Sam Asghari and the American Dream

There’s an old Iranian proverb that says you must never speak ill of those you’ve eaten with. To share a meal is to pledge your loyalty, the saying goes. To make a promise that you will never betray another’s trust in honor of what was once shared. “And whatever follows is irrelevant,” Sam Asghari says when the topic of his ex-wife, Britney Spears, comes up. He speaks of her warmly, a soft smile appearing on his face as he runs his hand through his hair, damp and slightly tousled from the outdoor shower.

“So, I always want to respect that,” he says, never breaking eye contact. “I’m always going to stick to that, and that’s the number one thing for me.”

Celebrity exes are often pit against each other for entertainment, and Asghari and Spears were no exception when they decided to end their six-year relationship in 2023. After 14 months of marriage, the 31-year-old actor and model filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences, resulting in a slew of salacious headlines. During our interview, though, Asghari appears more invested in the purring cat on his lap than discussing the media circus surrounding his breakup. Because what matters is what actually happened, he says, while picking at the cat hair stuck to his black tank top.

Playgirl • December 2025.

“And the best thing you can do is celebrate the past, appreciate the past, and not dwell on the fact that it’s over,” he says. “Be happy it ever even happened.”

Appreciating the past is a sentiment Asghari returns to over and over again. Whether he’s talking about a relationship or a former role, he clearly takes nothing for granted when it comes to the opportunities he’s been given. But it’s more about gratitude than looking backwards, he says, and that’s especially true when it comes to the next phase of his career. He lights up while detailing his new film about exiled artists from countries that forbid free expression. But Asghari’s excitement doesn’t stem from it being a “festival-worthy” resume-builder. It comes from a real world issue. An issue he has first-hand experience with, as a first-generation immigrant who decided to become an artist.

Asghari was born in Iran, a country that human rights organizations have regularly denounced for its suppression of political protest and peaceful dissent. It’s a place with limited opportunities, he explains, and that’s why he came to the United States when he was 12. At the time, Asghari didn’t speak a word of English, but that didn’t matter. He’d “won the golden ticket of opportunities” by coming here in the first place.

“Before moving here, I was like, ‘Wow, the flag of America. This is a land of opportunity. This is such a blessing,’ because I know what it’s like not to live here,” Asghari says, before calling himself and other immigrants “some of the most patriotic people I know.”

Denim: TRINIDAD3.

“Because in the country I come from, we don’t get the [same] opportunities,” he continues. “We don’t get that freedom.”

That said, Asghari admits that immigrating came with its own set of challenges. As he soon discovered, he was “ignorant to the fact that people could make fun of you” for simply being different. And that feeling of being singled out was what motivated him to quickly assimilate by doing “things to become as ‘American’ as I could in the fastest way possible to fit in with the kids.”

He started by introducing himself as Sam, which was easier for the other kids to pronounce than his given name, Hesam. Then, he began playing “American” sports like football and signed up for theater thanks to his self-admitted “FOMO when it comes to opportunities.” In his mind, he was “so lucky to be in America” that any wasted opportunity would be “a waste of my life.”

“Because I had friends that stayed back home, and they had potential and were much better than me,” he says. “But unfortunately, because of the government and the opportunities that are there, they were not able to become whoever they wanted.”

Playgirl • December 2025.

While he was never one for academics, his acting classes led to him developing a love for theater and entertainment. After graduation, Asghari started acting and modeling professionally, while working multiple jobs to support himself. It was difficult, but “if you work hard and don’t pay attention to certain things, good things happen to you.” And eventually, Asghari ended up on the set of Spears’ 2016 music video for “Slumber Party,” where he played her love interest.

“Everything just happened so naturally and normal,” he says, adding that it didn’t matter if Spears was “super famous or not famous at all.”

“It was a blessing,” he says before adding, “I fall in love, and I try to make life happen.”

You don’t have royalty in a democracy like America. You just have celebrities and, suddenly, he was dating the Princess of Pop. It was something that changed his life overnight and provided him with a “college crash course into fame.” But it also quickly introduced him to the darker side of superstardom, one where greed and ego is everything.

When they met, Spears had already been under the restrictive conservatorship helmed by her father, Jamie Spears, since 2008. It gave Jamie and any other co-conservators control over her finances, career, and personal life, from her performance schedule to visitation with her two sons.

As her partner, Asghari bore witness to it all, including the highly publicized case to end the longstanding conservatorship. Prior to its 2021 dissolution, he publicly supported her, posting himself wearing #FreeBritney t-shirts and speaking out against the people behind the legal arrangement. Through it all, he tried to wrap his head around what was happening and support his significant other the best he could. But he was also taken aback by this “world where people use any advantage [against] you,” adding that “the worst thing you can do is to sort of take advantage of somebody when they’re down and they’re low.”

“When you’re young, you’re sort of happy about what’s happening, happy about your work, and being able to express art,” he says. “But then it catches up to you, and you don’t know how to handle it because, obviously, the people that are in your circle are doing the most harm.”

It’s an experience that Asghari says “opened my eyes” and taught him that fame and money aren’t the most important things in life. Rather, it’s about continuing to be the best version of yourself and doing what’s right, even in the face of impossibly complex and difficult situations. It’s about conducting yourself in a respectable way for the sake of yourself and others.

This philosophy is something that extends to the rest of his life, where he feels the need to be the best representative “for my family, for where I come from, [and] for the immigrants.” He wants to set a good example, and that means refusing to engage with the type of negativity that comes with being a public figure. Besides, feeding the rumor mill would only distract from his burgeoning career. “Because at the end of the day, I do have a future,” he says. “I was acting before that relationship… and I will continue acting.”

For now, Asghari is happy to focus on acting and pursuing more substantial roles where he can “really dive into deep characters.” Roles like his upcoming film, where he can help spread an important message during a global rise in authoritarianism and a “tough time” for nonwhite immigrants in America.

“In these times, we have this administration that’s not really helping, and we have… those countries that are not really accepting of people that are different,” he says. “So, I hope I’m a small help.”

But even in these fraught times, we’re in a country where people still “have the chance to protest, and say [things].” Asghari is living his American dream, and it’s given him the ability to live life on his own terms. And so he approaches every day with the same optimistic outlook he arrived with almost two decades ago, grateful for everything he has accomplished (and will) in “the land of opportunities.”

“I’m going to be the Sam that I was when I moved to America,” he says with an air of cool confidence. “Because I’m still the person with the same enthusiasm, with the same positivity, with the same energy.”

Head over to PLAYGIRL+ for  more pictures and our exclusive behind-the-scenes interview.