Here’s a record of issues Sam Asghari doesn’t wish to discuss: 

How he met Britney Spears. What it was like relationship Britney Spears. What it was like dwelling with Britney Spears. What it was like being married to Britney Spears. Why he divorced Britney Spears (in Could, after just a bit over one 12 months of matrimony). Whether or not he’s nonetheless in contact with Britney Spears. How he feels about Britney Spears now. 

In different phrases, just about any sentence that accommodates the phrases “Britney” and/or “Spears” will get the identical reply. Which is to say, no reply. Or no less than not a very satisfying reply.

“If my life is non-public, it’s non-public. That’s one thing I’m all the time going to respect, no matter any settlement or not,” Asghari says, referring to a doable divorce settlement between himself and the pop star that may clarify his reticence to debate his ex-wife. “It’s simply the values that I’ve.”

Asghari, 30, is sitting poolside at a high-rise house constructing in Brentwood. He’s dressed precisely the best way you’d think about a 6-foot-2 health buff turned aspiring motion hero to be — black mesh shorts, white Nikes and a cream-colored sleeveless hoodie that reveals off his ample biceps. Initially, Asghari’s staff had steered an interview at his house close by, however on the final minute, he switched areas to a buddy’s house advanced, the place for the higher a part of a scorching July afternoon, he does his finest to maneuver the dialog into the one space he very a lot does wish to focus on, greater than the rest on the planet. 

His future as an actor.

Over the previous few years, Asghari has locked himself into résumé-building mode in a bid to rework himself into the subsequent Arnold Schwarzenegger or Dwayne Johnson, or no less than Jean-Claude Van Damme. First got here the cameos, together with enjoying a “Attractive Santa” in a 2021 episode of Max’s Hacks. Then got here (considerably) bigger roles, most not too long ago within the supporting solid of this summer time’s Jackpot!, an motion comedy on Prime Video starring Awkwafina, Simu Liu and John Cena. Subsequent 12 months, there might be his first foray into actuality TV, when he competes on the third season of The Traitors, Peacock’s murder-mystery actuality present based mostly on the occasion recreation Mafia, airing in early 2025. 

“So long as you’re true to your self, you’re doing what you’re purported to do, you’re working exhausting, and also you’re not being a nasty particular person to anyone, your future presents itself,” he says, his huge biceps glistening within the daylight. 

***

Sam Asghari was sitting on the head of a proper eating desk in a black tuxedo, a glass of spilled milk on his proper. Out of the blue, Britney Spears appeared, crawling on all fours throughout the desk, carrying solely a black bra-and-underwear set, black fishnets and a spiked silver collar round her neck. In sluggish movement, the pop star arched her again and licked up the spilled milk, kicking her heels within the air. Asghari froze, stiff in his chair. Their gazes locked.

Not precisely a traditional meet-cute second, however there you’ve it. The primary time Asghari and Spears laid eyes on one another. 

The 12 months was 2016. And the 2 have been capturing a scene within the singer’s music video for “Slumber Social gathering,” a reggae-pop observe that includes the artist Tinashe. “I used to be centered on work; I used to be there to be skilled,” Asghari says of his preliminary encounter with Spears, who’s 12 years older than he’s. “However on the similar time, , issues occur.”

What occurred after the “Slumber Social gathering” shoot, Asghari reveals after a lot hemming and hawing, was that one in every of Spears’ assistants reached out to him on her behalf to ask him to fulfill. The 2 ended up eating at Koi, on the time a buzzy sushi restaurant in West Hollywood. “It was so pure,” Asghari says, referring to their connection, his granite jawline melting right into a smile.

How Asghari ended up in that music video is one thing of a journey. It began in 2006, when he was 12 years previous. That’s when Asghari emigrated from Iran — he grew up Tehran — to the U.S. in a transfer that separated his household. Asghari and his father settled within the metropolis of Westlake Village, California, however his mom and three older sisters stayed behind in Iran for a number of years earlier than becoming a member of them. It was, he says, a “robust state of affairs” for his household, however he made one of the best of it and threw himself into assimilation. For starters, he started consuming peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a result of he noticed American youngsters consuming them. (A lot later, he would identify his new manufacturing firm PB&J.) 

“Coming to the U.S. was the best factor that ever occurred to me,” he says, sipping a bottle of electrolyte water. “My [American-born] uncle informed me that if you happen to come into this nation, even if you happen to’re a citizen, you’re a visitor. So, once I got here into this nation, all the pieces was a blessing; I by no means wished to do something to harm anyone, to make the most of anyone, or to do one thing that’s going to jeopardize my future.”

When he first got here to America, Asghari solely spoke Farsi, his native language. To assist educate himself English, he started watching Disney Channel — he claims to have watched Toy Story no less than 100 instances — in addition to motion motion pictures. He rapidly stumbled upon Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; at present, he name-checks each the previous bodybuilder and former professional wrestler as function fashions for his future desired profession. “[Schwarzenegger and Johnson] usually are not purported to be the place they’re, however they made it — that’s what I like probably the most,” he says.

Asghari’s introduction to performing got here within the type of theater courses at Westlake Excessive College. Nevertheless, as a result of he was nonetheless studying English, bigger talking roles have been out of attain. His mild bulb second got here when he joined a manufacturing for youthful youngsters; he performed a troll. He remembers the youngsters laughing — with him, not at him, from the sound of it — and that have drew him to performing.

Athletics was one other of Asghari’s early passions. As a highschool freshman, he joined Westlake’s soccer staff. Getting into faculty, he was slated to play on the College of Nebraska-Lincoln however acquired reduce earlier than beginning his freshman 12 months. So he returned to Los Angeles to play soccer for Moorpark Faculty, then later transferred to Los Angeles Pierce Faculty, the place he gave up on the gridiron and as an alternative studied felony justice. He labored a number of jobs to help himself, together with as a clerk at Greatest Purchase and a gross sales rep at Gold’s Health club.

Adjusting to life after soccer was difficult. After hitting a low level, Asghari made a essential resolution. When he’d been enjoying ball, bulk had been a precedence; however now, along with his eyes on an performing profession, he determined to lose a big quantity of weight. He began at 290 kilos; inside about six months, he dropped almost 100 kilos. Out of the blue, now lean and muscular, he discovered himself reserving modeling gigs, business performing and music video appearances — notably Fifth Concord’s “Work From Dwelling,” a building site-themed romp by which Asghari, one in every of a number of decorative Scorching Dudes, wields a jackhammer. 

Then, in 2016, he shot “Slumber Social gathering,” and his life was clearly by no means the identical. 

Asghari retains the main points of the subsequent eight years intentionally hazy. What occurred behind closed doorways at Spears’ Thousand Oaks mansion the place they ultimately settled — and the place, in 2021, he proposed earlier than they married in 2022 — is essentially not one thing he’s keen to debate. Neither is his resolution to file for divorce in 2023, citing irreconcilable variations; neither is the timeline and dynamics of that divorce, which was finalized in Could. For a quick, flickering second, he comes near revealing a morsel about Spears’ controversial 13-year conservatorship, which was terminated in November 2021 — “There have been so many dangerous individuals of their life that took benefit of this particular person” — however even that revelation is cloaked in an ambiguous pronoun. When requested whether or not he’s certainly referring to Spears, he quietly confirms.

One may learn between the strains as to why Asghari doesn’t focus on specifics. Based on a 2021 report in The New York Instances, throughout that conservatorship, Spears’ father, Jamie, closely managed and surveilled his daughter’s relationship life by hiring a safety agency; the operation included secretly recording conversations she had in her bed room in addition to tailing her boyfriends to search for incriminating habits and requiring them to signal nondisclosure agreements. Based on the report, an settlement Asghari signed in 2020 technically forbade him from posting about Spears on social media with out her father’s prior written approval.

And but, these filtered relics of their eight-year relationship nonetheless exist on Asghari’s Instagram, within the type of romantic snaps and movies. When the couple’s one-year marriage ceremony anniversary arrived, in June 2023, Asghari proclaimed through IG that Spears was the lady of his goals; two months later, in a hanging reversal, he filed for divorce.

Not even Asghari’s closest pals have rather more entry or perception into his marital life. Quinton Gross sales, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who was Asghari’s roommate earlier than he moved in with Spears, confirms that even he was saved at midnight in regards to the relationship’s ups and downs. “I actually don’t know too many particulars,” he says. “Sam all the time dealt with it in an honorable, mature means. However what truly occurred? I wouldn’t be privileged to know.”

No matter occurred in Could, it’s made Asghari a bachelor once more, which he appears to have combined emotions about. “When one thing ends, after all, there’s going to be a second the place you might be unhappy or upset, however simply be completely satisfied that it ever even occurred,” he says of returning to life in Los Angeles as a single man. “Have a good time the previous. That’s how I have a look at it.” 

And plan for the long run, which now features a function on a actuality present. Over time, Asghari has turned down stints on packages like Celeb Large Brother and The Masked Singer; he additionally confesses he doesn’t usually watch actuality TV and doesn’t even plan to observe his personal season of the The Traitors. So why do it? “It was all in regards to the recreation,” he says. “There’s no time to gossip. There’s no time to have questions thrown at you.” He seems to take a fatalistic method to how the collection may impression his plans to develop into the subsequent Arnold. “I don’t actually fear about what’s going to occur. I don’t do something unsuitable, so there’s no means of making an attempt to sabotage. In case you are doing one thing unsuitable,” he provides, “then it’s a must to fear about it.”

As Asghari’s profession expands, he retains his circle small, centered on a close-knit group of household and pals. He by no means does permit this interviewer into his house, as he’d initially steered, however as an alternative presents to explain it. Based on him, it’s stuffed with vegetation — together with a bonsai tree from his sister Maddie — in addition to a 2-year-old Doberman named Porsche. He reveals off a portrait of the pooch on the background of his smartphone.

No matter occurs with The Traitors, although, and no matter different initiatives might comply with, there’s little doubt Asghari’s relationship with Spears will proceed to hang-out him, no less than for some time. Reporters will proceed asking him questions on his ex-wife, which he might or might not sidestep for years to return. In actual fact, right here comes one now …

Has he learn Spears’ 2023 memoir, The Lady in Me, by which he’s portrayed in an overwhelmingly constructive mild? (“A present from God,” she described him.)

“I didn’t learn the guide,” he says slowly, “as a result of I used to be there.”

This story first appeared within the Sept. 11 situation of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.