Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Sam Asghari | The Truth About His Journey, Hollywood & Life Post-Britney!

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

#818. Think you know Sam Asghari? Think again. He joins Off the Vine for his most revealing interview yet, opening up about his journey from Iran to Hollywood, the struggles and rejections that shaped him, and why he finally said yes to The Traitors after turning down Big Brother and Dancing with the Stars. And yes, we go there—his marriage to Britney Spears, what people still get wrong, the truth about their split, and whether the timing was really what everyone thinks. Plus, the best (and worst) parts of fame, the powerful advice that changed his life, and a hilarious story from his first day of school in America that you need to hear. Buckle up—this is Sam Asghari like you’ve never heard him before. If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE! Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals! Covergirl: Superboost your lashes with NEW Lash Blast Supercloud Mascara from COVERGIRL! Clump-free, smudge-free, and lasts up to 24 hours—perfect for any look! Only from Easy, Breezy, Beautiful COVERGIRL! Dime Beauty: Revive your skin and give yourself a routine refresh you deserve! Go to DIMEBeautyCO.com today. HungryRoot: That’s Hungryroot.com/vine, code vine to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Progressive: Visit...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So whether it's your first time experiencing Pride and Prejudice or you've read it a million times, you're going to fall absolutely in love all over again. So go listen to Pride and Prejudice now at audible.ca slash Jane Austen. Off the Vine. Hey everybody, welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. And today on the show, we have someone you definitely know of, but you probably don't know this much about him until you listen to. to this interview. It's Sam Asgari. He is obviously known as Brittany Spears' ex, but he's more than that, and he's on the season of The Traders, and we dive into literally everything. So much to talk about.

I mean, part of me wants to go way back, because where were you born? I was born in Tehran, Iran. Okay. And when did you move to America? I moved here when I was 12 and a half. This is in 2006. And what was that transition like for you? It was interesting. I mean, my family and I knew, were going to come to America for a very long time. I was actually here when I was four and 98. Okay. You know, my sisters were left behind because of immigration. Yeah. And how difficult that, you know, the whole thing should be. Yeah. You know, so I had to go back and reunite with them and we kind of wanted to stay with our family. So I had the, you know, I had the choice to stay here or go back, which I chose to, you know, go back to my sisters. I was too, too young, but at, you

You know, I appreciate it now because when you spend half of your life, well, it's a little bit more than my half that I've spent here. But when you spend half of your life there and go to school there and see how the other side of the world is, because Iran is literally, if you drill a hole and go straight down, that's where you end up on Earth. So it's completely different, you know, obviously human rights are being violated by the government. man, and it makes me appreciate the opportunities in America. And every time I talk about it, it sounds like, you know, I'm this proud American, which I am, but it's very true. It's very true, and it's something that makes me appreciate it, like when I became a citizen, five years after your visa when you get it and you become a green card holder, then three more years after that, if you follow the immigration rules proper. then you become a citizen you have to take a test and you have to ask you questions like you know they they want to see if you under it's very nervous for me yeah it's intimidating as hell wouldn't it be

like because you have to know the answers you have to know the answers but by then i was already you know fluent in english and i was very american moving here was you know i wanted to be american as much as possible yeah yeah you know like i said in the morning i would drink gatorade because i thought that was an American thing to do? Yeah. Wait, what else did you do? You know, just the typical American stuff and tried baseball for a little bit. I wasn't good at it. No.

I tried playing American football. I was good at that for a little bit and, you know, try to go for dating an American girl, which was very interesting and just wanted to part ways from my culture as much as possible. It's very impossible because we have a rich culture. But it was very interesting to live half. of my life in Iran and the other half in America. Yeah. Oh, I bet. And do you go back ever? I can't because my family's asylum. We have asylum to where you can't. It's very complicated.

Wow. It's beyond, you know, the level of understanding. But we had to basically, you know, leave the country and come to America in hope of a better future. And are, because you have three sisters, right? Yes. Are they all here as well? They're all right here, walking distance from me. Really? Yeah. Oh, that's amazing.

Wait, your sister is competing in Miss Universe. So one of them competed in Miss Universe. She was the first Persian girl to ever, after the revolution, to ever compete in Miss Universe. But she's much more than that because she has her medical spa and a writer here in Brandwood called Spa Medica. And she's really good. She likes to brag. She wants to lie to people and say she did my lips. But she didn't?

No. She did not. Somebody else did them? We haven't done any cosmetic surgery yet. No, not yet. Only vitamins. Not even Botox? Not even Botox.

You know, because for acting, I feel like, you're right. You got this super intense stuff that you need. So, you know, I don't want that to be taken away from me. That's true. I have heard that with acting, that they want facial expressions and lines. And men are just lucky because you just age better. Well, you know, for me, it's just if I get the right sleep, I drink enough water, it's good. I'm sure at some point I'm going to be needing, you know, some of that, but let's see.

Yeah, well, the girl that was just here that I was interviewing before, she's Kim Kardashian's trainer, and the stuff that she's telling me, I'm like, can I still drink wine? She was like, no, I'm like, jail. Go home. Oh, no, it's not, you know, I hate the whole fitness and health industry that every, you have to live a little bit and you have to, you have to enjoy life. Yeah. You know.

Do you drink wine? No, I'm not, I've never been a big drinker, to be honest with you. It's never been a problem. It's just I never, I get tired. I rather drink things that make me awake. Awake, like coffee. See, wine for some reason makes me awake. Does that to a lot of girls. It does. Tequila, gin, wine. I love it. When you moved to America, did you know what you wanted to do?

Were you like, I want to be acting? I want to be a model. Did you know? So I'm going to basically touch base on this because when you come from where I come from, of course, it's different after you're coming from Europe. but when you're coming from a country where it's very hard to sort of accomplish big dreams like this like a pot you want to have your own podcast you want to be on the bachelor especially as a female it's almost impossible so my sisters by achieving anything they're just basically doing something they would never be able to do back in our home country as sad as it is because back in the day they you know invented human rights they came up with a human right they were women were celebrated Valentine's Day was originally a Persian thing but you know they celebrated women and

they crowned women as their queens and women were so inspired so having three sisters was just so difficult to stay in that country and coming here it was just such a great opportunity that was the best thing that could happen there's a lottery system that people sign up for and they have to literally join a lottery system in order to win a visa to come to America from that country. So, you know, the second you come here, you made it. So whatever you do, you open up an ice cream shop as a dream come true. Right.

Oh, that's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. Anything. What was your first, like, big break moment where, like, modeling or acting industry that you're like, okay, here we go. You know, it's a difficult industry. And the reason why I say that is because there's a lot of, you hear a lot of nose, obviously.

And you have to be comfortable with that. And I feel like my whole life has been a lot of nose. you know, back to personal life, back to, you know, when I was here in America was just basically, no, no, no, sports life, a lot of rejection, a lot of things. So that made me ready for Hollywood. And I built this sort of short-time memory from sports because when you mess up in sports, you're supposed to forget about it. Otherwise, you're going to mess up the whole game. I built that up. So when I audition for something, I just completely forget about it.

I put my 110% into it to the actual time being, and then once it's done, I forget about it. So it's been very difficult. It's never been a big break. It's been a bunch of little wins leading up to it. Like, for example, it could be as much as doing a podcast and saying something that could go viral. And then that's much, you know, productive than being on a movie or a TV show. But I've been, you know, I've been succeeding a lot in comedy series. TV series. I've been on Hacks. I was on Hacks for about 20 seconds.

Yeah. For about 20 seconds. So, and, but let me tell you what, I met everybody on there. I still keep to, you know, keep in contact with Paul. He's the creator of the show and the writer on the show. And then Gene Smart was on there. And I had a scene with Gene Smart and she was doing this, you know, Miss Claus and I was Santa. And they showed that at the Emmys. They showed it everywhere. So just a small... Right, those are small wins that are big, they're big, too. It was much bigger than a big leading project I've done.

So, you know... Do you get scared that things are going to go viral that's not in your favor? I think Hollywood is a bed that you make yourself and you lay in it, right? So it doesn't matter. I think if you balance it and say, you know, this is supposed to be part of it. You know, losses are also supposed to be part of it. And you have to be grounded and know yourself. your true self and once you know that it's a little bit easier of course you know everybody's

human and you don't want to have this thing where it doesn't it has to when it gets to you it sucks but for me everything that lit up to me to even be in hollywood was basically making me ready to be here yeah i mean that makes sense and i know you've turned down like a lot of reality tv before mass singer big brother dancing with the stars so why yes to traitors yes that's true i've turned you should do dancing with the stars well let me tell you this i've never turned down anything in my life besides only fans yes we had very early on we had a good contract with only fans you did yeah never going to do it okay and big a lot of money but but you know selling yourself short for low hanging fruit and also i have three sisters and i dignity and uh i have confidence in my

self. So that was an immediate note. But let's say reality things. Reality is amazing. It's the most watched on TV. And it's the most, you know, watch shows even now. You know, Traders is the most watch. Killing it. It's crazy. The fans that message me, it's, I've never been in anything like that. Yeah. But it was the from the strategy and listening to the people that I have on my team, my agent and manager, it wasn't the right timing to do. Yeah. And, you know, dancing with the stars at the time I wasn't so limber and now I'm much you know more advanced in dancing I've been taking classes at L.A. Fitness uh Zumba classes and no I'm joking no but there's a there's a time and place for everything and this time was um

you know traders came out as as the right time I was free yeah and I wanted to visit Scotland and Alan coming was on there and the way they shoot this is sort of like a game of thrones It's not even a reality show. Well, you didn't even get to experience Scotland, I'm sure. I mean, I'm not, I'm basically in the show, if you watch it, is a lot of B-rolls of me. It's shirtless. It's shirtless and showers. How did you feel about that?

You know, it's just, I felt good about it because it's, you know, I, I think I had some confidence in the team and they were really good. The production was amazing. I mean, besides the whole, you know, making sure you don't run into it. It was the weirdest, wildest experience. Yeah. But I had some, I saw what was going to happen. And I knew they were going for Emmys and they needed those shots to win the Emmys. Might as well help some other project won Emmys.

Yes, I had Chris Shell on before the last person that was here. I was on the same season of Chris Shell for Dancing with the Stars. So we became really good friends. But she was telling me just how intense that show is. Yes, yes. I mean, who is your favorite? Who did you get along with the most? I got along with everybody, you know?

I went into it not really thinking about that was a good advantage because I'm not going to go into it. You know, obviously the people that I know, I knew Nikki from WWE. But I don't want to know about anything, you know, reality. There's a lot of personal stuff. So I don't know how real it is. And how I don't want to judge somebody for the way they are. Sometimes you can't help it, you know, by judging them. Because they're still doing the same thing on the show, just like some people that I had the experience.

but Bob the drag queen was cool Yeah He was a little over the top Yeah But that's what he's supposed to be Dylan was I still I talked to him here and there

Every episode he calls me And he's like How did you feel? He's great He seems like a sweetie He's a sweetheart Yeah He's a sweetheart

And it was just You know He was great on it Just everybody But even boss and Rob Was you know Everybody when they first revealed him I didn't know who he was

I was just like Why is this guy wearing a baseball. They told me so much to bring all my, you know, Sunday church clothes. Yeah. And this guy's over here wearing a baseball cap. Like, what's going on? You know. So him. But that's, I mean, you talk about how, yeah, wanting to, you know, not judge people or look them up before, but were you nervous at all going into it of what people were thinking of you? Let's not call it nervous. Because the second, I feel like throughout my whole life, everywhere I've been, and this is leading back to childhood upbringing. I wasn't always fit. I wasn't always the, you know, the best-looking person or

I was an immigrant. I didn't speak English. But what I was was the president of the Chubby Boys Club. We really? No, there's no such a thing. But, uh, but, uh, but, but, but when you're not belong, when you don't belong there, when you're a minority, when you're, you know, you're not a person that everybody wants to be friends with in school, you have to be funny. You have to be funny. you have to be charismatic i think that that's what and my dad is super charismatic some of that comes from humble break some of some of some of some of this comes from you know genetic but yeah i had to be at some point in order to win friends and in order in order to win a bunch of people so my confidence into winning people over i don't even have to try or right i can just be myself

and the second it's going to be okay yeah but as far as them reading some stuff like the reality people they love drama oh yeah so they you know if they read something on me and they don't know or they don't know the case you know i don't mind confronting it and i don't mind saying it ian was the first person to ask i kind of forgot about it because how intense the thing was i was like okay no one's going to really know me i'm going to go into this and really not say much and listen and try to take it in right because i know some people are going to be over the top and the second ian sat down and she's in this pink dress and it's every i'm in a pink suit but but you know so i was very intimidated and she's like oh does your ex-wife watches house uh you know housewives i was like

i never i don't know i don't even know what a housewife is no offense just never been interested yeah and you know she was so sweet and it's you know people are fans they're not they're fans and they're curious and it's normal so i don't have a problem with with confronting then. I like that because I just feel like, you know, you're, like you said, the Hollywood bed and you lay in it. Like, it's kind of like when people are like, oh, do you hate talking about The Bachelor because it's so long ago and your exes.

And I'm like, man, it's part of, you know, it's part of my story. It's part of how I got here. It's, I wouldn't have all of this without that. And I'm okay talking about things. And that's what podcasting is for, you know? Podcasting is amazing. You know, I've done a lot of interviews with almost everybody, you know. And at the beginning of my career, it's nice to talk about your career, but we all know what everybody wants.

They want to clickbait. So if I go on an interview and speak about a project that just came out. Yeah, they're not going to pick that up. It's going to be in there, but it's going to be in fine prints. Yeah, yeah. Versus, oh, if I didn't even answer the question, they'll still say the reaction to that. So that's great. There's no problem.

Yeah. That's not an issue whatsoever, but, you know, you have things that you want to say. On a podcast, people get to, you know, see your personality and hear you out. And be like, oh, this guy is not just a freaking idiot motto face, want to be actor. Let's be real. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. That's nice.

That's what I like about podcasting, too, is, you know, on TV, you're a character and you're one-dimensional. And they're only going to show one side of you. were on a podcast you can actually like explain yourself have conversation show your personality be real it be real yeah you can people spot fake away from a mile oh my god can they i mean depends if you're wearing a fake watch maybe not i'm talking about personality yeah of course and nobody wants fake no i know but i feel like the internet is full of fakeies that's okay i mean it's okay for the internet to have people that are fake on there but what are you going to get with being fake where are you how How far are you going to go? For who? For what? And at what cost? For, you know, yeah.

Yeah, I know. It's too exhausting to keep up with that stuff. I also feel like there's so many people out there who I'm like, you don't need to be doing this. Like, you're good. Your genuine self is much better than that. Much better. You mentioned some of the stars on traders were practicing lines in the bathroom? No, no, I'm not saying they were practicing. I didn't see anybody practicing their lines. Oh, I'm just saying. Some people came. and ready you know Bob the drag queen came and ready you know he did his research listen you know what a confessions what is it called a confessional confessional where you sit down and talk yeah i have no idea what that is right but now i have some experience so i know the next come if i ever do one

what i'm going to say because i know what the edits are going to pick up and i know how reality tv works so if you're from a reality you're a master like brittney uh what's uh Heinz right Bernie Haynes? I'm not saying that right? So she's phenomenal. And she's so quiet in person. She's so sweet. But when nobody's around and she's only talking to the camera, she's hilarious.

Could be mean, but hilarious. But some of those people are mastermind, you know, when they talk on that. And you can just tell they've been preparing. That just doesn't come from, you know, from saying stuff. Like Bob the Drag Queen, he said something at the round table. he said he said many things that were practiced as premeditated and one of them was uh i think he said you know when when the big dog you know talks the little bit sits down and he was talking about the royal family you know the royal family being the sneakiest and that's why ivar was a traitor

so you know those things the you know we know that yeah we do know that or their producer fed where they're like say that no no no no no i don't think the traders were the producers were hands off on Wow. Yeah, that's, Crischel kind of said the same thing. Crishel was amazing. Isn't she great? She's amazing. And I, you know, I partner up with her in one of the missions.

Yeah. She was like, she was like, please, Sam. She was like, let's go for the shield because I didn't, I didn't care about the shield. I don't want to be the one that always so, you know, hungry, not thirsty, but hungry to win the game. But she wanted one and she's like, let's go. Don't be this person. Don't sacrifice. I need one tonight.

Yeah. It's like, you know, I think you're. good. I think you're good. But, you know, we tried and we didn't get one and she, me and her were both safe for that night. So it worked out. What about Gabby? So you just think she is a hoot? Gabby is so funny, like watching the show and I hate to watch things that I'm on there. I hate it, absolutely. Why? It's just weird. Like, do you get self-critical, like to give you critique or you just think it's weird? Back to my sports days. When we played a game, we watched it the next day and we, you know, we slowed it down studied it how can we get better so if i go into that phase i'm gonna i'm gonna

i'm gonna be too much in my head because i i i don't want to get in my head yeah and sometimes maybe that was a really good thing i did when it comes to acting but i can't tell that yeah because it was so natural but if i fix it it might ruin it right so but but this one this show is so interesting i mean from experiencing it versus seeing how it's edited yeah because some of this stuff i mean it's a whole day the round table is is a couple hours long and when you watch it is 10 minutes right there's so much that isn't shown but don't i just thought i just think gabby is just a comedian she's so funny you know she was you know when when they talk about iver i feel bad for the guy i mean they were talking about i you know he's an older gentleman and he's such a funny guy

he said something really funny that uh i cracked up and he said two things that was really funny but you know he's an older guy and and she was saying something about him trying to have a heart attack in one of the missions. I was just so serious. I mean, I'm talking to the guy and he goes, I looked up on Chad GBT, how to win the traders. And I'm like, whoa, this guy's a genius. Nobody thought about that. What did it say? A bunch of strategies, actual like legit strategy. That's what he said. And then he was talking about his dog, but he referred it to as a bitch, which is the term for a dog. English term for a dog. I was like, who you call in a bitch?

He's like, my dog had like 10 puppies. I was like, bitch is not a good word. And he said, no, that's the proper word for a female dog. I was like, okay, I'm not going to use that. Let's just say puppy or my baby or anything. Yeah, because you know they're going to clip that. And you say it's something about it. But he's such a wonderful guy.

I mean, it's just, I don't see him as a royal. I don't see anybody as anything, but how they treat people and how he was treating people. He was talking about his daughters and how he was talking about his family was just phenomenal. I partnered up with him last episode and, you know, you can,

I was like, if we need to do anything physical, I'm done. You know, I don't know, but I didn't say, you know, but me and him were the best team on that mission. Yeah, yeah. You love it. And overall experience on that show,

did you love it? Did you love doing it? Were you surprised by anything? I was surprised by it, you know, I had a friend that's been on a bunch of reality show, my friend Maxi, my mentor, and we've been talking for a very long time and strategizing about my career. He happens to be one of, you know, he's been on almost every reality show back in his day. And he told me exactly what was going to happen and how people were going to treat me. But I think strategizing for that show sort of made me too scared to go in and start talking to people and really, really, really.

speaking to the housewives and the people that might, you know, jump back at you and say something that's not necessary, you know. So I didn't, I didn't want to get in a fight with anybody. Yeah. I just wanted to go in there, you know, be helpful to find the traders and then do really good at the physical missions and just show some personality. What do you think people were thinking? Like you said you're a mentor. What was his name? Maxi, yeah. did he say it was going to be like for you he said exactly how it was going to go he said people are going to say things you know and just perception just everything that went down but you know i went into it just being myself and luckily everybody had a good experience with me i hope so yeah and i do good

in the game yeah there you go yeah amazing well i feel like people probably well is it what is the perception what because you're a model and you're actor so yes but what's happening is the goes from being a model actor, right? So they don't know your personality, how you're going to be. And then number two is I'm known for, you know, a very public relationship for a very long time. So that could be another perception. So everything's cheesy about me to begin with.

And people might think different and people might attack you for a certain thing. That was that was one of it. But that's nothing to worry about when you are true yourself. Yeah. Is it hard for you to have people always wanting to. to talk about Brittany because she's such a household name and there's so much going on. Like, does it put you in an uncomfortable position or are you okay speaking on it to a certain extent? I think what it comes down to is at the beginning it was.

Yeah. And that was because it was being, you know, protective and still to this day. But understanding that this is someone that's been an icon, especially for women, for females that are in that, in that, generation even to this day all the new pop stars are following this blueprint oh yeah so everybody's a fan even like i said taylor swift is a fan everybody that's that's doing things now they're literally copying yes and and and she really is the blueprint of a pop star icon so that's it's never going to be awkward or weird but there are going to be things that private life is private life and yeah that has nothing to do with nda or anything that you sign and like i said in hollywood when you want to take a poop you have to

sign that NDA. Yeah. But even if you don't have it, it's my morale, my family. Yeah. Everything that I stand for doesn't allow me to kind of go, you know, talk to public about things that are supposed to be private. Yeah. Like, because I guess I would never want to, I'd never want you to think I'm doing something

for clickbait. I never want you to think I'm trying to make you uncomfortable. It's more just my own curiosity to. Let me tell you something. What? I'm a master at answering questions. Oh, well, then let me go. Yes, you can answer any questions, and if it's not supposed to be something that's against my morals, not against the NDA.

Okay. My morals, because, you know, I have respect for myself, the situations that I've been, and I have respect for everybody that's been a part of my life. Yeah. And I know how to, I know how to answer those questions. Well, then, here we go. I don't, of course, would never know what happened between the two of you, and it's not my business. But should people be worried about her? I didn't you know that's something that you have to surround yourself with great people around you you know

that's what I tried to do when I was there I was trying to be protective and knowing the fact that there were so many people that you know took advantage of this girl and me being an immigrant and America is this beautiful opportunity for me and it's that wasn't going to happen with me not only I wasn't going to take an advantage of it I wasn't going to allow anybody to do it so that's what you know I hope everything goes well with her and you know it seems like she's doing great and our book was phenomenal and you know I was there when she was writing it and I was there how expressive she was and I just hope the best for her because when when we were listening to her speak in the court and we heard it she's so well spoken she sounded like her and then it's just like I always wonder if you know Instagram is a form of entertainment I'm like she's entertaining and then you could hear her voice and her seriousness and her like capacity to hold her own and say what she thought she deserved and it was just an interesting dynamic yeah i mean i do you know how i think of

women i think women inspire us and i have three sisters i was raised by women i was brought up by women yeah and they're always going to be inspiring to me i called her lioness for a reason yeah and i think she was just such a important part of how a woman could be and she you know she stood her ground and was proud of her at that moment. Yeah, absolutely. Now, people think a lot of the timing of the breakup was interesting, but did the end of the conservatorship play any role in your split? You know, I think instead of sitting there and really,

I never thought about why it ended or what the timing was or how it happened. Breakups suck. Yeah, they do. You know that. You're talking about your parents calling you. I've been engaged twice. Oh, wow. You ever think that's, okay.

and we're not going to go to them problem definitely not me those things suck and no one wants that but but instead of sitting there and thinking about why it ended or how it ended or whatever the case was i always look back at it as it was a blessing yeah i never think of it as you know i'm never sad that it ended i'm very happy that ever happened in in every way possible in a personal way and the love that we shared and the experiences that we shared and the things that you She taught me, she taught me how to be a hard worker. She taught me that this is, the Hollywood is no bullshit. Yeah.

You have to be a genius. You have to be hardworking. You have to be addicted to your work. And just everything. And she's a true sweetheart. That's why America fell in love with her. And she taught me those. And also, let's be real.

I mean, I work hard in my career. I take every audition seriously. I'm an actor that comes from drama, theater and arts back in high school. And that's what I've been doing. we met on an acting set, actually. Oh, did you? Yeah, we met on a music video, so we were co-workers. But truly, she also helped me get recognized.

So I'm always going to be thankful for that as well. Of course. Is there any misconceptions that you'd ever want to clear up about the breakup? No, not necessarily. It's just, you know, I'm always going to be honest and genuine. And there's no... Like I said, it's really weird. not to speak about something that was in such a big public eye and it was it lasted for so long and a big part of my life

I mean one third of my life already and big part of her life as well and everybody's a fan everybody wants to you know everything I do I'm going to live the rest of my life answering these questions but a lot of things like I said my morale is things that happen between you and your ex and things like that if you sat at the table and you ate food together if you shared bread together this is something that comes from my culture and you say i love you to each other at one point that was supposed to be the only you two and you go and when it ends and you go and speak badly about each other that doesn't cut it in my my my um it's hard though you know for you guys maybe not i don't know but um it's it's i'm i'm um i'm a bit of a firecracker and i tend to want to

like speak my truth and think like you know i don't know it's hard for me to bite my tongue but i've actually gotten a lot better lately if you have to if you know the other person is you have to be if you have to defend yourself without means you go do you but i'm not here to give anybody i mean you have much more experiences than i do i have one i have one ring you have two super bowl rings that you give back that's a third time's a charm that's what they say that's what they say That's what they say. Do you think Britney watches traitors? I don't think so.

No? No. Okay. I don't think so. I don't think she'll be interested. Really? Mm-hmm. Why?

Did she like reality TV? I think she watched a lot of friends and, you know, what was that? There's a little old... Full house? No, no, no. It's after the lady actresses. It's in black and white. Oh.

I love Lucy? I love Lucy. Really? She watches a lot of... I love Lucy and a lot of Brad Pitt movie. She has a crush on Brad Pitt. Hilarious. Who doesn't?

I've been watching a lot of Brad Pitt movies back in the day, so yeah. Brad Pitt has some phenomenal movies. He's an amazing actor. He's an amazing actor. He's an amazing movie, yeah. You recently did a campaign with, what is it, PETA? Yes. Yeah.

What was that experience like for you? It was great. Yeah. I mean, the Peter Bread, or are you talking about Peter? No. That's great, too. You know what? I know, I can tell you're an animal lover because I just witnessed you with the dog and I saw your

dog yeah oh i love animals yes you know i just showed you yeah beauty but this is my doberman and uh the reason why i became i always loved animals but i wasn't too there's a lot of information you should know yeah adopt and don't shop and all that stuff and yes i love dobermans because of their amazing you know aesthetic and their ears but it's a cruel thing to do it's like cosmetic surgery on a baby and they don't need it and they're much cuter that way so i You know, at the time, I had purchased the dog because I didn't know. I was ignorant in that. But then I was like, okay, this is a mistake.

I made a mistake, but how can I do something to kind of make it better? Which was, let's not do the ears because that's cosmetic surgery. So I looked up, you know, all these different researches of what you should not do because you're hurting the animal, even though you might not. Then I posted about it. Then Peter loved it and they did an article about it. And I used to do a lot of photo shoots with shelters and animal shelters to promote adoption and not shop. And we did a campaign and they wanted to, you know, raise awareness for, you know, adoption. And we teamed up with that adoption team.

And recently I talked to them something about Valentine's Day. Love. And hopefully that comes out pretty good. That's awesome. Yeah, I love, I have a love for animals too. And again, I rescued both my dogs and realized the importance of rescue. you as well. So what did you do in your breakup with the dogs? It wasn't, you know, I wasn't going to take anything that's not mine or take anything that's, that doesn't belong to mine. So it was kind of like a

agreement and no brainer. And very, you know, Doberman, they're very tough, uh, dogs to, you know, care for. And I, I sort of wanted a peaceful transition. And that's what happened. What would be your dream role to be in a movie or TV? TV and movie is my favorite thing to do. The reason why is because you're always surprised with what you find. I mean, any role has a lot of background that you have to go into research and then you get to learn a lot. I think the action stuff is a giving.

I'm always going to be doing action. The comedy stuff is really fun and it takes a really skilled actor to be a comedian. And if you don't believe me, watch Adam Sandler in, you know, those uncut jams or the basketball movie he did. Oh, yeah, uncut jams.

They're incredible actors because you can't teach funny. Yeah. And I've done really good on TV series. That's, you know, comedy. And I love that. But I think something that's going to take me out of my comfort zone and something that's going to prove my ability to acting and something that takes me away from the perception that we're fighting so hard for.

Yeah. What is the best piece of advice that you've ever received? The best piece of advice that I've ever received is don't believe. people that tell you you are shit and don't believe people that are telling you that you are the shit they're both lying to you i've never heard that that's no i'm i'm not confused i'm letting that soak in because that's actually good it's good i mean if somebody's telling you you're the worst don't listen to them yeah because they don't know your potential and if somebody's telling you you're so good you're so that they're not being honest yeah they want something yes

that's so good i've never heard that one either that's why i was like oh okay good one and then what is next for you personally professionally what's coming up you know i like to my life has been a blessing i mean every chapter of my life has been such a good thing and i heard denzil washington say this he said the first part of your life you learn the second part of your life you earn the third part of your life you give and i'm in my earning phase so i'm going to be asking for a payment for this podcast yeah of course yep yep uh it's going to be of 10 kisses with that dog that was just here i'll take 10 Licks as a payment. Easy enough?

No, but I really want to conquer my acting corrupt. And I want to take on jobs and when it makes sense to do them, if they do make sense. And I want to be a multi, you know, fascinated kind of talent. Yeah. And I think we're doing a good job with that. That's amazing. One of my friends' charity, she was The Bachelorette. She met this guy, Dotten.

He had never watched the show. He's so humble. He's so great. He's so loving. And I was like, why? it's so easy for you to just let these things like go with her dating, like usually on The Bachelor people break up because they get jealous and they're like, oh, you were making out with all those guys and it's a hard foundation to start on. And he goes, he came here from another country and he goes,

I've seen like, you know, what's real, what's a real problem? Sure. I've seen that. And I feel like you kind of carry that same energy where you're like, it's a blessing to be here. You're grateful for situations. And I really like that approach because I think it would be really hard to be in such a, you know, you want to be taken seriously as an actor as a model you are you're doing good things and then you have this public breakup in public situation but you have held your head really high during it and um i just appreciate the way that you carry yourself through everything and i think that probably has a lot to do with where you came from i think uh bringing you know three sisters i have three sisters that i never want to let down so i don't want them to you know look at me and i handle the situation

like an idiot and they're like our brother is a idiot i never want that to happen yeah I want to be a good example for my sisters and the people that I love and my future children and just want to be a good person. How do you protect your peace? How do I protect my peace? Yeah, like when things get wild, when cameras are in your face, when TMZ is asking dumb questions, when you're doing it. Like, how do you take care of yourself? I think, like I said, you know, back to don't believe people when they tell you you are shit and don't believe it when they say you are the shit. It's just be yourself and just really stay grounded.

That's easy being said with me. Like I said, it's not a lot of stuff get to me because I think there's a saying, you know, the same boiling water that softens the potato, heartens the egg. And, you know, that saying goes a long way from me. But that's just because it's me and is my mentality and the discipline that I had, the upbringing, you know, the immigration to America, the experience is my time, you know, getting exposed to the weird side of Hollywood and everything that goes is just such a blessing and such an experience.

I like to think of everything as an experience. I learn from it. I move on from it. I don't hold, you know, garage on it or anything like that. So I think that's what's so grounding. And eventually what I like to do is I like to always stay hungry for my career and I always want to achieve more and give back more. I never want to be thirsty. There's two different things.

Hunger and thirst, completely different things. There you go. That's money. That's going to be 10 more licks from the dog. That's good. Hungry, not thirsty. I really like that. Before you go, I always ask my guests to confess something embarrassing to me,

something that you need to get off your chest. Now is your time. You know, I don't, as you can see, I'm clearly perfect. No, I'm joking. But there's a lot of embarrassing moments, you know, I think anywhere between farting on accident. where on in class in school in yeah of course anywhere between that and and other things but i think one of the most embarrassing moments that i had was when i first moved here yeah and that's when i went into the class the last person i was you know dressed up in a suits and in a suitcase

everybody's dressed in a hoodie all-american and i sit down at the end of the classroom which is basically below the american flag and my dad has told me you know when you go to school they're going to love you you're from a different country they love people with black hair black eyes they think highly of you they're going to appreciate you so with that mindset i'm sitting down and they turn around and they do the i pledge allegiance to the flag and i think i don't i don't understand what they're saying but i'm thinking you know they're kind of welcoming me to america they're kind of like welcome to america we know that you came from you know they're like all facing you do that and you're like you're welcome no no i get up and i salute back and

people were just like what the heck is this guy doing and from the start oh from the start I was a weirdo so that's one of the most embarrassing moments wait that's really funny yeah last thing best part about Hollywood worst part about Hollywood best part about Hollywood is I think people get it wrong the whole point of being famous and being in the spotlight and having a platform is for you to be able to make this world a better place the worst part about Hollywood is the worst part about Hollywood is is when you gain that fame too fast and people around you that you're exposed to the most, you're vulnerable the most, and you think you trust them the most, they take an advantage of you. So fair.

That's a great answer. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm Caitlin Bristow. I'll see you next Tuesday. Grab a coffee and discover non-stop action with BudMGM Casino. Check out our hottest exclusive. Friends of One with Multi-Drop.

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