NEWSBritney Spears' Ex-Husband Sam Asghari Says He Had to 'Work Harder' for His Acting Career After Marrying Pop Star
Sam Asghari opened up about how marrying Britney Spears made it harder for him to land acting roles.
Sam Asghari opened up about the downside of being married to one of the most famous people in the world.
While the fitness trainer and actor previously said his relationship with Britney Spears helped “kick start” his entertainment career, he’s now sharing more details about their time together.
“Did it make me, you know, have to work harder to prove myself? Absolutely,” Asghari said during a radio interview on Monday, June 9.
At the time, Asghari was juggling gigs as a personal trainer and waiter, which already came with its own challenges, all while dating the singer.
Sam Asghari said he had to 'work harder' in Hollywood because of his marriage to Britney Spears.
“‘Oh, and he’s associated with a pop star, which is also cheesy as well. Or can we see him as a character?’ There was that line as well,” he recalled. “Do we really want to hire someone that’s a cheesy trainer?”
Still, he made it clear that being with Spears gave him a boost.
“I can’t sit here and lie and say, ‘It wasn’t good for me,’” he admitted. “When you’re in such a public relationship, that gives you that platform — it sort of gave me that platform for who I am.”
They first crossed paths in 2016 on the set of Spears’ “Slumber Party” music video, where Asghari played her on-screen love interest.
“I mean, we met on the acting set,” he said. “We met as co-workers.”
The two went public with their romance in January 2017 and eventually got engaged in September 2021.
“I just started acting at that moment, so I was already doing stuff anyway,” Asghari said of the early days of his career.
The couple met on the set of her 2016 music video 'Slumber Party.'
Asghari wasn’t exactly starstruck when they first met, as OK! previously reported.
"I was working alongside her. And that happens in the acting world because everybody’s busy and you’re working on set and you’re spending a lot of time [with colleagues], sometimes more time than your own family," he explained. "So it’s just natural how that works, just like it is in the office. If you’re working in the office, you meet a coworker."
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Sam Asghari claimed her pushed for a prenup to protect Britney Spears before their wedding.
Despite their smooth start, the marriage ended when Asghari filed for divorce in August 2023. The split was finalized the following year.
Looking back, he admitted that being in a high-profile relationship came with personal and professional sacrifices.
"I turned down a few modeling things back then," he shared. "It was because it was associated with women, and I wanted to be respectful. It was a very sensitive time and a very sensitive situation I was dealing with. So I wanted to be very successful and things like that. So that was at that time. Now, it’s different."
The model said the relationship came with both career boosts and major sacrifices.
Though life with Spears came with a lot of benefits, Asghari said he wasn't after her money, as he genuinely wanted to be there for her and hoped they’d build "an empire together."
"But at that moment in time, it wasn’t," he reflected. "And that’s things that people have done in her past, and I wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire."
On the June 2 episode of the "Trading Secrets" podcast, he revealed he was the one who brought up the prenup before their 2022 wedding.
"I wanted to make sure she’s protected, because throughout her life, everybody — I don’t know one person that’s ever been in her life that didn’t take advantage of her," Asghari told host Jason Tartick. "So it’s very sad. I wanted to make sure that I’m the person that [didn’t] do that."
Asghari recently appeared on Page Six Radio.
