega stars texting me to go to sushi. I'm more nervous about if I pick the right restaurant.
You had to pick the restaurant? I had to, well, you know, I still have to be the, of course. What do you mean? Well, I didn't know.
I thought she was like, have you had sushi? Let's go get sushi. Here's the place.
No, I have to pick the restaurant because it still has to be some sort of a traditional waste to it. Okay, love it.
So I was nervous about picking the right type of restaurant and... Do you remember where you picked? Yeah.
I picked Koi on La Cienega, you know that Koi restaurant? It was really good and we went there, we ordered a few things and it was very brief. It was about like maybe half an hour and it was, it was great.
It was really cool. And we were talking and I got to know her a little bit and she was super sweet and everything was perfect.
And then after that, I think we went to a movie. We kept seeing each other for a very long time and very traditional.
Then she invited me to her Vegas residency. And that's when I went.
And that's when I started seeing what an amazing performer she was. And I started putting two and two together.
And I was like, okay, if you need to be an absolute hard worker and you need to be obsessed about your work and you need to be absolute genius in order to be a superstar and there's a reason why people are superstars and there's a reason it's not by accident no so that that's when it was but things went naturally and i was handling that really well but who was the first person you told when you went to go get sushi you know my friend that that was the reason i did the music video because i remember when i was in the music videos like oh I think you're going to start dating, you know, my friend, that was the reason I did the music video, because I remember when I was in the music video, he was like, oh, I think you're going to start dating her. I was like, okay, that's cool, whatever.
So I was like, oh, what you said came true. I was like, oh, I know.
I've seen it in my dreams. I was like, that's weird.
Oh my God, psychic. Are you like her type or something? I hope so.
I hope so. But right time meant to be it's life man i think what was the thing from your perspective that you know drew you to to britney in terms of like yeah like what was something that you noticed where you thought you know maybe this is more than just yeah a one-off sushi date so what drew me the most is the perception, like you say, and you say, you know, people know you for something and people know who you are based on your work and things like that.
What I saw was a sweet, beautiful woman. And I think America fell in love with her because she was America's sweetheart.
And that's what I saw. I truly saw and i didn't i didn't know the music i was really fresh into i love that because when you don't know anything about the person and you don't know what's happening then when you get to really know them and you're the only few people that really actually you're not like jaded by anything you know it's like jaded with him i didn't watch any thing that he was on and so when i met him i you know fell in love for him and then all these people were like oh well he was such a villain on this show and it's like with him, I didn't watch anything that he was on.
And so when I met him, I, you know, fell in love for him. And then all these people were like, oh, well, he was such a villain on this show.
And it's like, well, if I would have watched that, maybe you wouldn't be here today, you know? So, yeah, I think it's definitely going in with a clear. Yeah, exactly.
You don't know, especially with, was it a reality show you were on? Yeah, I was The Bachelor. Okay.
So he's a bachelor. I don't know anything about reality still to this day.

I'm absolutely clueless, but I know they can edit you to look completely different. I know perception is different.
I know the media wants somebody to be the bad guy or somebody to be the good guy. So I think perception is wrong.
And I think who really gets to know you is someone that gets to see you. And then when that's what really drew me into her was I saw the exact reason why America fell in love with her and the reason why she was America's sweetheart.
And I've always said, I think when you go to England, you got the royal family. For America, royalty is our, you know, princes of pop, king of pop, and queen of pop.
Yeah. And that's why her fans are super protective of her.
Yeah. That's true.
I mean, yeah, she's been an icon for most of my life. Mm-hmm.
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Se aplica a orders de más de $35. And then, like, you guys kept dating, and then, when did it go from, you know, I might marry this girl.
You know, This is a seven-year-long relationship. And it's the longest.
I've been in a relationship with somebody. And it's the longest she's ever been in a relationship with somebody.
But we had to deal with, she was under the conservatorship. And that was very strange for me to deal with.
I got hit with that at the beginning. She kind of explained.
She didn't she didn't explain. Somebody called me and said, oh, just so you know, this is this and make sure you're obeying by our rules and stuff like that.
So for me- What did that feel like? You know, I'm coming from a country, I dealt with this already with women. So I dealt with women being suppressed and being controlled by men their whole life.
So I kind of have, I was like, okay, this is weird, but wait a minute, this is America. Something doesn't make sense.
Yeah. That's weird that like giving your background and where you came from that you getting that phone call almost reminded you more of being back in Iran.
Yeah. You know, I get a phone call, then I have experiences and it's just so strange.
So now it's time to really understand what's really going on and what's happening and how I can... When you're in a relationship with somebody, you want to be...
I'm the type that I want to support in every way possible. Whatever you're doing, I'm going to support you in whatever way possible that I can to my abilities.
Did you end up... After you got that phone call, did you go to Brittany and kind of been like, hey, I got this phone call? No, not necessarily.
I kind of try to understand it. I also didn't go look up what's happening on the news because I know the news is different.
I try to really understand it, and I try to really see why was that ever in place to begin with. And you don't have much to say especially if you're just a boyfriend or or someone that's just there um you know maybe i was afraid they're gonna maybe make me not see her and things like that so you have to be gentle and provide a support as much as you can so i was just supporting and i was just seeing what I could do the best way possible to make sure that I'm there.
Were there along with the kind of rules and regulations, whatever they gave you around the conservatorship, were there also threats around like if you don't? You know what? There's a lot of stuff. When I was on the traders uh there was an article that came out oh he has a gag order none of that that's not that's not what it is what i do have is an upbringing with a lot of respect and what i do have is morales and sometimes uh when it's a personal life and something so personal i don't go into details and i don't i don't like talking about it i get it there's a lot of fans and there's a lot of questions and it's a personal life and something so personal, I don't go into details and I don't, I don't, I don't like talking about it.

I get it.

There was a lot of fans and there's a lot of questions and it's almost weird if you don't talk about it. You know what I mean? And that's why I wanted to talk with you because it's more like, and I can tell and appreciate how much respect you obviously have for your ex-wife and Brittany.
But you lived through that experience, and I want to know what that experience was like for you dating the princess of pop, one of America's greatest and biggest icons.

And her fans, obviously, even the ones who have the best intentions, being as protective as they are.

What was that experience and how it affected you?

And then how did you, all these things, it's fascinating to hear from you.

Because, yeah, I think you can be both respectful of your relationship and her more specifically and like still share what that experience was like from your point of view. I like to call it a college crash course in Hollywood and how Hollywood could be.
And, you know, it's many people in Hollywood, especially on megastar levels, they deal with this. You are exposed to the closest people to you,

and you're the most vulnerable to the closest people to you.

And I think being in a relationship with someone that was such an icon

and was at the top of her world,

you're talking about someone that Taylor Swift looks up to

and everybody else is looking up to, and she has a blueprint of what a actual pop star could look like all the new pop stars right now whatever they are they're not even close let me tell you that performance wise this is I'm a fan now after being with her for seven years because you kind of almost you saw what it took I saw what it took and it's no bullshit is it's a lot a lot of hard work and it's a lot of things that happen in your personal life that's not worth the hard work. So I had a college crash course in that.
So it makes me better at making decisions in my career. And it makes me understand what it takes and how the world is and how vulnerable you could be to the people

around you. I mean, she was taken advantage by every single person that came into her life.
And that's not fair. How did you propose? So long story long, the proposal had to wait till she was after the conservatorship.
And we went through a lot until then. And the proposal was way overdue.
And we wanted to get married way before. And because of everything in the situation, we had to wait.
And I remember the second that the judge, I was holding her hand when she was speaking to the judge. And she was talking about she wanted the conservatorship to be done with.
And the second that happened, that's when it was the right time to propose. That was one of her dreams was to have a princess shaped diamond ring.
And, you know, I found something, a piece of paper where she's written when she was younger and it was basically all her things that she wanted to,

you know, all her goals that she truly wanted that had nothing to do with the entertainment industry.

And it was just like basic stuff,

get a new puppy, diamond proposal ring,

like princess cut diamond,

and she wanted this and she wanted that.

So that's when it happened.

It was really truly,

now that the conservatorship is over and all those restrictions are lifted, let's do what you really wanted to. Did you do it in the courtroom? Oh, I didn't answer that question ever.
So no, no. What happened was, I mean, I like to, ideally, I like to go and do it in the best way possible.
But you're talking about TMZ and everybody will everybody will get seriously they'll send the helicopter and yeah yeah yeah so i had to do it at the house i had to do it at the house i was like calm down and you know i have something for you she's like what's going on she was nervous she thought it was a puppy maybe but you know i i proposed to her and she said yes and that's when And yeah. Did you get her a puppy yes we yes uh we got two dogs together so you were just knocking off that goal i was trying to you know i was trying to it was just it was just i wanted to be the normal even though i was in the entertainment industry myself but i wanted to be the normal part about that life because she never, I don't think she had that.
We've been talking a lot about perception. What do you think is one or the few biggest misconceptions about Britney, especially like in the past few years, you know, again, the internet can be very mean.
The internet likes to just, you know, kick people while they're down. Obviously, Britney's had a lot of ups and downs over the years, but are there things that you would see that you were just like, this is bullshit? Like, what the fuck? I think I don't read a lot of stuff online, and I don't really see, because I already assume it's going to be bullshit.
One thing I learned my mentor, my psychic mentor, told me is like, Sam, dealing with this industry, don't ever let it get into your head when people tell you that you are the worst or you're the best. They're both lying.
Don't ever believe that. So I never really believe what I read online or I try to stay away from it, but I don't know.
I never got into Perseverance. Like I said, I didn't know her going into it.
I wasn't a fan of the music. I didn't know any of the media stuff that was happening.
All I knew was that this person is vulnerable to being taken advantage of. And me, as someone that's new to this country, and this country is an opportunity for me, I'm not going to fuck that up by trying to take advantage of someone that's been been through a lot when she made the videos dancing with the knives what were you thinking there i think you know i i'm not someone that's let me let me take your phone from you and not allow you to do anything and and and restrict you from posting your own content and and especially if

you're an artist i think you know we're talking about uh people she's she's a genius artist what's in her head is is gold and what what it's what made her who she is and michael jackson and they have genius ideas that i wouldn't have or somebody else that wouldn't have so when you take away the ability to

you know

make art

express yourself

express yourself

I think I wouldn't have or somebody else that wouldn't have. So when you take away the ability to,

you know,

make art express yourself,

express yourself,

I think I'm not going to be the one that's going to stop anybody from posting

whatever they want,

especially if dances,

you're especially if dances,

you're the way you express yourself.

I thought it was a great video.

People were concerned with the knives,

but that's a great point.

Yeah.

I think you really put that in perspective in terms of like,

Thank you. you express yourself i thought it was a great video people were uh concerned with the knives but that's a great point yeah i think you really put that in perspective in terms of like i don't think it sounds like people even realize just how restricted she was in so many ways it's everybody else's fault i promise you that that's sad what was your relationship like with her father i obviously, he was in control of a lot of stuff.

I remember reading he would have conversations with anyone she'd go on dates with about her, like medical history and sexual history.

And I mean, just giving details out to anyone for anything.

What was your relationship like with him?

You know what?

I don't think I had a relationship with him.

I had a relationship with her and I wanted him to know that.

So I was like, I'm dating her, not you.

Thank you. But that's about it.
I mean, I will always have my respect for everybody and I will always stay respectful. And I always try to understand what really happens and why and how I could help in both sides and how I could just protect someone as well.
So my relationship is always respectful, even though I didn't agree with some of the stuff or anything really, but I always try to stay respectful. I can imagine it can be hard.
Just I know like being in a relationship, like I want to protect Nick to the fullest extent. I know he feels the same way about me.
I love being in this relationship because I feel so safe and protected. And I'm sure that was like your number one thing too, of being like, I want to protect this person.
And I can imagine it was just hard having so many other people involved that you couldn't feel like you truly had her. That's what it is.
I think it's, you know, when you have, that's the toughest part is that, and then you also have media, which I, by the way, it doesn't bother me, but it does at the same time. Well, you're only human, right? Like, I really appreciate your perspective with media.
Like it's, you know, there's pros and cons to everything, even with what we do. You know, it's just like, I come from, like I mentioned, the reality a reality tv show i have great memories from it i got a lot of bad memories from it but like i also recognize that a lot of what i'm doing here today is because of it is because of that so i have a ton of respect for that time of my life regardless of the good and specifically of the bad you know so it is that it's a it's a it's trying.
But the more I talk to you, the more it really sounds like your upbringing, your childhood and the shit, the real shit that you went through as such a young man really seems to have influenced you and your character along the way. I think it's that.
I think it's the upbringing and the experience and everything's a beautiful experience. Even if you are going through something tough and difficult, it's always, it makes you a better person.
It teaches you so much stuff. So grateful for all the experiences that I had growing up.
I had as an adult and I had in Hollywood and I had with her. I always say, even though it's over now, I'm never sad that it's over.
I'm grateful it even happened. Did your sisters know about her when you got together? Yeah, of course.
What was their reaction? And were they excited, or did they not care? I don't remember if they were too excited, but they've always been on my team, no matter what.

The excitement was always the same amount as I was doing something that had nothing to do with something that was going to be public. Because people freak out.
When things go on TMZ, they think it's this. Or when things go on, they think it's this big deal.
really what people think you're, you're alien or something. My family didn't have that.
And that's how I knew that, you know, that's, that I have a solid base, which is very uncommon. And, and it's not fair because if those people hurt you, they're the most closest to you.
Yeah. And you're going to let them because, you know, you're vulnerable to them.
Yeah. But no, they weren't too excited.
I mean, of course they knew who she was and they were a fan of hers. I think anybody at that age is coming up.
At some point they dressed up in the same outfits and they had posters and things like that. Yeah.
So, you know, it's normal and that's why I felt weird not talking about it, you know, and being so restricted to talk about it because it was a sensitive subject or whatever the case may be. But it's my life for seven years.
So, you know, it'll be super weird if I didn't talk about it. What was your favorite thing to do together as a couple? Like, how did you guys have the most fun together? We had a lot of fun, man.
I mean, it's a seven year long relationship. We watched TV shows.
We had a lot of pets what were some of your favorite shows you guys watch because you know honestly like a big part of what nanny and i do it's like we we love a lot of the same shows and it's it's honestly we connect in a lot of ways so the shit we talk about and debate or whatever like yeah what did you guys watch friends friends was something that we watched all the time and a lot of cartoons because i genuinely like cartoons i think they uh they teach us a lot of things uh and just there was a movie we watched one time that was uh really sad and i remember it to this day it was a uh purpose of a dog have you not seen that dog's purpose or something can dogs purpose's purpose dog's purpose google it anything that has to do with a dog sad i believe oh my god it's the saddest movie in the world yeah purpose a dog's purpose dog's purpose or something like that yeah yeah yeah it's so sad it's a golden retriever beautiful yeah what a what a headshot you watch it you will not last. Oh my God.
So you remember watching that and just. I remember watching that and it was a sad movie, but a lot of that, a lot of cooking, a lot of exercising, a lot of hiking.
Who's more of the cook? I think me. Okay.
Yeah. He's more of the cook too.
I like to cook. You know, I grew up, I had a job as a chef and they taught me a lot of New Orleans cuisines and Italian cuisine.
It was a catering job. So I got to learn how to roll sushi.
So I like to, you know, I like to cook. You still do a lot of cooking? Yeah.
Yeah. What's your favorite thing to cook? My favorite thing is basically what I like to do is take a food that's already made and make it gourmet.
I think that's really interesting. How would you make a pizza gourmet? I don't make it, not like that.
Not like that, but I'm talking about like, let's say if something's already pre-made and you add a few things in it and you make it gourmet. But I think my favorite food to make not to eat is Italian food.

Persian food is very, very good for me to eat not to make because it takes a lot of patience. What's your favorite thing that you made that she loved to eat? A lot of steaks.
I did steaks really good. How do you cook your steak? Anywhere between medium to medium rare.
Not the temperature, but how do you prep? How do you prep it? How do I prep it? I like to just season it with Montreal seasoning.

Okay.

And make sure the seasoning is basically inside and grill it on the green egg. On the green egg.
And then once the blood comes to the top, you flip it and on the other side, this is well done. This is, I don't know.
No, no, I'm sorry. This is medium or this is rare.
This is medium rare. That's well.
And then this is well done. Is it by pushing it? Yeah, it's like a tender.
Like it's like a feel. Yeah, it'll feel like this.
I don't know. How'd you learn that? Cook and show on YouTube.
Yeah. Okay.
TikTok. Right.
Yeah. I feel like you've had just an insane life in general what is one of the hardest things you've been through and how did you overcome it what did you learn from it other than obviously moving to the united states um the hardest thing i don't know you're asking someone that if i get in a knock on wood if i get into an accident you find the light in everything.
I don't know. It's just so weird for me.
I never really see any bad moments. And I just think it's a waste of time to stress.
And it's a waste of time. Because when there's nothing you can do about it, there's nothing you can do about it.
What am I going to do? I'm not going to dwell on the fact that this happened or that happened. I just know we live a short life and nothing matters at the end.
And we're just all going to sort of, hopefully not soon, but sort of pass on. And it's somebody else's turn.
I mean, I don't know. Hopefully it's not too sensitive of a subject, but ultimately what was the cause of the end of your guys' relationship? You know, when it comes to breakups, splits, divorce, it sucks.
Everybody, no matter what the point is, it sucks. But when it comes to, like I said, back to the gag order and you can't take a poop in Hollywood without having an NDA.
So that's the true part of it. Yes.
But also put that away, put that to a side. I have three sisters, I have a family and I always hated the fact that somebody goes and talks about this and cries and tries to get attention or use that as leverage.
It's my life.

I lived it. I experienced it.
But I think certain things you talk about in public and certain things you don't. And I think it doesn't matter what the cause was.
I think what matters the most is

the time that we spend together, the things that we've learned. And that was a big part of my life

and her life as well. It seems like you have still a ton of respect for her.
That seems pretty evident. I'm always going to have like, I'm always going to have respect for her because of what she's been through.
And that was never her fault. And why she is who she is and why she was the princess of pop is because it was a genuine person that wasn't trying to get famous it wasn't they weren't forcing they weren't going through all these media strategies and doing this to get famous and force it down your throat or agency what do they call agency it wasn't any of that yeah it wasn't any of that it was just true talent and true hard work and and just one of a kind that came out and did that and still didn't want to be famous still didn't care about any of that do you guys still are you guys able to maintain a friendship you guys still keep in touch i wish her the best and i would like to at some point i would i wouldn't mind but not right now it's kind of giving it time.
Yeah. Have you started dating at all? Are you getting out there? Yes, absolutely.
I didn't think I was going to be ready because I was just focused on work. I was traveling.
I did a show that I couldn't be on the phone, so I couldn't really. And it was just me and my dog for a little bit.
Me and my dog were going on a lot of dates and yes,

I've been dating.

I,

I have a new girl now that she's super supportive and it's just,

it's just.

Are we keeping her name private still or?

No,

I mean,

if you go online,

you'll see it.

It's just TMZ is all over.

How did y'all meet?

What's that?

How'd y'all meet? we met uh just coincidentally and and we met just out in the apartment i used to live at and we never saw each other and we saw each other again a couple um couple months down the road i end up making a phone call for another place i was moving into. And we reconnected and it was sort of sweet.
And she's super supportive. It's very different for people that are not in the industry to understand some of the things that happens.
So, you know, I don't think she cares about the industry. What did she do? She does real estate.
Okay so it was really interesting it's always it it's always interesting because people in the industry they care about a certain thing and they they have a certain perception and and it's it's nice to have someone that's not and it's time for me to really focus on what i have going on yeah and it's it's a good way to do that was she pretty chill about obviously i mean she must have known about your ex and things like that she didn't she didn't bring it up one time never one time never one time that's that's what it was really cool because then yeah you must have really appreciated that yeah there's nothing wrong with it i think it's weird to not talk about you know something have it be an elephant in the room or something yeah i said you know what it felt it felt sincere that she just i'm assuming it more like she just paid more attention to you and gotten to know you and exactly if that came up exactly came up but like when i met natalie how whatever she did it would just i felt like we were connecting just like i would any other person and yeah i had dates in the past where like i didn't fault anyone but like sometimes it would it it it came up it was hard not to feel a little weird not that they tried to make it weird but you know i don't know whatever natalie did it it felt organic it felt like we were connecting as two people and not for any other reason i think that's that's cool because if you, like again, you said if you had perception of him, it's going to, it might not even happen. And it's different because, you know, I try to give the benefit of the doubt to some people.
Some people, that perception is perception and that's who they actually are. And some people are not, completely opposite.
I mean, but I think the best way to be is to be yourself, especially if yourself is, as long as you're not hurting other people with you just being yourself. But I think people could read through the bullshit and they're like, that person is not genuine.
And there's been many times I met someone that I was like, okay, you haven't said a word to me, but I love your energy. Or you've been talking a lot and I hate your energy.
So people feed off of perception. And I think the toughest thing for me to overcome was some of the stuff I post on social media.
And I present this, people think, oh, it's a model actor. Like he must, he must be stupid or he must be, Oh, it's the ex-husband of the princess of pop.
He must be, you know, using people and doing all this. I was like, no, let me tell you what, I had to use a lot of my personality to win over people because as a former president of the chubby boys club, So I had to do that.
When you're an immigrant or you're a minority or you don't exactly look in schools and stuff like that, you have to use your personality. So it's different.
And having this perception and really internally being different is interesting that only people around me, my friends and people. And, and, and if I get to speak on a platform, that's longer than something, which I was hoping to do on that show.
Uh, but it was really scary to be part of, uh, a show with a bunch of, uh, reality stars. Not going to lie.
Reality stores are tough. They're emotionally resilient.

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Applies to orders over $35. I mean, going into that show, usually as an actor, you don't want to go into a competition show.
But Alan Cummings is the host of it, and it looks amazing, and it looks like a scripted show. How did the opportunity go on Traders even happen happen so it's been a while that i've been getting a lot of offers for dancing with the stars and and um traders came around a couple times but it wasn't the right time to do it because i was focused on acting talking to uh dylan yesterday oh yeah he called me you know both of you are unique on the show because like you're both not really from you don't belong there yeah the reality tv world do you think that worked to your guys's advantage yeah of course man i mean going into the show there was a lot of people that you know i brainstormed with and i was like what is this because i don't know like i don't what is a housewife what is like survivor what is big what is this show what am i gonna do because the only thing i know about a project is scripted stuff and it's fake you know it's play it's not real it's like no this is real like you're gonna see i didn't know anything so i walk in there and i don't know and i don't know anybody in the reality space, uh, because I just don't watch it besides the Kardashian, but that's not even because of reality show.
Uh, but anyway, I walk in there the first, uh, first day, they don't let you see anybody. Everything's a surprise.
And you, the first day is when you get to see people and in the car right away. and i of course i anticipated like people are going to only know me for, for my past relationship.
And they're going to ask me, I didn't know it was going to be the second, the second I was in is like, Oh, you're Sam, you're so-and-so's X. I was like, yeah.
And then to myself, I was like, okay, I need to just shut up because they're going to, gonna if I want to strategize I need to just be as quiet as possible and do good in the missions the physical missions that they have and really go into it with just let it settle let the beasts and the people that are really good at this game to kill each other and just play ignorance is a blessing did you kind of play into the i'm a model like almost as a few why not i mean i i didn't want to be a traitor because of uh perceptions and and and i was like okay this is against the percent i'm gonna feed more into this no there's the there's for sure you know something about that so i want to do that. I wanted to be, and I didn't want to have that pressure anyway, even though as an actor, if you, Danielle on the show, she's a great, well, she's not that good because when you cry and when you cry.
She's really putting on a performance. Yeah, right now.
Come on, everyone else. Yeah.
She's, she's putting on a performance, but in the show, you have to be, I mean, I'm going in there, and I was like, take this guy's mask off. And he's like, everybody's like, whoa, we love him.
I was like, I have no idea who that is. Oh, and they did Rob in the beginning.
I was like, I have no idea who that is. I don't know anybody besides Nikki, and Nikki thought I was the guy from this other show, Love Island, Davide.
And she's, I saw the show. She's like, I thought you were that.
I was like, ah, come on. Don't you hate it when people say you look like so-and-so and they show you a picture? You're like him? Yeah.
This is a trick that I do. When somebody says, somebody said to my girl now, she's like, you look like my cousin.
I was like, okay, let me see a picture. Pull it up now.
Show a picture. Nothing.
I was like, if you do that, you have to ask for a picture instantly. It never works.
You were talking about you didn't want to be a traitor. And you mentioned earlier people maybe had accused you of using your relationship.
Is that criticism the one that was maybe the most hurtful? No, nothing hurts me. He's the Hulk.
Come on. Honestly, nothing hurts me because you can't listen to the- I know.
But how is that? How did you get to this headspace of like, y'all can't get to me?

Because I feel like that's a hard place to get to. So listen to this.
One thing I left out, I played sports. I played football for almost six years.
And I was in the police academy. I was doing the cadet program as well.
Oh, really? Yeah. I was doing the cadet program.
I was trying to be a sheriff. My uncles were sheriff.
But this discipline thing that I've made in my head, being away from my family and the upgrowing thing, this discipline that you sit in the noise, like in the loudest room, you sit in the noise and you just watch it all disappear. All of a sudden, all the noise goes away.
The second you sit in all the noise and it just goes away, then you focus and nothing else is going to hurt you. Of course, if somebody says to me something that's going to actually, if you say something about my sisters or the people that I love the most, then I'm going to be offended.
But if you say anything to me about me, unless it's the truth, unless it's like you're my friend or you're my mentor and you say sam you're not working hard enough and i say absolutely i love you for that and i'm unless it's that well i did uh one of my favorite books ever read taught me that uh being offended is a product of your self-importance absolutely what do you what what is someone that's something they're going to tell me something that's absolutely the, and I don't blame people when they have a certain perception.

I don't get mad because there's a reason.

Of course you're going to blame somebody that's in a relationship that's, you know, we have an age gap difference.

It's Hollywood.

Everybody uses people.

And then better yet, that person was used by every single person, including the person, the people that to her of course but i'm gonna make sure i don't do that i'm gonna make sure i'm not the example to my family or they don't look at me as the embarrassment it's not even about me i want to make everybody that loves me proud so why would i do something for them to be like wait a minute my brother is a piece of shit i would never want that yeah what's your relationship nowadays with her fan base because they like you said are very protective yeah you know obviously you seem pretty like grounded obviously you don't read shit but like do you feel like they have a a pretty you know positive yeah i think i hope so i hope so but that's that's never been my focus is is i know i love the fans i think fans are amazing uh but it's nice if they're like chill with you you know i mean it's nice but if you've never done anything wrong and you never done anything to if you've always been honorable and been a good person why would that matter what made you uh not want to end up being a sheriff i think it was just i was sidetracked by the acting stuff and i was just i was like it's time to put a focus on it and it's time to go play a cop maybe if you really want to be a cop go play so i did a movie with mel gibson and i was a swat team i was like okay i made it you did it yeah what was that it was called hot seat okay it was really cool good experience good guy interesting guy obviously there's a lot of perception there too uh because what his past has been but he taught me so much things about acting he was so nice to people and he was the hardest working person in there and that's why I say like it's gonna take some sort it's not by accident, you know, people get to the top by, by working and being, you know, being themselves and being nice. So it was really interesting to learn from him and everybody really, I work, even traders, when we went into it, I mean, yeah, there's people that are over the top and they have, they've been practicing their lines in the bathroom of their hotel rooms every night because they know what's going to be on TV and what's going to be good on TV.
But they were also good people. I met a lot of people and I tried not to judge them by who they are.
I didn't know. The sweaty guy walked out.
Tom Sandvall. Yeah.
The second that guy walked out, I was wait a minute i have no idea who these are i was like okay maybe i'm thankful because there's the antagonist right there so maybe you know i'm not gonna be the antagonist they're gonna be him and he kept doing things that that that fit into it i was like wait a minute like drink some water. Sit in front of a fan.
Yes. Tom's Tom.
Tom can't help but be himself, you know? It was really strange, man. But it was so strange.
And it was just, he was the most strangest one. But everybody else was great.
But, you know, I feel bad for him that they edited him the way they did. Do you think he got a bad edit? Or do you think he edit? I mean, if they see you sweating like that and then they leave you in it, they're trying to do that on purpose.
For sure. And wait.
The moment that sweat, there's not much to do. I think by the time this episode is out, there's going to be other things that's going to be even worse.
But I'm just saying, if you know your perception, you man up to, I think, I don't know what he did. I don't follow reality, but people were talking like, this guy did this and he's the most hated person in America.
I was like, Bin Laden or Tom? Because he's the most, why? He's like, oh, he did this to his girl, to his thing and drama and all that. I was like, wait, so that's real? He did that on real? And I was like, okay, then go man up.
Even Alan said, go man up to it and don't feed into it and just move on. Learn from your mistakes and move on and try to be a good person.
I don't know. The learning from the mistakes part.
He seems to have struggled with that. Yeah.
I don't know yeah the uh you and ion's social media is i think so funny i don't i love ian she is a hoot her thinking everyone on survivor they were surviving from diseases she didn't know that was an actual show let me tell you something about ion she does things that come out to be genius but it's so what you see in those episodes i think she's in what two episodes or one and a half but there's a lot of things that happen we there's a lot more talking the edits are you know basically made into like an hour but you got a whole day worth of talking and i spent a lot of time with her and she was so great and she was was just saying like, that that man is going to catch me. That that man is coming after me tonight.
It was just such a fun time. And like I said, I know she has a perception in reality or whatever the case is, but I liked her as a person.
She spoke about her husband and her son and, you know i think she's a businesswoman and she's

she's doing amazing but she was so funny and she made that experience so uh good for me yeah she did she was nosy at the beginning but listen i don't blame you i said she said i'm sorry i asked that on camera but i was like no what are you talking about you know she was the first one and right off the bat, she was like, oh, you did this.

I was like, give me a second.

Give me a minute. Now my strategy changes.
I'm not going to speak, you know. I did speak a lot.
There's just in that edit and things like that. And it's a good thing, I think, because, you know, I wasn't about to go after these people and get killed from you know that dead man was going to get me uh the traitors were going to get me you know the the first night or so that was a good strategy and Dylan does speak up a lot and he's right and wrong about a lot of things but you know I didn't want what happened to Dylan to happen to me which was you know you know, Bob the drag queen was, had everything ready.
He was prepared. He was ready for, you know, the round tables every night.
And Dylan said one time, you know, I grew up with an actor and, and you're at the way you're acting. And then the guy's like, oh, uh, your brother's not even a great actor.
And that's like, you know, it's just, it's a cheap shot. Playing dirty, yeah.
I think. That was dirty.
That was dirty.'s dirty there's no point and right after the traders i spend a lot of time with zach uh we spend time in venice together and i told him about dylan we both had a truck stolen and five months ago like a trx truck zach had his stolen and i had mine stolen so we were talking about that and he was so genuine and he was so cool. And his performance in 17 again is actually amazing as an actor.
It's a great movie. And the wrestling movie he did, he's an amazing actor.
So much better actor than Bob the Drag Queen. And Bob the Drag Queen is a great, everybody's good at their own things.
And he made TV Bob the Drag Queen. What was the movie where Zach played Ted Bundy? Yeah.
Hey yeah he was excellent he's those brothers they're genuine they dylan especially super genuine and and even on the show and even now when i speak to him after the show he's super genuine and same with zach so i didn't like that and i didn't like some of the personal stuff that happened and but i it wasn't it wasn't the right show for me to shine it was let these people go after themselves you mentioned dancing with the stars earlier is that something you're just not remotely interested in or do you think maybe in the future that could be something we could see you on you know what the reason why i wasn't interested is because i wasn't limber uh and i wasn't flexible but i think i'm you've been stretching no i've been taking a lot of Zumba classes in LA fitness. At the LA fitness, okay.
No, no. It's a fun experience.
I did it once a while back. I think there's a possibility when there's time in between acting things, just like the traders, to do it.
But if I'm going to do it, I'm going to be dancing. So don't get me wrong.
Have you seen the show special forces i've been offered special forces many times you should do that i it's really it's really really cool it's really cool it's badass have you ever wanted to play someone in the military because this could be yeah your way of doing that so everything has if there is time for it, you know, my manager

and agents, they're amazing.

They work really hard and sometimes they have

good ideas. So if it makes sense,

it's to do it. But right now,

I'm not planning on becoming a reality

W-H-O-R-E.

Whore?

He's not going to be a reality whore.

That makes sense.

Davide, what's his name?

Davide. Davide.
what's his name? I'm not about to. Davide.
Yeah. What is next for you, like career-wise? Like what's your dream future look like from a professional standpoint? So from a professional standpoint, I love what Tyler Perry's doing, Taylor Sheridan's doing, Mark Wahlberg and all these people.
They're creating jobs and they're creating productions and producing. I want to get into that, but before you be the coach, you have to play the game.
So we have a little bit of time into establishing the acting career a little bit and perception had to do a lot with that because my background is in acting as literally theater and arts. And that's what I've been loving.
And my relationship that people know me the most happened because of acting. It was an acting job that we met on.
So, um, you know, it's a period of time where I'm going to be focusing on acting and I'm going to be making some projects as well. I, I do have my own production that's, uh, uh, creating some great short films right now now we have a tv series in development and we have a movie in development as well it's called

pb and j productions and that's because that's what i ate to fit in in america pb and j and

drank gatorade that's what i was literally doing i thought that was an american thing to do

and it was kind of yeah yeah it is yeah i mean you in the meetings I have with some of the studios I do bring in peanut butter and jelly sandwich because everybody likes peanut butter and jelly sandwich except they're allergic to it I was about to say it's a high allergy it used to be I think they cut they've cut it out of like kids' schools or like you can't even. This is crazy.
Yeah. Glitch.
What's Glitch? Tell me about Glitch. Okay.
So Glitch is a amazing idea. You know, me and my mentor have been working on this for a while and is some sort of a very relevant TV series that we developed.
We wrote the script and we're in talks with some studios, but it's a series about what the next generation of social media is going to be about slash AI. Of course, it's about AI.
No AI is being used to make it, but basically it's people that have perceptions online. Everybody uses Facetune and avatars and all that, but now we're so advanced that you can actually project that filter into you.
So it's people using filters to advance their careers and to advance their relationships or whatever the case may be. So they are wearing some sort of an avatar.
So you can go from white to black, you can go from female to male, but it's all connected to the satellite. And if that satellite glitches, then you reveal yourself.
So the whole show is sort of like Black Mirror. What would you really do? It's very Black Mirror.
So what would you really do to protect your identity when all you have is based on that? Some people kill. There's characters in it that don't really care.
They're like, well, we don't really want to. Let's plan around the glitch when the next crash is to reveal ourself because we love each other.
And then they reveal themselves and they don't really love each other. You seem very career focused now, but on the personal side, are you open to getting married again? Are kids possibly in your future? What does that look like in the personal side for you? So I think personal side, anything that has happened to me on the personal level has always been a blessing.
It's always been the right timing. And so I just kind of let the universe do that work for me.
And as long as I can be a good father and be a good future husband, and can just keep improving is number one. And I do want to stay grounded, you know, because I know that fame, success and all that stuff doesn't mean anything.
I just, you know, all that stuff that the exterior things that you put on a show doesn't mean anything. At the end, you want to be a good person and you want to make this world a better place.
So I kind of want both of them to develop at the same time. Not really.
Just let the universe do the work. So saying no to nothing, open to anything.
I think when it comes, say no to a lot of things, you know. He's saying no to special forces.
No, no. He's saying no to the stars.
No, no. I never said no.
I just mean like, you know. No, no to those.
I never said no to those just not right now there's no no there's a possibility in those things depends on you know the timing and all that but I think you know you just have to be careful around celebrity I've been offered a lot there was a another show and stars on Mars and something like that. Stars on Mars.
Yeah. You could have met Tom's best friend, Tom.
You wouldn't. Sweaty guy's best friend.
No, no, no. Good thing I said no.
He's a, he's, no, he's very, I think he's less sweaty. He's less, he's definitely less sweaty.
Yeah. Less of a, okay, I hope he wears deodorant.
Did Tom Sandoval not wear deodorant? I did Special Forces with Tom Sandoval. Oh, you did? Yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry you did oh i'm sorry it's okay it was great i it was great i i mean he was talking about that a lot oh you want he was talking a lot about that show and uh it's just hard to listen to somebody that was talking about everything so he talks a lot yeah it was just and i can't i told you from the beginning i can't take pay attention to something I'm not interested in. And you can tell someone.
But that may be the reason why I don't want to be a reality. W-H-O-R-E.
You can say whore, Sam. No.
No. He's a gentleman.
God, no, he would never. know i think when it comes to your personal life and i i love energies and i love just letting universe do the work because it's been so good to me do you have any pet peeves what really pisses you off if anything nothing no i there's there's things that pisses me off a lot um every day like on a daily basis watching people.
You know, it's really, I have a lot. I'm going to sum it up.
When people are being cheap, not as like money wise cheap, but if they're being cheap and selling themselves cheap and not really understanding their worth, like by throwing trash down or not picking up some, that's being cheap to me. Because if you're throwing trash down and waiting for a janitor that doesn't make as much as money as you to come pick it up, then that means you're being cheap.
Do you put your grocery cart back? I do. Yeah.
Because I don't want to be caught in those tics. That'd be cheap.
I think so. That'll be cheap.
So that's a pit peeve, like anything in that. And also someone that doesn't really truly believe in themselves.
You look at them and you're like, you're worth a lot more than you think you're worth do you have road rage have you ever like i don't somebody while you're driving that's cheap but so you don't pay attention while you're driving i don't pay attention while i'm driving no i have a you know i have a car that has a lot of sensors it's an ev car it just lets it. As long as I touch it once in a while.
Just go with the energy. I'm not a good driver.
I'm going to tell you that. I'm not a good driver.
No, he doesn't think I'm a good driver either. Yeah.
It's a good thing. Do you think? I mean, I love this self-con.
Do you think that you are a good? Never been in an accident? Yeah. No, I think i'm a good driver my my uh driving record says otherwise i think i'm a good driver when i do pay attention but um you got a lead foot and you speed no i don't speed i don't never cared about speeding i never cared about fast cars either like i i do truly i had nice cars and i and i have a nice car now but i truly feel embarrassed if i were to drive a super nice car yeah it's so embarrassing for me i never and like valet the cyber truck is the most embarrassing thing i've ever seen in my life yeah it's it looks like a trash can a little bit but it's not about that it's about cyber truck could be cool but i'm saying if there's a like a yeah some of the cars are like like a trash can a little bit, but it's not about that.
It's about, Cybertruck could be cool, but I'm saying if there's like a. Yeah, some of the cars are like millions.
Like a Lamborghini truck. it's just like ridiculous.
Yeah. I just feel like I already look like a douchebag and, you know, I don't want to confirm it by driving a fucking.
That's true. Have something with big loud pipes on the end of it.
You don't need that. I truly.
Yeah. You can't walk out of a Lamborghini and everyone be like, ah, it's fine.
No, I wouldn't mind driving a Honda Civic like I did in high school. I wouldn't mind that at all.
I'm not going to take care of it anyway. It's going to be dirty.
It's going to be my as well. Are you a clean person? Like, is your house clean? It's organized, but it's not so clean.
My room, the living room is clean. You know, I like to clean it.
It has to be clean every single time for other people's respect. For my dog, she likes it clean.
And my drawers and anything I put stores in, absolutely not. It's crazy.
It's organized. I know where everything is, but it's not nasty dirty.
Not with you, Sam. It's sort of like, you know, it's kind of like that.
As long as it's in the drawer, I'll find it. Yeah.
Eventually. I know what drawer it's in.
It's all I need. If I have enough time.
Yeah. That's how life is.
What is your favorite self-care? The self-care stuff is very important. Very important.
I do, you know, exercising, I think, is number one, not for big muscles and ripped six-pack those just came he does have big muscles everybody no right now they're small because i do have to pump them sometimes you know i have this air pump in the car oh they're deflating currently no uh but he's also a comedian no i i like you know i self-tape self-tapes uh self-tapes self-cares no not that type of acting self-tape oh sorry yes of course not that's very common post-covid that way the only no i say is to only fans um that's the that's the one we say no to but i think self-care stuff is you know exercising there's a lot of amazing benefits from it uh if i don't do it like it's sort of an addiction to me it truly is because that's all i knew that's how i got into the entertainment industry i got into sports i got that's that's what my foundation was and mentally it's it's very important to me to exercise when i exercise in the morning and the first thing I do, then I'm calm about everything else. Then, you know, I'm able to be a better person for everybody else.
And I have a job to do. So I do have to stay in a good shape.
But if you want to talk beyond that, you know, I do have a self-care routine that I do sometimes. Like a nighttime skincare routine?

My sister has a medical spa and, you know, she gives me a lot of her products and she says, I want to tell people that I did your lips. No one has done my lips, but she wants to post it before that.
She wants to tell you. You know, she's like, I wanted to, you know, I wanted to.
She wants to use you. Yeah.
So, but no, with her, you know, great products and great vitamins that we do there and brands that send me free stuff all the time. So I just try to do it, but sometimes I don't do it the right way.
I put it, what is it called? Reticle something. Retinol.
Retinol thing. And then they're like, oh, you know, the first time you do it, you're going to turn red.
I was like, oh, I didn't know that. But I think drinking water is really good for your skin and great for your mental health.
But I think anything that contributes to your mental health, whether it's physical exercise, whether it's eating certain type of food and whatever is catering towards grounding you is really good for you. As long as you're following those, you're just a better person for the people around you the ice bath stuff forget about it those stuff like i playing football we used to be in a trash can with ice and i didn't see that their friends i still was bruised up i mean it helps and all that but definitely not going to help me now because i'm stressed about you know some self-tape i did it's not or some it not going to help you.
It's not beneficial. It's not scientifically proven to be beneficial.
The sauna is, I love the sauna. Especially after a night of chips, a lot of salt in your body, you're going to need the sauna.
Chips. Hair care.
Hair care. I'm trying to grow my hair.
And you have to put this scalp serum on. And I like that.
It's a good one. Wow.
Do you want to recommend some scalp serum to me? You know, lately I've been doing this one that's been really good. I like the one that doesn't oil your hair.
But there's one that I don't know the name of. Text it to me.
I'll text it to you. It's really good.
There's a lot of them.

You have great hair, Sam.

I try to.

I try to.

And then is the thing you've been sporting on traders,

the kind of the curl in the front,

is that like your go-to trademark?

No, it's not.

It's not really a trademark.

You know what about the sweaty guy?

I was doing it for like three or four episodes,

and then he walks in with it. He copied you.
so tom like i said wait a minute are we gonna see that whatever the edits are but yeah i mean it was just so interesting uh it was it was really funny but it wasn't the same obviously but obviously no it's not a. It's always, it falls down like some sort of a thing.
My hair grows, but right now my hair is a lot longer than that. Sort of pointed back.
So, you know, I'm getting ready for a project, trying to grow it as much as it's a biblical piece. So it's like a time period piece.
And I think it's going to be- You're Jesus. No, maybe, maybe.
I don't know. I heard Mel Gibson's like making a new movie.
He's made good movies. I think he made Passion of Christ, which I spoke to him about.
He said he wants to do like a one about the resurrection. Yeah, this is a TV series and everything.
Not only this project, but a lot of things that are out there is a lot of time pieces. And I think my clean cut makes me too clean.
And I think long hair always gives you this edgy and not care. And that's why I tried not to be as clean as possible.
What was the craziest thing Tom did while you were there with him? Oh, he missed, he mispronounced trader for cheater. And Alan was like, we all know you're a cheater, but we're talking about traitor.
But they're going to edit that. That'll make the cut for sure.
Listen, I think he's troubled in a way of he doesn't know how to make fun of yourself. If you are something that you don't like to be that someone or you know people are saying all these things if you make fun of it then they're like oh why would we make fun of him he already you know he doesn't it doesn't get to him he's not good at that and he's not good at just i think sometimes you gotta man up you gotta man up and you gotta you gotta be like i know i've done this and i and and i'm I apologize, but it's never gonna happen again.
And I think in this generation, we're missing that because there's a lot of ego. I don't know if you, I'm not talking about him, but there's no egos involved.
You gotta just improve and be a man. And it's not this toxic bullshit that you hear online.
Of course, you have fanboys and all that, but that's not what a man is. A man is someone that your daughter could look up to and be like, that's the person.
That's an example of a man. That's who I should be with.
Yeah. And your sisters and your mom and, you know, that type of stuff.
So you have to own up to the things you've done. If they're wrong, you know, he's not good at that.
Sure. Anything else you want to ask Sam before you let him go? I don't think so.
You've really opened up a lot. You seem to have such just an incredible look on life and head on your shoulders.
I feel like it's very rare, especially meeting people in Hollywood that you had to just have the head that you have. I would attribute it to, I don't know, your family, the way you grew up.
Is that right? I think so. I think this family, if they like this, they like to take the, uh, the credit for it.
No, it's just, I think personality, family. And also, I mean, like you said, I mean, our conversation started with some, some real shit that you and your family had to go through.
And it's like, you know, We love talking about pop culture and Hollywood and it's fun, but the things you described, that gives you character, that stays with you, that defines you as you are, and that shit keeps you grounded, and compared to what you went through coming here, all this other stuff, it does, it must seem. I think, I think the most dangerous, dangerous time and the most dangerous person is the person that, that doesn't have anything to lose.
And they're here. They're like, I don't, you know, I already made it.
And to me, I made it. I'm already in this country.
Legit. There's a lottery system where you enter and you win a lottery for an American visa from where I'm from.
That's what it is. It's a lottery system.
So it's like, if you already came here, you made it, you won the lottery. And everything else is sort of like the cream.
Yeah. Whatever they say.
Sam. It's gravy.
Yeah. I think they say it's gravy.
Gravy. Cherry on top, you know.
Cherry on top. Bonus.
Yeah.

We can throw them all together.

Yeah, for sure.

Sam has been a ton of fun, man.

It's a pleasure.

Really appreciate your time.

It really has been fun getting to know you.

It's been a great opportunity for us and a lot of fun on this end.

Amazing.

Pleasure.

We hope to see you on our screens going forward.

Bye.

Bye, Sam. We're in Baton Rouge at the original Raising Cane's with the man that started it all.
Wait, are you the Yes Chef guy? Todd started this place 28 years ago with one goal in mind, making the best chicken fingers in the world.

We got their famous box combo,

chicken fingers, crinkle cut fries, Texas toast slaw,

and their world famous cane sauce.

Good shot of tear right now.

Raising Cane's chicken fingers, one love.