Scheana Shay’s Memoir My Good Side (with Ben Mandelker)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast Episode: Scheana Shay’s Memoir My Good Side (with Ben Mandelker)
Release Date: July 22, 2025
Host/Author: Chelsea Devantez

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Introduction

In this episode of Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast, host Chelsea Devantez delves into Sheena Shay’s memoir, My Good Side, with special guest Ben Mandelker. The discussion offers a deep dive into Sheena’s tumultuous journey through fame, personal struggles, and high-profile relationships, providing listeners with a candid exploration of her life both on and off reality TV.

Overview of Sheena Shay and Her Memoir

Chelsea introduces Sheena Shay, renowned from the reality TV series Vanderpump Rules, and her newly released memoir, My Good Side. The book launched concurrently with the podcast episode, offering early copies for discussion. Chelsea sets the stage by recounting Sheena’s dramatic crossover from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to Vanderpump Rules, highlighting the intense personal and professional challenges Sheena has faced.

Rating the Book on a Literature Scale

Timestamp: [04:22]

Ben Mandelker and Sheena Shay engage in a playful debate assessing where My Good Side falls on a literature-to-merchandise scale.

• Ben Mandelker: “I love that scale. First and foremost, that is a great question. The sassy gay in me wants to say, of course, 10. This is literature.” ([04:22])

• Sheena Shay: “Yeah, I would say it's definitely on the merch side, but merch I would buy.” ([05:01])

Ben adjusts his rating midway, appreciating the conversational tone but acknowledging its more commercial nature, ultimately rating it around 4.5 out of 10.

Key Themes and Chapters

1. Early Life and Identity Issues

Timestamp: [08:14]

Sheena discusses her complex upbringing, detailing her parents' separate lives and her struggle with cultural identity. The memoir reveals how Sheena felt caught between her Mexican heritage and her environment, leading to significant identity challenges.

• Ben Mandelker: “She was like, I was raised with my blinders on.” ([20:19])

2. The Hooters Lawsuit

Timestamp: [13:07]

A pivotal chapter covers Sheena’s involvement in the Hooters lawsuit, where she becomes the spokesperson for victims of a privacy violation scandal. The discussion highlights Sheena’s opportunistic yet unsettling response to the trauma.

• Sheena Shay: “I was just like, I got a call from Gloria Allred. I'm so glad someone stood up for you.” ([16:11])

3. High-Profile Relationships and Betrayals

Timestamp: [18:07]

Sheena’s relationships with celebrities like Eddie Cibrian and John Mayer are scrutinized. The memoir chronicles her naïveté and the subsequent heartbreak from discovering her partners’ infidelities.

• Ben Mandelker: “She lives life with her blinders on.” ([19:18])

• Sheena Shay: “I was a people pleaser. I couldn't ask him if he was married.” ([25:20])

4. Vanderpump Rules Spin-Off and Manipulation

Timestamp: [62:32]

The origins of Vanderpump Rules are dissected, revealing Lisa Vanderpump’s manipulative tactics using Sheena as a pawn to launch the spin-off. The chapter exposes the behind-the-scenes machinations that contributed to Sheena’s reality TV fame.

• Ben Mandelker: “I do believe that Lisa knew 100% about this situation.” ([62:18])

5. Marriage and Motherhood

Timestamp: [85:05]

Sheena narrates her rapid marriage to Brock Davies, detailing the rushed timeline and the ensuing divorce amid scandals. The memoir touches on her struggles with postpartum OCD and the challenges of balancing motherhood with a hectic public life.

• Sheena Shay: “I went to Disneyland to cure my OCD.” ([94:53])

6. Personal Struggles and Redemption

Timestamp: [96:35]

The memoir explores Sheena’s battle with OCD, her coping mechanisms, and her journey towards healing. The story underscores her reliance on external validation and the impact of her reality TV persona on her mental health.

• Ben Mandelker: “She gets into these things because she wants to be the hero of her own story.” ([84:44])

Critique and Analysis

Lack of Introspection

Throughout the memoir, Ben and Sheena critique Sheena’s limited self-reflection. While Sheena shares numerous personal anecdotes, the book often lacks deeper emotional exploration, focusing instead on superficial storytelling and celebrity interactions.

• Sheena Shay: “Overall, I had a really great and happy childhood. And that’s the end.” ([12:05])

• Ben Mandelker: “It's like diary of a people pleaser because that's her whole thing.” ([07:08])

Superficiality and Name-Dropping

A recurring theme is Sheena’s extensive name-dropping of celebrities and high-profile individuals, which some may find detracts from the memoir’s depth. The conversations reveal a tendency to focus on external validation rather than internal growth.

• Ben Mandelker: “Everything is just like, that could have been.” ([40:26])

Entertaining Read with Limited Depth

Despite its shortcomings, My Good Side is praised for being an entertaining and quick read. The book’s engaging narrative style and dramatic stories keep readers hooked, even if it doesn’t offer profound insights.

• Sheena Shay: “It was a rip roaring time.” ([109:15])

• Ben Mandelker: “It's a quick read. You just read it and you're just sitting there chuckling.” ([109:27])

Notable Quotes

• Ben Mandelker: “This is literally the best performance you've ever had.” ([07:39])

• Sheena Shay: “I’m a people pleaser. I couldn’t ask him if he was married.” ([25:20])

• Ben Mandelker: “This is someone who’s just looking for a gig on TV.” ([57:52])

• Sheena Shay: “And I drank Red Bulls instead of anything else that night.” ([53:03])

Conclusion

My Good Side by Sheena Shay offers a captivating glimpse into the life of a reality TV star navigating fame, personal turmoil, and complex relationships. While the memoir excels in entertainment value, providing humorous and dramatic anecdotes, it falls short in delivering deep emotional introspection and coherent personal growth narratives. The discussion by Chelsea Devantez and Ben Mandelker underscores both the allure and limitations of Sheena’s storytelling, making it a compelling listen for fans and critics alike.

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Note: This summary excludes non-content sections such as advertisements, intros, and outros, focusing solely on the substantive discussions and insights shared during the podcast episode.

Transcript

[Sheena Shay]

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh. They're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-contacts. I herald his beginning.

[Ben Mandelker]

Marvel Studios, the Fantastic Four.

[Sheena Shay]

I herald your end.

[Ben Mandelker]

The biggest event of the summer.

[Sheena Shay]

I, Harold Galactus has arrived.

[Ben Mandelker]

What is that? Hold on.

[Sheena Shay]

We will fight this together as a family.

[Ben Mandelker]

Johnny.

[Sheena Shay]

Now.

[Ben Mandelker]

Marvel Studios, the Fantastic Four first steps.

[Sheena Shay]

Only in theaters Friday.

[Ben Mandelker]

Ready, pg. 13. Some material may not be suitable for children under 13. Get tickets now.

[Sheena Shay]

Welcome to Glamorous Trash. This is a podcast that book clubs, viral articles, celebrity memoirs and trashy discourse to elevate your life. I'm your host, Chelsea Devontez. I'm a TV writer, comedian, filmmaker, author, and sometimes I'm in stuff, too. And today we are book clubbing My Good side by Vanderpump Rules star Sheena Shay. Out when this episode drops on July 22, 2025. That's right. This book is dropping the exact day this episode is dropping. We got early copies, which we love. And when this book was announced, we said it was a potential meh more for our Meh more series. But I don't know. We'll decide it in the episode with my guest. Now, if you don't know Sheena Shay, she's from, you know, Vanderpump Rules. You may remember one of our guests breaking down one of the greatest reality TV openings of all time. So on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Brandi Glanville, whose memoir we also covered, her husband Eddie cheated on her with Leanne Rimes. However, Eddie was also cheating on Leanne Rimes and Brandi with Sheena Shay, the waitress at a cigar bar. And so Brandy from Real Housewives confronts Sheena outside about sleeping with her husband. And then Sheena cries. It's crazy. She walks into the restaurant where she works and Vanderpump Rules. The spinoff show begins. It's probably the greatest crossover launch in all time. And yes, this book talks about Rob, John Mayer and her famous enchiladas. Now, please know there is a trigger warning in this episode for discussion of suicide. Using language from Sheena's book and a total subject change. I am screening a pilot presentation that I wrote and directed that stars Lennon Parham and Paul F. Tompkins and John Gabris and Ashton Nicole Black, all kinds of incredible people. I'm screen screening it on Patreon only once, live, 6pm Pacific Standard Time on the 23rd. So if you're listening to this episode on Tuesday, that's the day after. If you're listening to this episode on Wednesday, it is tonight. It will only screen once because then it's going out to market. So go to Patreon if you want to see it. Now. Let's dive in. Okay. My guess too. Today you guys were guessing if it was him. It is him. He is here. It has been Mandelker from Watch what Crappens. We also had your co host Ronnie on to review the Ariana Maddox's cocktail breakup book, which we will link in the show notes. And now Ben is here to cover Sheena Shay's book. Their podcast recently won best pop culture podcast at the I Heart Podcast Awards because it's so good and I know everyone listens. Ben is also a writer who has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, US Magazine. The New York has a food newsletter over on substack called nbd. Fancy. Hi, welcome to the podcast.

[Ben Mandelker]

Oh, my God. Thank you so much for having me here on this auspicious celebration of literature. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here. I truly am.

[Sheena Shay]

There is no better guest than you for this high art we are going to dissect. Now, on the scale of literature to merch, where do you think this book lands? Merch being a zero, literature being a 10.

[Ben Mandelker]

I love that scale. First and foremost, that is a great question. The sassy gay in me wants to say, of course, 10. This is literature.

[Sheena Shay]

This is.

[Ben Mandelker]

But, you know, realistically, I guess this is probably. It's probably like a four. It's probably. Or three. I don't know. It's hard to say because there's something to be said for a conversational tone. It's actually not very easy to achieve in a book. And there's something about this book that just feels like Sheena just sat down and started telling you stories about her life. And so I'm gonna give it. Let me give it a 3. On the scale of literature to merch. It's more on the merch side, but, like, there's some storytelling qualities here.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, I would say it's definitely on the merch side, but merch I would buy. Yeah, you know, like, it was a really fun romp. There's some dark stuff in here, but you wouldn't know it given the tone.

[Ben Mandelker]

The dark stuff, it creeps up on you. As in you think you're just in for a little bit of patter and then suddenly a boom. A very dark moment happens and you're like, wait, where did that come from? It just is like an aside and then we just move on.

[Sheena Shay]

Boom. We're in a Hooters lawsuit. I mean, yeah, things are coming in left and right. I want to read page two. She said, if you're reading this book, you've probably seen a very specific side of me. We are calling in the title here. Maybe it's the 20 something year old girl in the tabloids with John mayer or the 26 year old girl being picked on at her new serving gig. Maybe you've seen me as a loyal friend or a bad friend or a pick me. Maybe you've followed my motherhood journey. Maybe you cheered for me at the downfall of my first marriage or cried happy tears with me at my wedding to my second husband. Whatever side you think you know, I want to welcome you. This book will show you all sides of me, including my dreaded right angles. How do you think she sums that up of like the impression people might have of Sheena Shay going into this book?

[Ben Mandelker]

I love that sort of intro. Like, here are all the different sides of Shina Shea that you think you've seen, but guess what? We're gonna peel back a layer and you're gonna see more predictable sides of me. Like, it's like we're just gonna see more of all. Everything I just detailed. We don't really get into new sides of Sheena. I would say. I would not call this to. I'm not saying this is a very eye opening or like introspective story. We don't like have a lot of self reflection, but we see the sides. We see Sheena for sure. This is what Sheena's all about, you know?

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. It's not introspection, but there is explaining, which I think is my favorite part of the book. Because she'd be like, listen, here's why I did this. And she tells you why and you're like, that makes no sense. Like, if that's why you did it, that's fine. But like, how is your brain calculating decisions? Because these decisions don't make sense when you say them back.

[Ben Mandelker]

This is like diary of a people pleaser because that's her whole thing. That's the extent of her introspection. Anytime she does something. She'll just say, but I was just, you know, I'm such a people pleaser. I just had to do it. I didn't want to go sleep with him, but I'm a people pleaser. I didn't want to let him down. Like, she doesn't think, like, why am I a people pleaser? Or what contributes to this? You sort of think that she's going to have a moment late in the book where she realizes she doesn't have to be a people pleaser anymore. That's going to be like the arc. But she doesn't. She's just like, no, I'm a people pleaser.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And literally at the end of the book, she's like, people don't have to like me. I've come to that. But I do need people to understand me. And I said, oh, no. Because also, all the explanations. I'm also, like, not understanding everything. And so then, yeah, there's not a real arc here of, like, I don't understand all the people pleasing. And this really can be highlighted in her birth story, which you might have known, but I came to Vanderpump Rules late. I came in at Scandival and then, of course, I watched every. I watched it backwards. I went Scandival the previous season. The previous season it was, oh, wow.

[Ben Mandelker]

You really mementoed it. So that's fascinating.

[Sheena Shay]

I love mementoing certain shows. It just makes it more fun for me. And listen, Scandival had been spoiled, right. So I was like, let's go into this like a puzzle. But my perception of Sheena, I think, is a little off. So I really need you to weigh in because I didn't know her birth story, which is that her mom is sleeping with two guys. Love this origin story.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

Ron and Raul. And she's like, you know, listen, I'm living my life. I'm having the best time. And she gets pregnant with Raul. And she was like, oh, my gosh, I'm pregnant. And Raul's like, I don't want a child. And Ron, not the father, says, I would love to marry you and raise this child with you. Beautiful, right?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

But then Sheena is like, so Isn't that beautiful? Raul was kind of around, but Ron is my actual dad because he was prepared. Raul just kind of like, off. But it was, like, still sweet of him. Just kind of be around sometimes. She's like, has no pain about it. I'm like, interesting. Then she's like, oh, by the way, Ron and my mom didn't Even live together till I was in the fifth grade. Because Ron was living at home with his parents.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

In a mansion. In a mansion.

[Ben Mandelker]

This was not ever discussed on Vanderpump Rules. If it was, it was like a brief anecdote. It's just, like, not really a big part of Sheena's lore, you know, it's just. We know. I think we knew that she had some Mexican heritage in her because, like, one thing that she mentions in passing in the book is that she has famous enchiladas. Because at one point she's like, I was at Kristen's house and I was making my famous enchiladas. And yet it's odd that she doesn't actually give any context to those famous enchiladas, which is sort of like one of her things that she's tried to make happen over the years. She doesn't say, this is how I learned the enchiladas. My mom sat me down and I learned how to make this dish, and it ties me back to my childhood. She just has enchiladas. So we've always assumed. We. I think she has said that she is, like, part Mexican, so that's really the extent of it.

[Sheena Shay]

Her father's Mexican.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes, but we don't know about that. She had a stepfather who also didn't live with her mom until she was, you know, however old she was. Fifth grade or something like that.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And he's a white guy.

[Ben Mandelker]

Dutch, specifically.

[Sheena Shay]

Yes. And you're so right about the enchiladas, because you're like, did Raul give them to you? Did an aunt? Did a distant cousin? She. I really feel for her because she clearly has a lot of identity issues and doesn't know it. She's like, not know it, does not know it. And listen, I really feel for identity issues. And when you are not raised with the parent who represents the cultural side of you, like, that really fucks you over. And, like. Like, I'm sure she was trying to constantly assimilate with, like, white girls in shitty bars all over la, right. And was just, like, not paying attention. But, yeah, you can feel it in the book. It's like, Sheena, you've been.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. And, well, she does mention in her sort of, like, origin story that she was not quite Mexican enough to hang out with the Mexican girls in school and, like, not quite white enough to hang out with the white girls. So she was sort of in this weird place. But the thing is that all of her childhood stories, like, whatever trauma that's in there in Terms of getting bullied or whatever. She just sort of always kind of just says, well, I was a people pleaser, so, you know, I was just trying to make friends with people, and then they beat me up. But I didn't want to burden my mom with it because she was doing a lot of stuff. Like, she was working hard for us to have a happy life. So I didn't want to burden her with the fact that I was being bullied because I'm a people person.

[Sheena Shay]

I know. And it's like, it's. That's a lot of stuff. Like, that's intense stuff. Like you're being bullied so hard, but you can't even tell your mom. And you know what I mean? Because your mom is so burdened. That's a lot. And then she writes this sentence, Overall, I had a really great and happy childhood. And then. And that's the end. And I was like, okay, sure. Listen, I love that for you, even though your parents lived apart until you were in fifth grade, and you're like, isn't that weird? And it's like, wait, what? Go back. Say more.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. And then she's like, I was, like, basically an only child, but then I found out that my parents were gonna be having another child. And I was like, I was so happy about it. I mean, I did, like, you know, throw myself into the bathtub and have, like a full on tantrum and when I was, you know, 14. But I was totally happy. And I was. I was. I was, you know, totally down with it.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. It's also when I was getting supremely bullied and was isolated from my family and was going through one of the darkest periods of my life. But I was really happy.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. But it was actually kind of amazing because the way that this is clearly all channeled is into, you know, a supreme desire to be famous, specifically to be an MTV vj.

[Sheena Shay]

Like, which I do think was the perf that was. I'm so happy. She wasn't like, I wanted to be on stage. No. You knew you were supposed to be a vj. That was nice.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. She just wanted to be on trl. And she was like, I want to escape the madness of my childhood, which I was very happy in, but I still wanted to escape it and just become really famous and be accepted by the masses.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then what I did love about this book is she's like, great, childhood's over. Now I'm applying to work at Hooters. Okay. This feels like a good time to take a Quick break. Okay, let's dive back into the episode. But it was this crazy story where she's like, I was in college. I needed lots of money. I heard I could get that at Hooters. Sick. I applied for the job. This guy, I believe his name is Juan, is, like, great. You know, the restaurant's still being built, but, like, I'm gonna need you to try on the uniform alone in my trailer later tonight so that I can see if you're hot enough to be a Hooters waitress. And this being, I think, 1999, she was like, great. Makes sense usually what men do, because.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm a people pleaser. I didn't want to say no. So she does it, and it turns out that he has a secret camera.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And he takes pictures because he's like, change right here so that the construction crew doesn't see you. And. And, yeah. And then he has pictures of her. She finds out when the feds knock on her door, and they're like, hey, we've discovered something, like, 183 images of Hooters waitress applicants on, like, Juan's phone. So thank God this got outed. And she joins the lawsuit. She joins this giant lawsuit, taking down this man and speaking out for what happened, which I think was especially tense, because back then, especially, but still, now, it's sort of like, well, you wanted to work at Hooters. Like, what'd you expect? Slut. I'm sure that's what Perez Hilton's headline was. Stupid slut wanted to work at Hooters. What did she expect?

[Ben Mandelker]

Slutty slut. Slut get slutted on the Internet. What a surprise. But the funny thing is, this is, like, a terrible thing that happened. This was a huge violation of privacy and so many other things. And, like, Sheena's takeaway was, like. And I was, like, really good with my deposition. So they, like, asked me to be, like, the voice of all the women in this, like, lawsuit. And it was just, like, my natural skill of, like, wanting to be a performer really kicked in, and I was like, I could be a star. It was just so funny. It felt like her takeaway was more like, isn't it cool that I got to be the one that spoke for everyone? Not, like, oh, my God, this was a crazy thing that happened.

[Sheena Shay]

It really was. She was like, you know, not all of the girls, like, felt comfortable and they felt ashamed, but, like, I was good at talking, so I was going to stand up for us. And it's like, I'm so. I'M so glad, and I'm so glad someone stood up for you. Are you okay? You're skipping the part where, like, this happened to you and going to the part where, like, she was kind of famous and known as, like, the Hooters girl, But you can tell she enjoyed it.

[Ben Mandelker]

She's like, I got a call from Gloria Allred. Like, she was, like, name dropping. Who she got to talk to from the case.

[Sheena Shay]

I think it was her first taste of fame. And she was like, great, I'm on the right path. I want more of that. It's kind of this wonderful thing where, like, going through a horrific public court case about being assaulted, like, that destroys you. Having that happen to you destroys you. But Sheena Teflon, you know what I mean? It's sort of like, I'm kind of happy. I'm like, this is great. I'm so glad you're seemingly unaffected by this.

[Ben Mandelker]

That was, like, the moment when I was reading this. And this may actually give it another tick towards literature.

[Sheena Shay]

It's going to four, four points.

[Ben Mandelker]

Because when I was reading this, I was like, someone has to option this and turn this into a movie. This is a comedy. This is reminded me of, like, To Die for with Nicole Kidman. A little bit of election. A little bit of, like, Legally Blonde. Like, there is something so plucky about her lack of sort of not introspection. Well, introspection, but the way that she is so Teflon about these crazy things. And her takeaway is just like, wow, like, my road to fame has just gotten that much easier for me. Like, it's just. It's wild, but it's hilarious.

[Sheena Shay]

And it also somehow wasn't. As we're talking about it, I'm like, this feels, like, so offensive. But it wasn't written like that. Like, again, there might be a lot of pain there, but it was just written as sort of like, it was really nice that, like, it didn't hurt me to speak out, so I did.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, the entire chapter, by the way, is phrased in this really weird way because I think the one preceding it may have been when she was in college, you know, at Azusa Pacific, you know, university. And then the next one was like, I just moved out to la. But this chapter starts with her being like, wait, you guys, before I tell you about, like, life in la, I gotta tell you this crazy story that happened to me. This is the crazy. Do you think it's gonna be like, I bought a car and the person who sold me the car turns out that their grandfather came over on the same boat as my grandfather. She sets it up like, this is gonna be a crazy, hilarious small world story. And it's like, I was part of this lawsuit where basically a guy, you know, had a hidden camera on all of us and had took, like, secret nudie photos. And I was so good that they had me speak to everyone, and the Gloria Allred called me. And you're like, wait, what? What is happening?

[Sheena Shay]

I know, I know. And it's. It is a little bit like the Bachelor where they're like, tell us your deepest story. And you're like, well, it's this. You know what I mean? Like, it's in the part of the memoir where it's like, you know, what happened to you growing up? And it is. It is the Hooters lawsuit. So I do love that we catch up to the stories we know about, because on page 31, she meets Eddie. I first laid eyes on Eddie Cibrian a few months later when he stepped off the elevator at the cigar lounge where he played poker on Tuesday nights. If you were to ask me when I was growing up what my exact type was to a T, it was Eddie. Tall, dark, and handsome with dimples. He never wore a wedding ring, so I assumed he was single. I didn't know that he was famous either, partly because I never thought to look him up. I had a Palm Trio, only the hottest phone of 2006, but it also didn't have an Internet browser on it, and I didn't even own a laptop. I would go to the Internet cafe on Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue to use their wi fi when I needed to check my email for auditions. I wasn't concerned with googling this hot guy who said he was an actor in la. Do you know how many hot guys in LA were and still are actors? A lot. And I didn't recognize him, so I figured he couldn't be that famous. Okay, question for you. Do you. Do you believe it?

[Ben Mandelker]

I think I do, because the ongoing theme of this book is Sheena just taking everything at face value. Because really, everything in this book is at face value. Right? Like, it's just like, that could have.

[Sheena Shay]

Been a great title.

[Ben Mandelker]

This is what happened. Face value.

[Sheena Shay]

At face value.

[Ben Mandelker]

At face value, 100%. It could have been, because that's just sort of her thing. It's like, well, he told me this and I believed him. So we did it. And it turned out he was lying. You know, like, everything is just like a. She's kind of sort of surprised by all these twists of fate that probably could have been easily avoidable if she just did, like, the most basic amount of research. Also the fact that she referenced the Internet cafe at Hollywood Lambrea. I had forgotten about that Internet cafe. But when she said that, I was like, oh, my God, I just got taken back all the way to 2005. It is weird that she didn't look him up. What I get from Sheena with this book is that she lives life with her blinders on. And so, like, someone like me, I'm always gonna look up people. Cause I love doing that. Like, who is this person? Who am I about to talk to? But I think what we see from her childhood is, like, there was so much chaos going there that I think she had to develop blinders just to be able to survive the noise and the bullying and all that stuff.

[Sheena Shay]

I think that's exactly right. I also remember finding out who Eddie Cibrian was when the affair broke. Like, I had no idea who he was. He was on a soap. So I actually really do buy that. She was like. Like, if you and me, you know, the research queens aren't gonna look him up in 2006, I'm sure she's not going to.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, I remember Eddie Superann from that soap because I think I was in high school when that soap was airing. And as a young closeted male, to be able to, like, turn on the TV and it was called, like, Sunset beach or something, I think. And he was just. I mean, he was hot. And like, those episodes where he was shirtless, it was just like, that's what you looked forward to. You're just, like, waiting. You're like, please be shirtless. And he was dreamy. He was super, super dreamy. But he was never, like, a super famous actor. He never really, like, broke through. I think if his career was happening now, I think he would have been afforded many more opportunities. But I think back in, like, 1999 or so, he just was a hot guy who you may have recognized from.

[Sheena Shay]

Somewhere that makes sense. I also buy it because on page 33, like, as she's with Eddie on Only on Tuesdays, everyone, she's like, that's when I started seeing Jesse Metcalf. And his fame really blew Eddie's fame away in that year. So I can hear being like, this guy's trash. I'm also fucking Jesse Metcalf. And their first date is when he takes her post rehab. He's just gotten out of rehab, and he's like, hey, want to Go on a date with me to the Cloverfield red carpet movie premiere. She must have been shitting herself.

[Ben Mandelker]

That was the most 2008 anecdote of all time. Jesse Macal took me to the Cloverfield red carpet.

[Sheena Shay]

And then she's like, jesse, play the guitar and serenade me with songs like, hey there, Delilah. I thought I was living a real life fantasy with this guy. I'd watched on TV and in movie for years.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, the. That was such a hilarious little detour with Jesse Metcalf. She probably thought, like, okay, Eddie Sabrian, some sort of, like, soap actor, like, whatever. It doesn't really matter. Part of me wonders if she's in this mindset of, like, if I have to look him up to find out who he is, he's not famous enough to be worth looking up. Whereas Jesse Metcalf. I don't have to look him up because I know exactly who he is. So she gets a taste of, like, that Desperate Housewives fame, and she's, like, excited.

[Sheena Shay]

And she loves being close to fame. She loves fame. So, like, I think had both of those men gotten on their knee and proposed to her, she'd be like, Jesse Metcalf. So, you know, she's like, of course. And. But she just. She's continuing to sleep with Eddie until one night this guy comes over to her and he's like, hey, seems like things are getting serious. You know, he's married, right? And she's like, no. He's taken me to restaurants, paparazzi, has, like, taken pictures of us. He never wears a wedding ring. And I've hung out with, like, all of his guy friends because they were, like, all keeping their secrets of their mistresses for each other.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. But by the way, I also. I just want to rewind a little bit. Like, Perez Hilton was a thing at this time. TMZ had just recently been established. This was not like the dark ages of the Internet. So as much as she's like, I didn't really have much Internet, yada, yada yada. It wasn't inaccessible. I mean, I was blogging at that time. I was doing TV blogging in 2006. So, like, we were looking people up. I'm. When I moved to LA in 2001, I had a very Shina shade, like, origin story where I, for like, one brief second was friends with Jan Gian, the cheerleading man from Bring It On. And I was so excited. I destroyed that relationship. I was so excited. I called him, like, every single day to hang out. And then eventually, like, he Stopped returning my calls. But for a moment, though, he introduced me to his friends, and they were all, like, young up and coming actors who went on to do random things and I would look all them up. So, I mean, again, I'm a. I'm a research girly, so it's not out of my style, but it's not like, it's not unheard of. Like, there's. There is a little bit of, like, a side eye. Like when someone says to Sheena, hey, by the way, this guy is married, it's weird that she doesn't, like, look that up.

[Sheena Shay]

You're right. You're right. And I think I'm giving her. I'm not even gonna say I'm giving her grace. It's that Sheena doesn't seem that with it, even in her most with it moments. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, when she's like, I just didn't look him up. I'm like, I do believe that from you because I don't think you looked stuff up.

[Ben Mandelker]

I think she's in denial. I think she's someone. And on. On Vanderpump Rules, her Persona is definitely someone who has a vision of what she wants her life to be and what she wants her future to be. And she lives in that fantasy. And she really is gonna, like, do and ignore the things that are going to threaten that fantasy. And if that means, like, looking up whether or not Eddie Cibrian is married, then, like, so be it.

[Sheena Shay]

I think that's exactly it. She wrote in that moment. So she goes up to Eddie and she's like, I'm a people pleaser. I couldn't ask him if he was married. I texted him, does something belong on your left finger? Which is like, it's the same question. Nope. But whatever.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's not any different.

[Sheena Shay]

Like, of course not. Why would you ask me that? How dare you? In that moment, as an intelligent human being, did a part of me think he was lying? Of course. However, I had this gorgeous, charming man standing in front of me, promising me that he was choosing me. I was young, maybe even a little naive, hoping for the best. I was also drunk. And drunk me told myself to believe him. We then had sex, which I didn't remember until I called him to confirm the next day. I also reconfirmed that he was separated from his wife, Brandy. When he said yes, I agreed to give it another go. We started hanging out again at the end of 2008. And so, yeah, it's just because we're like, I want to believe this because I like being with him. And also, she's 23.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. And I do believe that he sold her lies. I do believe he said, no, no, no. What you read? Like, we're actually separated. I mean, that's very classic, right? Like, yeah, we are married, but like, the relationship's been over for many years. Blah, blah, blah.

[Sheena Shay]

This man is pulling it off with Brandi, Leann Rimes, and Sheena, which means there was at least six more. He's a high old cheater. Okay? This man's got the aame. And also Sheena is, you know, she says one night we were on vacay. His phone was on the hot tub, the edge of the hot tub. Dangerous. And I saw it light up with a name I recognized. I said, leanne Rimes is calling you. And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're just like co stars in this movie. So she's just calling to like, talk about character work.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

And she's like, okay, great. Then she says, a month later, in March 2009, on St. Patrick's Day, when I had plans with Eddie and his best friend to visit my friend Stacy at work. Stacy was the bartender on the Hills. We were all gonna hang out after. But before we met up, I got a call from Eddie's best friend saying Eddie wasn't gonna make it. I thought, why? What now? When I questioned him, his best friend shared the news that the following morning, Eddie's affair with Leann Rimes was going to be on the COVID of US Weekly. So he sends his best friend to be like, oh, by the way, like, he's been cheating on you too. He can't come to Stacy's.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. And by the way, I also love, in the middle of the story, she's like, let me just name drop Stacy. Like, in case you don't know who Stacy is, she was on the Hills. So everyone just like pause and reflect on that for one moment before we go further on with this scandal that I'm part of.

[Sheena Shay]

I know, but also makes sense because it's like, yeah, you were just like of reality tv, weird world long before you ever walked in front of those cameras. Well, then she's like, the only time I spoke to Eddie after that is when his friend, again, bro code, you sick fucks, contacted me on a three way phone call to ask if I could do Eddie a favor, meet with Eddie's lawyer and go on the record saying he'd never cheated on Leanne with Sheena. Which is crazy because now he's like, tied his bag to Leanne, and Leanne's like, wait, were you other people and not me? And he's like, like, no, never, never calls up Sheena. He's like, hey, will you sign this legal document saying I never cheated on the woman with all the money who I'm going to try and be with? And Sheena says, okay, sure, I'll do it.

[Ben Mandelker]

People pleaser. Yeah, silly me. I went and signed it to Beverly.

[Sheena Shay]

Hills and signs that shit.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. And then didn't they have sex afterwards?

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm glad she's saying it in the book. To which I say, I guess there was not an NDA with whatever you signed. That's nice.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

Now, I think also Sheena doesn't care because she's like, okay, then I'm gonna fuck John Mayer and immediately is having sex with John Mayer. And then the next page is like, okay, did John Mayer and Eddie overlap? Yes, but I wasn't exclusive with Eddie, so it was fine. So I think when all this comes out, like, she doesn't care. She's currently having sex with someone even more famous than Jesse Metcalf.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. And in fact, by the way, like, so much of this. Of this book are aside to say, I mean, which was fine because we weren't exclusive. And she even says it about her mom. She's like, well, yeah, my mom was seeing two people, Raul and Ron. But it was fine because they weren't exclusive. Everything is about. But it's fine. They weren't exclusive. That's an ongoing theme in the story. But it is impressive that she went up John Mayer. John Mayer circa 2009. That was arguably peak. John Mayer. That was when he was still had songs on the radio that were like.

[Sheena Shay]

Did he have the time. Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston, Sheena Shay, Katy Perry, Ricki Lake. These are just the ones we know.

[Ben Mandelker]

Ricky Lake.

[Sheena Shay]

Okay, now here. Yeah. Here's the crazy tie in with this book. Okay. So she's like, John and I were, like, sleeping together all the time. He was also coming to the cigar club, right. Then one of Sheena's friends, like, told the tabloids that they were dating and John never wanted to see her again. Cause John's, like, really private, right? And so then she never got to see him again. John, one night in Ricki Lake's memoir is like, I've always loved you. You've always been the most perfect woman. I've always wanted to fuck You. And Ricky Lake is what Ricky Lake has, like, just Gone on some insane diet and is like, me. Who? Me? And then she's like, I'm in love with you. And then she tells her friend who's npr, and John is like, you've betrayed me. I'll never talk to you again. And in the book, Ricky Lake is like, I felt so horrible. I'm so sorry, John. I didn't know. And I'm like, oh, this little bitch in multiple memoirs is sleeping with women, but is like, but I'm private. You're a stupid whore for telling people it's over. It's like, yeah, because the other 30 women will find out.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, that's exactly right. This is like classic fuckboy behavior. This is like the equivalent of saying, like, I just want to take things slow. Right? Which is. And then the moment you tell your publicist, it's like, oh, you're crazy. She's crazy Right now. He was just looking for an out on the. In both relationships, just, you know, why are you dating so many high profile women if you don't want. If you want to keep it private? Why aren't you. Why aren't you dating, like, a kindergarten teacher or something? Or just, like, someone who works in marketing?

[Sheena Shay]

It is like. It's the equivalent of like, oh, I'm not really on Instagram, so, like, don't tag me. Or I'm not really on Instagram. So, like, everything's like, locked. And I'm not gonna follow you back because I don't care about social media. It's like, oh, you're a cheater.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

[Sheena Shay]

So. Okay, can we.

[Ben Mandelker]

Can I say something? Yes. I'm sorry. I know. You know, I know we already talked about Jesse Metcalf, but I was so amused by the Jesse Metcalf section. It was very brief, but I was amused at how, like, even for Sheena. And I adore Sheena. I just want to say I adore Sheena's come on to our show. She's so sweet, she's so lovely. But I. I'm amused that even for Sheena, how vapid the Jesse Metcalf section is. She has this whole thing where she's like, I remember one time we went to karaoke, and since he was just out of, like, rehab, I was drinking Red Bulls all night long just for him. So you think, oh, God, they had a fight and she's gonna say something like. And to think that I stayed sober for this guy. And then, like, that's the end of the story. And I say, I drank Red Bulls.

[Sheena Shay]

For him that night and I was a sacrifice because it was her birthday. She was like, that is a massive sacrifice for him. It was my birthday and I stayed sober.

[Ben Mandelker]

I was like, thank you for including the story about how you drank Red Bulls instead of anything else that night. That added extra depth to this.

[Sheena Shay]

Thank you so much for bringing that up on the literature scale. Let's take her to 4.5.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know it was really this interesting fabric here.

[Sheena Shay]

I'm actually going to give her maybe a whole nother point. Great for literature from this paragraph alone. Okay, this feels like a good time to take a quick break. Okay, let's dive back into the episode on WhatsApp. No one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want, like that dream house or ride, is a great feeling. That's why the State Farm Personal Price Plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home in auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Are you ready to dairy free your mind this summer? Melt away your dairy free expectations with so delicious dairy free frozen desserts. Enjoy mind blowing flavors like salted caramel, cluster, chocolate cookies and cream cookie dough and more. For over 35 years, so delicious has been cranking up the flavor with show stopping products that are 100% dairy free, certified vegan by Vegan Action, and are so unbelievably creamy your taste buds will do a double take. Dairy free your mind. Visit sodeliciousdairyfree.com not all meals are created equal. For instance, breakfast has the spicy egg McMuffin for a limited time and lunch doesn't McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'd have been born just plain white trash.

[Sheena Shay]

Okay, let's dive back into the episod. But it was this crazy story where she's like I was in college. I needed lots of money. I heard I could get that at Hooters. Sick. I applied for the job. This guy, I believe his Name is Juan is, like, great. You know, the restaurant's still being built, but, like, I'm gonna need you to try on the uniform alone in my trailer later tonight so that I can see if you're hot enough to be a Hooters waitress. And this being, I think, 1999, she was like, great. Makes sense usually what men do, because.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm a people pleaser. I didn't want to say no. So she does it, and it turns out that he has a secret camera.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And he takes pictures because he's like, change right here so that the construction crew doesn't see you. And. Yeah. And then he has pictures of her. She finds out when the feds knock on her door, and they're like, hey, we've discovered something, like, 183 images of Hooters waitress applicants on, like, Juan's phone. So thank God this got outed and she joins the lawsuit. She joins this giant lawsuit taking down this man and speaking out for what happened, which I think was especially tense, because back then, especially. But still now, it's sort of like, well, you wanted to work at Hooters. Like, what'd you expect? Slut. I'm sure that's what Perez Hilton's headline was. Stupid slut wanted to work at Hooters. What did she expect?

[Ben Mandelker]

Slutty slut, Slut get slutted on the Internet. What a surprise. But the funny thing is, this is, like, a terrible thing that happened. This was a huge violation of privacy and so many other things. And, like, Sheena's takeaway was, like. And I was, like, really good with my deposition, so they, like, asked me to be, like, the voice of all the women in this, like, lawsuit. And I was just, like, my natural skill of, like, wanting to be a performer really kicked in, and I was like, I could be a star. It was just so funny. It felt like her takeaway was more like, isn't it cool that I got to be the one that spoke for everyone? Not, like, oh, my God, this was a crazy thing that happened.

[Sheena Shay]

It really was. She was like, you know, not all of the girls, like, felt comfortable and they felt ashamed, but, like, I was good at talking, so I was gonna stand up for us. And it's like, I'm so. I'm so glad, and I'm so glad someone stood up for you. Are you okay? You're skipping the part where, like, this happened to you, going to the part where, like, she was kind of famous and known as, like, the Hooters girl, But you can tell she enjoyed it.

[Ben Mandelker]

She's like, I got a call from Gloria Allred. Like, she was like, name dropping. Who she got to talk to from the case.

[Sheena Shay]

I think it was her first. First taste of fame. And she was like, great, I'm on the right path. I want more of that. It's kind of this wonderful thing where, like, going through a horrific public court case about being assaulted, like, that destroys you. Having that happen to you destroys you. But Sheena Teflon, you know what I mean? It's sort of like, I'm kind of happy. I'm like, this is great. I'm so glad you're seemingly unaffected by this.

[Ben Mandelker]

That was, like, the moment when I was reading this. And this may actually give it another tick towards literature.

[Sheena Shay]

Mm. It's going to four, four points.

[Ben Mandelker]

Because when I was reading this, I was like, someone has to option this and turn this into a movie. This is a comedy. This is reminded me of, like, To Die for with Nicole Kidman. A little bit of election, A little bit of, like, Legally Blonde. Like, there is something so plucky about her lack of sort of not introspection. Well, introspection, but the way that she is so teflon about these crazy things. And her takeaway is just like, wow, like, my road to fame has just gotten that much easier for me. Like, it's just. It's wild, but it's hilarious.

[Sheena Shay]

And it also somehow wasn't. As we're talking about it. I'm like, this feels, like, so offensive. But it wasn't written like that. Like, again, there might be a lot of pain there, but it was just written as sort of like, it was really nice that, like, it didn't hurt me to speak out, so I did.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, the entire chapter, by the way, is phrased in this really weird way because I think the one preceding it may have been when she was in college, you know, at Azusa Pacific, you know, university. And then the next one was like, I just moved out to la. But this chapter starts with her being like, wait, you guys, before I tell you about, like, life in la, I gotta tell you this crazy story that happened to me. This is the crazy. Do you think it's gonna be like, I bought a car and the person who sold me the car turns out that their grandfather came over on the same boat as my grandfather? It's all. She sets it up like, this is gonna be a crazy, hilarious, small world story. And it's like, I was part of this lawsuit where basically a guy, you know, had a hidden camera on all of us and had took, like, secret nudie photos. And I was so good that they had me speak to everyone. And the Gloria Allred called me. And you're like, wait, what. What is happening?

[Sheena Shay]

I know, I know. And it's. It is a little bit like the Bachelor, where they're like, tell us your deepest story. And you're like, well, it's this. You know what I mean? Like, it's in the part of the memoir where it's like, you know, what happened to you growing up? And it is. It is the Hooters lawsuit. So I do love that we catch up to the stories we know about, because on page 31, she meets Eddie. I first laid eyes on Eddie Cibrian a few months later when he stepped off the elevator at the cigar lounge where he played poker on Tuesday nights. If you were to ask me when I was growing up what my exact type was to a T, it was Eddie. Tall, dark, and handsome with dimples. He never wore a wedding ring, so I assumed he was single. I didn't know that he was famous either, partly because I never thought to look him up. I had a palm tree o only the hottest phone of 2006, but it also didn't have an Internet browser on it, and I didn't even own a laptop. I would go to the Internet cafe on Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue to use their wi fi when I needed to check my email for auditions. I wasn't concerned with Googling this hot guy who said he was an actor in la. Do you know how many hot guys in LA were and still are actors? A lot. And I didn't recognize them, so I figured he couldn't be that famous. Okay, question for you. Do you. Do you believe it?

[Ben Mandelker]

I think I do, because the ongoing, like, theme of this book is Sheena just taking everything at face value. Because really, everything in this book is at face value. Right? Like, it's just.

[Sheena Shay]

That could have been a great title.

[Ben Mandelker]

This is what happened. Face value.

[Sheena Shay]

Face value.

[Ben Mandelker]

At face value. A hundred percent it could have been, because that's just sort of her thing. It's like, well, he told me this, and I believed him, so we did it, and it turned out he was lying. You know, like, everything is just like a. She's kind of sort of surprised by all these twists of fate that probably could have been easily avoidable if she just did, like, the most basic amount of research. Also the fact that she referenced the Internet cafe at Hollywood Lambrea. I had forgotten about that Internet cafe. But when she said that I was like, oh, my God, I just got taken back all the way to 2005. It is weird that she didn't look him up. What I get from Sheena with this book is that she lives life with her blinders on. And so, like, someone like me, I'm always gonna look up people because I love doing that. Like, who is this person? Who am I about to talk to? But I think what we see from her childhood is, like, there was so much chaos going there that I think she had to develop blinders just to be able to survive the noise and the bullying and all that stuff.

[Sheena Shay]

I think that's exactly right. I also remember finding out who Eddie Cibrian was, was when the affair broke. Like, I had no idea who he was. He was on a soap. So I do. I actually really do buy that she was like. Like, if you and me, you know, the research queens aren't gonna look him up in 2006, I'm sure she's not going to.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, I remember Eddie Suprian from that soap because I think I was in high school when that soap was airing. And as a young, closeted male, to be able to, like, turn on the TV and it was called, like, Sunset beach or something, I think. And he was just. I mean, he was hot. And like, those episodes where he was shirtless, it was just like, that's what you looked forward to. You're just, like, waiting. You're like, please be shirtless. And he was dreamy. He was super, super dreamy. But he was never, like, a super famous actor. He never really, like, broke through. I think if his career was happening now, I think he would have been afforded many more opportunities. But I think back in, like, 1999 or so, he just was a hot guy who you may have recognized from somewhere.

[Sheena Shay]

That makes sense. I also buy it because on page 33, like, as she's with that Eddie on Only on Tuesdays, everyone, she's like, that's when I started seeing Jesse Metcalf, and his fame really blew Eddie's fame away in that year. So I can hear being like, this guy's trash. I'm also fucking Jesse Metcalf. And their first date is when he takes her post rehab. He's just gotten out of rehab, and he's like, hey, want to go on a date with me to the Cloverfield red carpet movie premiere? She must have been shitting herself.

[Ben Mandelker]

That was the most 2008 anecdote of all time. Jesse Macalf took me to the Cloverfield Red carpet.

[Sheena Shay]

And then she's like, Jesse would play the guitar and serenade me with songs like, hey There, Delilah. I thought I was living a real life fantasy with this guy. I'd watched on TV and in movie for years.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, the. That was such a hilarious little detour with Jesse Metcalf. She probably thought, like, okay, Eddie Sabrian, some sort of, like, soap actor, like, whatever. It doesn't really matter. Part of me wonders if she's in this mindset of, like, if I have to look him up to find out who he is, he's not famous enough to be worth looking up. Whereas Jesse Metcalf. I don't have to look him up because I know exactly who he is. So she gets a taste of, like, that Desperate Housewives fame. And she's, like, excited.

[Sheena Shay]

And she loves being close to fame. She loves fame. So, like, I think had both of those men gotten on their knee and proposed to her, she'd be like, Jesse macaque stuff. So, you know, she's like, of course. And. But she just. She's continuing to sleep with Eddie until one night this guy comes over to her and he's like, hey, seems like things are getting serious. You know, he's married, right. And she's like, no, he's taken me to restaurants, paparazzi, has, like, taken pictures of us. He never wears a wedding ring. And I've hung out with, like, all of his guy friends because they were, like, all keeping their secrets of their mistresses for each other.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. But by the way, I also. I just want to rewind a little bit. Like, Perez Hilton was a thing at this time. TMZ had just recently been established. This was not like the dark ages of the Internet. So as much as she's like, I didn't really have much Internet, yada, yada, yada. It wasn't inaccessible. I mean, I was blogging at that time. I was doing TV blogging in 2006. So, like, we were looking people up. I'm. When I moved to LA in 2001, I had a very Shina Shea, like, origin story where I, for, like, one brief second, was friends with Jan, Jan, the cheerleading man from Bring It On. And I was so excited. I destroyed that relationship. I was so excited. I called him, like, every single day to hang out. And then eventually, like, he stopped returning my calls. But for a moment, though, he introduced me to his friends, and they were all, like, young, up and coming actors who went on to do random things, and I would look all them up. So, I mean, Again, I'm a. I'm a research girly, so it's not out of my style, but it's not like, it's not unheard of. Like, there. There is a little bit of, like, a side eye. Like when someone says to Sheena, hey, by the way, this guy is married, it's weird that she doesn't, like, look that up.

[Sheena Shay]

You're right. You're right. And I think I'm giving her. I'm not even gonna say I'm giving her grace. It's that Sheena doesn't seem that with it, even in her most with it moments. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, when she's like, I just didn't look him up, I'm like, I do believe that from you, because I don't think you looked stuff up.

[Ben Mandelker]

I think she's in denial. I think she's someone. And on. On Vanderpump Rules, her Persona is definitely someone who has a vision of what she wants her life to be and what she wants her future to be. And she lives in that fantasy. And she really is going to, like, do and ignore the things that are going to threaten that fantasy. And if that means, like, looking up whether or not Eddie Cibrian is married, then, like, so be it.

[Sheena Shay]

I think that's exactly it. She wrote in that moment. So she goes up to Eddie and she's like, I'm a people pleaser. I couldn't ask him if he was married. I texted him, does something belong on your left finger? Which is like, it's the same question. Nope. But whatever.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's not any different.

[Sheena Shay]

Like, of course not. Why would you ask me that? How dare you? In that moment, as an intelligent human being, did a part of me think he was lying? Of course. However, I had this gorgeous, charming man standing in front of me, promising me that he was choosing me. I was young, maybe even a little naive, hoping for the best. I was also drunk, and drunk me told myself to believe him. We then had sex, which I didn't remember until I called him to confirm the next day. I also reconfirmed that he was separated from his wife, Brandy. When he said yes, I agreed to give it another go. We started hanging out again at the end of 2008. And so, yeah, it's just because we're like, I want to believe this because I like being with him. And also, she's 23.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. And I do believe that he sold her lies. I do believe he said, no, no, no. What you read like, we're Actually separated. I mean, that's very classic, right? Like, yeah, we are technically married, but, like, the relationship has been over for many years. Blah, blah, blah.

[Sheena Shay]

This man is pulling it off with Brandi, Leanne Rimes, and Sheena. Which means there was at least six more.

[Ben Mandelker]

He's 100.

[Sheena Shay]

Cheater. Okay? This man's got the A game. And also Sheena is, you know, she says, one night we were on vacay. His phone was on the hot tub, the edge of the hot tub. Dangerous. And I saw it light up with a name I recognized. I said, leanne Rimes is calling you. And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah. We're just like co stars in this movie. So she's just calling to like, talk about character work.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

And she's like, okay, great. Then she says, a month later, in March 2009, on St. Patrick's Day, when I had plans with Eddie and his best friend to visit my friend Stacy at work. Stacy was the bartender on the Hills. We were all gonna hang out after. But before we met up, I got a call from Eddie's best friend saying Eddie wasn't gonna make it. I thought, why? What now? When I questioned him, his best friend shared the news that the following morning, Eddie's affair with Leann Rimes was going to be on the COVID of Us Weekly. So he sends his best friend to be like, oh, by the way, like, he's been cheating on you too. He can't come to Stacy's.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. And by the way, I also love, in the middle of the story, she's like, like, let me just name drop Stacy. Like, in case you don't know who Stacy is, she was on the Hills. So everyone just like pause and reflect on that for one moment before we go further on with the scandal that I'm part of.

[Sheena Shay]

I know, but also makes sense because it's like, yeah, you were just like of reality tv, weird world long before you ever walked in front of those cameras. Well, then she's like, the only time I spoke to Eddie after that is when his friend, again, bro code, you sick. Contacted me on a three way phone call. Well, to ask if I could do Eddie a favor, meet with Eddie's lawyer and go on the record saying he'd never cheated on Leanne with Sheena. Which is crazy because now he's like, tied his bag to Leanne. And Leanne's like, wait, were you other people and not me? And he's like, no, never, never calls him Sheena. He's like, hey, will you sign this legal document saying I never cheated on the woman with all the money who I'm going to try and be with. And Sheena says, okay, sure, I'll do it.

[Ben Mandelker]

People pleaser. Yeah, silly me. I went and signed it to Beverly.

[Sheena Shay]

Hills and signs that yes.

[Ben Mandelker]

And then didn't they have sex afterwards?

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm glad she's saying it in the book. To which I say, I guess there was not an NDA with whatever you signed. That's nice.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

Now, I think also, Sheena doesn't care because she's like, okay, then I'm gonna John Mayer. And immediately is having sex with John Mayer. And then the next page is like, okay, did John Mayer and Eddie overlap? Yes, but I wasn't exclusive with Eddie, so it was fine. So I think when all this comes out, like, she doesn't care. She's currently having sex with someone even more famous than Jesse Metcalf.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. And in fact, by the way, like, so much of this. Of this book are asides. I say, I mean, which was fine because we weren't exclusive. And she even says it about her mom. She's like, like, well, yeah, my mom was seeing two people, Raul and Ron. But it was fine because they weren't exclusive. Everything is about. But it's fine. They weren't exclusive. That's an ongoing theme in the story. But it is impressive that she went. John Mayer. John Mayer circa 2009. That was arguably peak. John Mayer. That was when he was still had songs on the radio that were like.

[Sheena Shay]

How did he have the time? Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston, Sheena Shay, Katy Perry. Ricky Lake. These are just. Just the ones we know.

[Ben Mandelker]

Ricky Lake.

[Sheena Shay]

Okay, now here. Yeah. Here's the crazy tie in with this book. Okay? So she's like, john and I were, like, sleeping together all the time. He was also coming to the cigar club, right? Then one of Sheena's friends, like, told the tabloids that they were dating. And John never wanted to see her again because John's, like, really private. Right. And so then she never got to see him again. John one night in Ricki Lake's memoir is like, I've always loved you. You've always been the most perfect woman. I've always wanted to fuck you. And Ricky Lake is. Ricky Lake has, like, just gone on some insane diet and is like, me. Who me? And then she's like, I'm in love with you. And then she tells her friend who's npr, and John is like, you've betrayed me. I'll never Talk to you again. And in the book, Ricki Lake is like, I felt so horrible. I'm so sorry, John. I didn't know. And I'm like, oh, this little bitch in multiple memoirs is sleeping with women. But is like, but I'm private. You're a stupid whore for telling people it's over. It's like, yeah, because the other 30 women will find out out.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, that's exactly right. This is like classic boy behavior. This is like the equivalent of saying, like, I just want to take things slow. Right? Which is. And then the moment you tell your publicist, it's like, oh, you're crazy. She's crazy right now. He was just looking for an out on the. In both relationships, just, you know, why are you dating so many high profile women if you don't want. If you want to keep it private? Why aren't you. Why aren't you dating, like, a kindergarten teacher or something? Or just, like, someone who works in marketing?

[Sheena Shay]

It is like. It's the equivalent of like, oh, I'm not really on Instagram, so, like, don't tag me me. Or I'm not really on Instagram, so, like, everything's like, locked. And I'm not gonna follow you back because I don't care about social media. It's like, oh, you're a cheater.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

[Sheena Shay]

So. Okay, can we.

[Ben Mandelker]

Can I say something? Yeah. I'm sorry. I know. You know, I know we already talked about Jesse Metcalf, but I was so amused by the Jesse Metcalf section. It was very brief, but I was amused at how, like, even for Sheena. And I adore Sheena. I just want to say I adore Sheena's come on to our show. She is so sweet. She's so lovely. But I. I'm amused that even for Sheena, how vapid the Jesse Metcalf section is. She has this whole thing where she's like, I remember one time we went to karaoke, and since he was just out of, like, rehab, I was drinking Red Bulls all night long just for him. So you think, oh, God, they had a fight. And she's gonna say something like, and to think that I stayed sober for this guy. And then, like, that's the end of the story. And I say, I drank Red Bulls.

[Sheena Shay]

For him that night, and I was a sacrifice because it was her birthday. She was like, that is a massive sacrifice for him. It was my birthday and I stayed sober.

[Ben Mandelker]

I was like, thank you for including the story about how you Drank Red Bulls instead of anything else that night. That added extra depth to this.

[Sheena Shay]

Thank you so much for bringing that up on the literature scale. Let's take her to 4.5.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know it was really this interesting fabric here.

[Sheena Shay]

I'm actually going to give her maybe a whole nother point for literature from this paragraph alone. Okay, this feels like a good time to take a quick break. Been born.

[Ben Mandelker]

Just playing.

[Sheena Shay]

Okay, let's dive back into the episode.

[Ben Mandelker]

Oh, and I bet I. I bet I know.

[Sheena Shay]

You know what, you want to read it word for word for me. I have this.

[Ben Mandelker]

I have the page open already. It's page 45. You didn't even have to tell me.

[Sheena Shay]

It is page 45. Okay, please read it.

[Ben Mandelker]

Okay. Should I do it in China voice? I'm going to do voice. I said to myself, okay, Sheena, you've tried dating or at least hanging out and hooking up with all of these celebrities. Jesse Metcalf, Eddie Cibrian, John Mayer, Shemar Moore, Josh Hopkins, Shane West, Jesse McCartney, J.C. chazzay, Adrian Grenier, Ricardo Chavira, William Tell, two actors from the Notebook, and a few NFL, NBA, and MLB players to name a few. And they're not really working out. That was a whole sentence.

[Sheena Shay]

I mean, home run memoir paragraph. She dropped every name she could. And then when their names did nothing to you, she started being like two actors from the Notebook. I know. You know that movie, they don't get names, but they're still on the list.

[Ben Mandelker]

I. I feel bad for those actors. They didn't even. They couldn't even be name dropped. They just were like one of the.

[Sheena Shay]

Guys in page boy hats that. That Ryan Gosling hung out with on his, like, old timey truck when he was working in the town.

[Ben Mandelker]

And William Tell. Wait, what? What? Williamore. I mean, she should have just locked that one down. Yeah, but, like, I don't even know who William Tell is beyond a historical figure.

[Sheena Shay]

Christina just came in to let us know that William Tell is married to Lauren Conrad. And that is the only thing I could get to pull him up. Because when I was googling William Tell otherwise, he was not coming up, but here he is.

[Ben Mandelker]

I just. To me, the clunkiness of this epic name dropped was so great. Basically, she was like, wait, but I have to tell the story about the time that I went on a date with Jesse McCartney. And the editor was like, I think we have to cut that. She's like, but it has to be mentioned. Like, just. Just put in a sentence somewhere.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, she's like, how about J.C. chazzay. And they're like, eh, skip it. I gotta tell you, JC Chazay also having a. A little memoir cameo. It is in. Okay. I'm trying to pull up the name Mary Bonnet from selling Sunset.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

She was just, like, hanging out in Indiana, and J.C. chase is, like, dating a friend of hers, and it's like, what is that? And then when I did that episode, a friend of mine from New Mexico was like, hey, JC Chezas was also dating one of my friends in New Mexico in the mid-2000s. And it's like, this man again. How do you have the time?

[Ben Mandelker]

How do you have the time? You know, I just had bagels with Kiki Monique, who I believe did your Mary Bonnet episode.

[Sheena Shay]

Yes. I love her. Yes.

[Ben Mandelker]

And I told her I'd be doing this book, and she was so excited for me because she said that she did read the epic piece of literature, which was Mary's autobiography. And I just love this bridge between the two books and our friends.

[Sheena Shay]

And our friends. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I just. I loved that sex list. And good for her. Also weird, given who she's gonna end up marrying. But we'll get there. First she gets a dream role. Her big break as pizza girl in the Jonas Brothers music video on the Disney Channel. And she is playing the hot, older pizza delivery girl meeting the Jonas Brothers with their little purity rings on. And, like, that credit follows her around a lot. Like, people will refer to her as, like, the Disney pizza girl.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. And I seem to remember she says that one of the Jonas Brothers was, like, exceedingly professional. She's like, even though he was only 16, he was, like, really professional. And he was, like, like, so impressed with, like, my ability to, like, really, like, get into the character of the pizza girl. It was, like, all those years, like, working with people such as Gloria Allred and J.C. chase really taught me how to get into this role.

[Sheena Shay]

You better do that impression the rest of the episode. I am dying over here. Oh, yeah, you're so. And. And it's just this little paragraph, and then she moves on. Yeah. This is someone who's just looking for a gig on tv. Whatever gig it is, is.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's like, what's unclear is when she tells the story about being pizza girl, is she being, like, tongue and cheek? Like, this is my big break. I got to be pizza girl. Lol. Is there, like a. A hidden LOL there? Or she's sincerely saying, like, and, guys, I got to be pizza girl. They, like, made a song about me.

[Sheena Shay]

I Think it's sincere because they, like, looked at 2, 000 girls, and the Jonas Brothers were like, that one. That was the one piece of girl. And, like, it probably was a honor. Like, oh, my God.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's just like, her drive to be famous and around famous people coming out of West Covina, California, coming from some sort of, like, turbulent but sunny childhood is so impressive and seeing how she actually succeeds, but she does it at, like, the exact. In the exact lane that you'd expect her to be, especially at a time like 2007, 2008, Los Angeles. Like, this was the Los Angeles of the hills and Ledoux and all these things and, like, Perez Hilton and. And Paris Hilton and that she was finding her way through it and succeeding. It's kind of amazing. I love it.

[Sheena Shay]

I totally agree. You know what? Yeah. I think I loved reading this book for paragraphs like this. I'll never forget one night when I showed up with a 102 fever at Pandora's insistence. Now, Pandora is Lisa Vanderpump's daughter. She is working at one of their restaurants. Restaurants. And I was reprimanded for giving Tyler Perry rock shrimp instead of prawns in his pasta, which wasn't even on the menu. Crustacean confusion aside, I don't even know how I made it through my shift. By the way, Tyler Perry is one of the best chippers ever. Typically, he'd leave $200. That night was the lowest he'd ever given me, but it was still 40% of the bill, which was so generous given that I screwed up his pasta. I love knowing that.

[Ben Mandelker]

You know, it's just also. Just the idea that Sheena Shea was waiting on Tyler Perry is just very funny to me. That he was getting some sort of basic shrimp pasta.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. One of Lisa's restaurants. And that, like, Tyler Perry's pretty famously known in the actor community for only working non union, for overworking people, underpaying people, all this stuff. But he is a generous tipper. So I was like, that. I wouldn't have seen it coming. You know what I mean?

[Ben Mandelker]

I feel like I do see it coming because, like, he's known for all those things, and yet there's also this other world where people are like, I wouldn't be working if it weren't for Tyler Perry. So I can't tell if he's extremely generous or if he's a nightmare. And the stories keep coming from all different directions.

[Sheena Shay]

That's a good point. And now he's engaged in the middle of a lawsuit.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. And he's now in his own scandal.

[Sheena Shay]

That's right. Another episode. Okay, so then we get to basically the inception of Vanderpump Rules spinning off from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and I cannot wait to get your take on this. Just overall for the audience, she kind of says that Lisa played it like she didn't know she'd had an affair with Eddie. And with cameras there and Sheena working at sir, Lisa sets her up to go serve Brandy some appetizers, but, like, has no idea and that she then uses that to get a spin off for Vanderpump Rules. Now I just need every angle on this. Was Lisa that coy? Was that all happening? Was Sheena really taken for a ride and the pawn that launched Lisa's franchise?

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, I don't know if it was Sheena. And, like, the situation with Sheena that launched Vanderpump Rules, I don't know if, like, it was greenlit because of the. The Sheena Brandy situation because ultimately that was never, like, a big part of Vanderpump Rules itself. But I do believe that Lisa knew 100 about this situation. Lisa is known for being very, very crafty, and that came out more and more in later seasons. In earlier seasons, she just seemed like she was just this fabulously wealthy lady of Beverly Hills who was sort of above all the fray and just loved to sort of, like, you know, cause the bits of chaos for the poor people below her. Later on, like, it became a repeated thing that people would accuse her of manipulation. And so it does not surprise me at all that Lisa would do something like this. And Sheena is like, the perfect patsy for it because she would be like, okay, I'll go feed her. Because Sheena had to have known who? Brandi. She just. I think she said she knew Brandi was.

[Sheena Shay]

She's like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don't want to go over there. And Lisa comes up and is like, what are you doing? Get back to work. Go serve those three women some shrimp cut cocktail.

[Ben Mandelker]

And of course, Sheena is gonna be like, okay, well, I guess I have to do it.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah.

[Ben Mandelker]

All right.

[Sheena Shay]

And then she does it, and then Brandy says something about her. I mean, it is it. You know, I said it in the intro, but it's like the greatest launch of a spin off reality show ever. And I didn't even realize that until our guest Chris derosa, explained it. So. Okay. Then in the rest of the book, she's also talking about how Lisa would manipulate her. Specifically, you're Assuming it's happening to other castmates, but that she would be like, don't you want to stand up for James? And then, you know, make Sheena stand up for James so that Lisa doesn't have to fire this volatile character on the show. But then, obviously, it creates problems for Sheena. Things like that, where it feels like perhaps she did this to Sheena the most. Because Sheena would just do it.

[Ben Mandelker]

She knows she could. Yeah, because Sheena would do it. I think also getting the daily phone call from Lisa Vanderpump is something that, like, people on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills have often talked about. There's been, like, a pattern of people on that show who would receive the calls from Lisa, and then they would feel like they were being manipulated, and they would stand up to her, and then they'd have a falling out. Like, it happened with Brandy. It happened with Teddy Mellencamp. It happened with Kyle Richards. Happened Lisa Rinna. So this is, like, kind of what she's famous for doing. But Sheena, of course, would just go along with it. But there's part of me that also wonders, you know, Sheena just makes it sound like, oh, yeah, I just went along for the ride. Well, she told me to do it, and I'm a people pleaser. But how much is Sheena aware of making good TV as well, Even going back to serving Brandy back in that first initial scene?

[Sheena Shay]

You're so right. That was actually one of my favorite revelations in the book is scenes where Sheena was like, well, we had to have a good finale so that we could maybe get a second season because I was broke and they canceled my podcast. So basically I announced my wedding so that I could hurt Raquel's feelings. And we made really great tv, and then we took a cab home together, and it's like, oh, yeah. She was just like, sure, I'll. You know what? I'll do something douchey. Let's do it. Let's make a finale.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. There's something about Sheena where she's kind of like a hired gun. Like, just, like, point her in a direction, and she'll just go, and she'll do it. Whatever it takes to, like, keep the money coming in, to keep the fame coming in. And she's just sort of shameless. But she always kind of says, well, but I'm such a people pleaser. And that's why she also has gotten from fans in the past, because, you know, anytime that she's been in the crosshairs for something, she's like, well, I didn't want to do it, but, like, I had to because I'm a people pleaser, and I just didn't want to disappoint anyone.

[Sheena Shay]

And I gotta say, like, reading this book sometimes I was like, yeah, okay. Because nothing else could make sense. So let's go into her marriage to Shay. So she reconnects with Shay with, like, this crazy, crazy roundabout Vegas strippers bachelor story.

[Ben Mandelker]

But, like, revenge.

[Sheena Shay]

Revenge.

[Ben Mandelker]

Like a revenge story.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. Where she's like, I'm gonna revenge. Have sex with this guy's best friend. But then I made a Facebook post about being in Vegas, and then she was like, what's up? And I reconnected, and it was just so nice to be with someone normal and not famous. And they start dating and they get married. And this is what she writes about the wedding. Prior to the wedding, I said to him, please do not drink. I want us to remember this night. I don't want you to be wasted and then pass out drunk. Drunk. He promised me he wouldn't, and I trusted him. That night, I didn't see him indulge at all, so I assumed he was completely sober. And that made me very happy. Seeing Shay honor our big day by abstaining, I began to think our wedding could still be special, despite all the hiccups. Then Shea started acting weird. And basically, slowly over the night, she finds out he's been taking Vicodin or ecstasy or both all night long.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

And every time, she talked about staying with Shay, where basically she'd be like, I opened his account, and he was dming with a porn star. And she was like, come meet me here. And I said, what is this? And he said, nothing. And I said, I want to believe you. Okay? You know? Or she'd be like. And then I found pictures on his phone, but he was like, those aren't mine. I'm just holding it for a friend. And she'd be like, okay, nice. Sounds good. And then she got a little honest, where she said, you know, he started taking money from me, but I wanted us to stay together. And I told everyone he had an addiction, but I didn't tell people about his other problems. But I don't know. You watched how this came out on the show. How was it portrayed with her dealing with Shay and his addiction versus how she wrote about it?

[Ben Mandelker]

I think this all happened right before season six. And I think she says it in the. In the book. It's right around then, so it's like a little. It's been a Little while. I remember she talked about him having issues. I never remember it feeling very central to the storyline that season. I remember it was part of it and, like, he was dealing with sobriety and everything, but she was always sugarcoating it. Everything is fine. But then we knew it wasn't fine. And then they have a divorce. It was not like later seasons of Vanderpump Rules, like the. Like the scandal season, like, where Katie and Tom Schwarz get divorced. And that's like a very, very big center part of the show. So I just remember that they got divorced because. But I don't really remember being very invested in it, so as. Because I wasn't that invested. I don't have vivid memories of, like, how it was portrayed, but I know that people felt like. I seem to remember people thought that she was cruel to him.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And cruel about his addiction.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. But I remember I always felt like I supported her. I was like, no, get rid of this. This guy. Like, he was always kind of like dragging her down in my perception, and it just seemed like, yeah, she needs to move on and. And shine bright like this, like the star she wants to be.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, no, I. I think that's right. And I think when she did play down their other problems, it probably did make her seem cruel how she handled his addiction. I also. Listen, I watched this shit backwards. I have no memory of this marriage. I remember a crop top dress. That's all that stuck.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

But in the book, she, you know, she's going back and forth with him, he's stealing money, she's trying to make it work. And then she was like, okay, we're gonna get back together. So she said, I called him and said, hey, let's film us getting back together for the show. And I don't know why, but it was just such beautiful clarity for me of where her head and many other reality TV stars head is at, which is like, yes, I am genuinely getting back together with my husband. I also know it's important to call production and make sure this is on camera so that I can get paid my day rate for the TV show and create some drama.

[Ben Mandelker]

And also it's like, well, I just dumped him for the TV show, and that's not fair to dump him and then not let the people see, like, the next part of our story. So she's like, I want to make sure everyone sees us come back together again because production had done this for us, so it was important for me to do it. This is actually. I thought that you're like, okay, great. I thought this was the best part of the book, actually. I thought, like, her stories about Shay were actually the most compelling parts because it was kind of riveting to see, like, the lies he was telling. And I think she was not necessarily trying to put a gloss on anything. She was just like, oh, he was doing this to me and this to me. And you're like, wow, I can't believe all the ways he was lying to her and, like, going behind her back. So it was sort of like. It was like a little messy in there. And I found, like, I was a little bit more absorbed in that section than other parts.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, absolutely. And when they go to film the making up scene where she's told production like, hey, we're gonna get back together. I know you. I know the viewers deserve this part of the story. He ends up lying to her about some Adderall he's bought. And on camera she's like, I want a divorce. Like, fuck you. Get out of my life. And all the production is like, wait, what? And that's how the divorce happens. And she calls him and she's like, hey, I have $100,000 in my business account. You can have half if you walk away. And he goes, okay. They walked in, signed the papers, she like Venmoes them $50,000. And then she ends up being like, I truly wish Shay the best. He's such a great guy.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know she has some chapters that she ends like she's finishing a speech and she's just like. And you know, to this day, like, we reconnected and it turns out, like, he's a great guy and I hope he's doing well. It just wasn't the right time for us. I hope. I wish him the best. Have a great day.

[Sheena Shay]

That is exactly. Because I was like, the way she ends it, I'm like, wait, how did you come to this forgiveness? None of this should be okay. Okay. Okay, sure, Sheena. Well, then comes Rob. And so good. Yeah, so she's so into Rob. This was the sentence where I said, oh, my God. She said, I offered to quit Vanderpump rules for him because the show made him uncomfortable. And I was like, that is horrifying. She also wrote that his best friend was Jake Pavelka from the Bachelor.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

Which is the worst, I think is the worst bachelor of all time. That man is really. That man has rocks for a brain. And he flies planes. It's a scary.

[Ben Mandelker]

He was the pilot one. I remember I looked him up when she said it and I was like, I recognize his face. I didn't realize that he was also a pilot. Not to be confused with pilot Peter, right?

[Sheena Shay]

Yes, not to be confused with pilot Peter. Even Chris Harrison in later seasons was like, yeah, Our puppet, Jake Pavelka, like, rough, rough. So that is Rob's best friend. Please tell me, what did you think of the Rob? There wasn't a lot of Rob details for me. But what stood out to you?

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, first of all, I'm surprised that she didn't mention in the book, since she loves to celebrity name drop, that Rob's sister is Amber Valletta, you know, famous model and actress.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes, I enjoyed the Rob part because just the Rob chapter in her life on Vanderpump Rules was so funny because she was just trying to make that happen. She was like, you know what? He's this good looking guy. He's successful, he's an adult. A big thing is that he could hang a TV in seven minutes or less. That was a big signature thing about Rob. She even had the name, like, Madison Marie Parks Valletta, I think was the name she came up with. Her theoretical child. She's like, madison Marie parksvilletta. She's like, I even came up with her name, I think, coming out of Shay. She was like, no, that didn't work out, but I've got a new fantasy and I don't have time to waste. We're gonna dive into it. So hearing her, like, write about Rob is just so hilarious because it's sort of like she tries to act like she has so much hindsight now. Like, well, that was crazy. I was just trying to make it work. And like, one time I went over and like, he was in a fantasy football draft. And then I sat there for like two hours. Then finally I was playing with a dog. And then he broke up with me and I couldn't believe it. So anyway, we were sleeping together again for like the next four or five months.

[Sheena Shay]

I could not believe that story. He had me come over. He was doing his fantasy. He asked me to come over. He did his draft for two hours and then turned to her and said, it's not working out.

[Ben Mandelker]

Everything about this relationship, I mean, was ridiculous. Cause she said the big thing was that they reconnected because they knew each other when they were younger. Because he used to be the door guy at Joseph's back in, like, you know, the early aughts. Joseph's was like a scene. So when she's like, I used to go to Joseph's, like, all the time. And Then, like, Rob was actually, like, a door guy over there. And I became, like, friends with Rob at the door at Joseph's. I was like, that just to me, says so much, because to me, this painted a picture of exactly the circle she ran in at that time. And so, of course, when he comes back into her life, she's taken back to this. This time a few years ago, where she's, like the hottest shit ever, as opposed to where she is now on Vanderpump Rules, which is that she's always been kind of like the run to the litter with, like, Stassi and Kristen and Katie, and she can just sort of like, she's got this guy. It feels serendipitous in the way that. That meeting, like, reconnect with Mikey Shea felt serendipitous. But this time, the serendipity is going to work out. So she's just totally sold on him. And reading about how she tried to protect him with rumors about the Toka Madera girl and everything, it's just so. It's just. It's great.

[Sheena Shay]

Oh, yeah. And also, classic, boy. She's like, hey, the show got wins that maybe you cheated on me. And he was like, that's why your TV show sucks. I can't do this anymore. And it's like, okay, but did you cheat on her?

[Ben Mandelker]

Did you cheat?

[Sheena Shay]

Seems like, yeah, bro. That's a really great way to look at it. The other restaurant she drops as a big night in her life is Craig's, which gives me the same ick. And Craig's is like. Craig's is an Olive Garden, but The pizzas cost 97. And I know that because, oh, I went twice. Both times I went to Craig's, the sharks from Shark Tank were there eating dinner. Wow. Now that is. That's a red flag if I've ever seen one.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

Barbara and Kevin. Well, Sheena, towards the end of the book, and this really said a lot to me, she gets demoted for season eight. And that's when I said, oh, right, this book is for money. This is a book printed because we need money. Cause the show's over now. Because she also gets demoted for season 10. And in the middle of that, she's kind of talking about things like, there was an editor named Bri who went on a podcast and said her favorite thing to do was cut together. Sheena, cringe moment. And the editor got fired.

[Ben Mandelker]

I remember that.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. Which is like, you gotta know that you can't say that on a podcast.

[Ben Mandelker]

You know, you can't say that because, like, I'm sure all the editors are doing that. In fact, all the editors in all these shows are trying to string together all the cringe moments.

[Sheena Shay]

Everyone on Instagram and TikTok is trying to edit that compilation. She also frames it in the book of, like, can you believe how, like, sick and disgusting that is? That, like, someone is actively trying to cut my cringe moments together? And I want to be with her, but I'm like, sheena, it's Vanderpump rules.

[Ben Mandelker]

Like, yeah, she's angrier. She's angry at this person than, like, the series of men who treat her so poorly over the course of this book.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, 100%. And then we get to Brock. I mean, this book is only 200 pages. And she's like, okay, just. I want you to know that my relationship with Brock was launched with three lies. But don't worry, they were really good lies.

[Ben Mandelker]

They were good lies.

[Sheena Shay]

The first lie is that he told her he lost a couple of his fingers by wrestling an alligator. It later comes out that it was like some machinery on the farm he grew up on.

[Ben Mandelker]

Technically a crocodile. I just want you to know. Just want to get the proper animal on the lie.

[Sheena Shay]

Wow, thank you. Thank you. That is important. Someone would have called me on that.

[Ben Mandelker]

Someone would have. I podcasted enough to know that, like, someone's gonna be like, actually, it was a crocodile, cuz.

[Sheena Shay]

Crocodile. No, you're so right. The second lie is that she's like, I'm going to this festival tomorrow night. And he was like, me too, but he was never planning on going to that festival. And I can't remember the third lie. What's the third lie?

[Ben Mandelker]

Okay, the third lie requires us to go back in time a little bit, because in the middle of all this madness, when we just read the whole thing about when she named drop all the celebrities, that was a tee up. A story about how she decided, no more famous people. I'm gonna date a normal person. So she dates a normal guy named Colin, and then Colin winds up cheating on her. And then because he cheats on her, she then that's when she goes to Vegas to then have revenge sex with Colin's best friend, and she gets Mikey Shea. She says the reason why Colin cheated was because he couldn't deal with the pressure of dating someone who dated celebrities. And, like, he wasn't good enough for her. So then she winds up with Mikey Shea, and then they go to Colin's new bar, the Parlor, and then he's, like, very happy for Them. And then she gets a call from Colin saying something to the effect of, like, I wish it had worked out between us. I made a huge mistake, yada, yada, yada. And she's like, okay, whatever. And then she goes. And then he killed himself. Which was one of those moments where it got really dark really quickly. We were not expecting. We thought it was just some other, like, she just sort of prattling on about the guys she slept with. So as a result, she felt so bad about Colin, and she felt bad that when she. When he called her that she didn't see that there was, like, it was a warning sign that he was really depressed, that now she's, like, super sentimental. And every year she drinks a shot of Jameson in Colin's memory because that was, like, what he would pour. They would drink that together. And he also poured Jameson for Shina and Mikey Shea, by the way. Mikey Shea, known as Shay, even though his last name is Shea.

[Sheena Shay]

Like, thank you for clarifying that. Which is also the Shay and Shina Shea. And she became famous as Shina Shea and now still has her ex husband's last name.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. But sometimes she goes by Sheena Marie, but she's Sheena Shay. But anyway, the point is that Jameson, like, a shot of Jameson on this one day in October is, like, a significant thing. So I believe, if I remember, the third lie was like, I'm gonna go downstairs to get some water. And she's like, but I have water here. Why are you going there? We got water on the mini bar. And he's like, no, I'm gonna go down and get some water. But he came back with some Jameson and said, you didn't take your shot for your friend today. So the lie was that he was getting water. He was really getting Jameson.

[Sheena Shay]

That's right. And I. Yeah, it's just that for her was extremely romantic.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

And actually, I do think.

[Ben Mandelker]

Actually, I think that is if that story is true. That is pretty cool that he remembered. I'm gonna give her that.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And it feels extremely true. I think the way it was written is like, I just want to go to bed. I'm really tired. I'm dehydrated. Like, we've been drinking all day. They've been at some festival. And then he comes back and is like, let's do a shot. But, yes, it has a beautiful meaning to it. But I was like, damn, y' all are still gonna. Yeah, you're right.

[Ben Mandelker]

You're right. After this, after this whole festival, we're still gonna do the Shot of Jin.

[Sheena Shay]

Oh, my God. That tells you where. How fucked up my brain is. I was like, damn, aren't you tired? Like, I couldn't believe it. You're right. You're right. Very beautiful. And then there's a whole other saga connected to dating Brock, which is that she meets him at Stagecoach. I began drawing little flags in this book for all anytime I saw a red flag. And there's like 37 red flags in this place. One of them is meeting your man at Stagecoach. And she meets him because she is there with a really fascinating relationship with a girl named Dee. Was Dee ever shown on the show?

[Ben Mandelker]

She may have been. I don't really remember her. You know, there's been various sort of like, side characters and friends that sort of flit her through. She may have been. Was this also at one point, Sheena gets really upset at someone maybe? Oh, I think she gets upset at Rob and she's like. So I decided to get revenge by basically having sex with four different guys from the Bachelorette who all lived in the house together. And then didn't that somehow precipitate this?

[Sheena Shay]

Yes, I didn't really. She slept with him. I thought she was like, I was hanging out with him. You're right. It.

[Ben Mandelker]

Maybe it was winking out. You know, maybe I took it there.

[Sheena Shay]

But no, it was four guys from the Bachelorette. To which I said, who? And then I said, I can never guess. There's a, A, a thousand options all.

[Ben Mandelker]

Up in the house. But I think somehow that led to this festival. I could be wrong, but there was Dee Dee.

[Sheena Shay]

So Dee and her had both gone through breakups. I think hers is with Rob and Dee's with someone else. I think this is also at Stagecoach. Stagecoach is like, wow. Where the Bachelor and reality TV stars make the relationships that spawn a thousand spin offs. And her and Dee bond over being broken up with and hanging out. And then it turns sexual. But what is so. God, it's like she was writing something so nuanced without any of the nuance, which is that her and Didi feel something towards each other and they're making out all the time. They're holding hands. They tell people they're dating, but they can never take it further, I think because of like a hetero prison they're both living in. Yeah, but like, she can't. She, like, Sheena seems like she can't express that and almost wants you to know that, like, she never fucked up her. And it was just kissing. But then, like, I mean, it's just so confusing, because she's like, well, Didi and I, like, obviously we're dating and we make out, but, like, we don't have sex. So, like, are we dating? And, like, am I bisexual? Like, I have no idea. Anyways, I fuck Brock. That was amazing. Then. Then Dee leaves her jacket somewhere, but she really wanted it in Vegas because we had flown to Vegas and Dee Dee needed her special jacket because it was Dee Dee's birthday. And Brock got that jacket and got on a plane and flew Dee Dee her special birthday jacket. And then everyone was so touched that Brock had flown a jacket to Vegas that they said he could hang out for the night, even though it was Dee Dee's night. And I was really annoyed. I mean, this is in the book. I was really annoyed they invited him to hang out because it was Dee Dee's birthday. So, like, I was gonna be making out with Dee Dee, and I was just like, what is going on? What is going on?

[Ben Mandelker]

The other thing is that, like, one thing that Sheena is very famous for is that she always positions herself as, like, the selfless martyr in all of her stories on Vanderpump Rules. And you get the sense that she's positioning herself here as, like, I cared so much about Didi and her birthday, and the last thing I would want would be for this hunky Australian guy to come over here and take away the attention. I didn't want that at all. All. So just know that even though we're not friends anymore, it was really her fault, not mine. Like, that's the implication. Like, she's, like, building her case. She's always building her case as to, like, when there was a falling out. Like, you could see I was the good friend in all these situations. And. And, like, you see that throughout the book. Like, woven through. Like. And I. That's why I thought with the Jesse, what's his Metcalf story? When she's like. And I drank, like, Red Bulls that entire night just for him, I was like, okay, she's building her case about how she was. She was the martyr here. She made the sacrifices, the noble sacrifices. And here's what Jesse did. But then she never really let that shoe fall. But with Dee, I feel like it was implied. Like, hey, Dede, if you're reading this, just know I was being the good friend, and I want to make this night about you, so don't even say that I tried to, like, steal your thunder.

[Sheena Shay]

That is such. That is such a great point. And the added layer to that is, were you Cheating on her at her birthday with Brock. Like, you guys are great, right? You seem to have not been able to have discussed your sexuality because you've only been in straight relationships, and therefore somehow the rules don't apply. But it is her birthday and you're kissing another man. When I think your girlfriends. And then in the book, she's like, I really regret that I wasn't able to express to Dee that I didn't know if I was bisexual or what was happening between us, and therefore I'll never know. Like, she never got to process this side of her because she then starts dating bro Brock, who sees her kissing Dee Dee a week later and is like, you're my girlfriend now. This can never happen again.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. Once they once, like, she and Brock become a fish, then once they become a fish, no more fish for Sheena.

[Sheena Shay]

Oh, my God.

[Ben Mandelker]

You're welcome.

[Sheena Shay]

No more fish because you're a fish. Wow, Ben, that was honestly poetry. I give you a 10.

[Ben Mandelker]

Also, what was poetic was that I feel like so many of these events took place at some sort of festival in Las Vegas where they were releasing Lanterns into the Sky. Sky. And that. That was really beautiful.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, she. She called it a more spiritual music festival.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, it was called Rise. I think she was like, we're going to go see Rise, which is like, where we actually, like, release, like, lanterns into the sky. It was like, really beautiful.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. Okay.

[Ben Mandelker]

It's like she went to a lot of festivals. Like, it was like, after that, we went to also, like, Biscuit Fest, which is like, where you basically, like, listen to, like, old bands singing while you eat biscuits. It was like a really great festival. And then we went to Stagecoach, and we went to, like, Stagecoach Part 2, which was just like a made up Stagecoach, but it was, like, really fun.

[Sheena Shay]

And then I had backstage VIP passes, which I gave to Brock because he didn't have any because he was poor. But I didn't know it. It was really romantic. Yeah, absolutely. And I couldn't really follow the timeline, but I think she and Brock are like, official. One week after meeting. I think two weeks into meeting, he says, I love you. And I think she's pregnant eight months in. Is that tracking for you?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, I think it's something like that.

[Sheena Shay]

That's saying it was really fast. And I was like, how fast? Where are we? And then she was like, it only been eight months. And I was like, wait a minute. I don't know. It was really. She really does move fast because we're immediately into the pregnancy section.

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, because also, like, some people would look at Brock bringing that jacket to Vegas and Brock doing that, like, that bringing that shot of, like sentimental Jameson to her. Some would maybe say that's a little love bomby. But I think that she's like, if he's love bombing, she is like, like, love test site because she wants those bombs. I think she wants to be bombed. And I think it's like, actually a really good match. She's like, yeah, I'm here to receive it.

[Sheena Shay]

I think that is absolutely correct. And I mean, on my 22nd birthday, I just, like, got. I moved to Chicago and I was 21 and I was having an all girls night. And I'm 22. I'm also a loser, so I've decided I'm only drinking brown liquid so I don't get sick. Cut to the sickest night in my life, obviously. And anyways, I had had five. I'd. I had cobbled five female friends together right from just like every crack of like, you're my neighbor, you're whatever, we're having fun. And I told my boyfriend at the time, I was like, don't come over. It's a girls night. And he came over anyway to give me a gift, thinking it was like, romantic or love bombing or, like being a stalker. And I was like, get out. You're a manipulative monster. Meanwhile, Sheena's like, yeah, I love that a man flew a fucking jacket here to break up my lesbian and relationship that I'm unsure of.

[Ben Mandelker]

She loved it.

[Sheena Shay]

Okay. So she then goes to see a psychic who's like, guess what? If you want to have a baby, there's one available right now. And she realizes that she is pregnant. And it's really heartbreaking because she's going to have a miscarriage. And she's been freezing her eggs and she's been told, like, there's no way you can get pregnant. But she believes it's, like, meant to be with Brian Rock. Now, I don't know if you were expecting this, Ben, but I'm pretty sure the same doctor has been up both me and Sheena's vagina because she name dropped Dr. Bennuni. And I said, how many can there be? How many gynos named Dr. Bennuni are in Los Angeles? Ben, do we have the same gyno?

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, you want to add another twist to it? Ronnie Caram often calls me Benuni on the podcast. So when I saw Dr. Bennuni, I was like, is that me? Was I. Have I forgotten something? Am I Actually secretly a gyno. Could you imagine if you and Sheena share the same gyno? That's a. That's a privilege and an honor.

[Sheena Shay]

If Dr. Benoni has been in both our Ben, I need to tell the world about it. Like, and I'm looking it up, and I was like, I think there's only one, but I don't know. Mine's through the WGA health insurance, but I'm like, I don't know, you guys. I think they've both been there. So congrats to Dr. Benuni.

[Ben Mandelker]

If Sheena is somehow on the WGA health insurance too. Like, she quietly has, like, written something like. Like, a great movie.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. I think if you're SAG, you could also see Dr. Bennoni, so maybe. Oh, my God. Pizza girl. Pizza girl.

[Ben Mandelker]

Pizza girl. Well, you know, honestly, one thing that is very funny is that Sheena has a. A song that I think is universally loved. Like, it even made its way into an Uber commercial.

[Sheena Shay]

U.

[Ben Mandelker]

And I thought, like, a part of this book would be her talking about recording Good as Gold as well as another song she did right before that. I forgot what that was called. But she has a few songs that she's done. Not once, like, it's dropped, like, on the last page of this whole book does she happen to mention, oh, by the way, Good as Gold. I wrote this thing, and I didn't get any, like, royalties from it. Whatever. I'm like.

[Sheena Shay]

She ends the book with, I've never seen a dime from Good as Gold because I signed a contract giving all the money to my manager. Anyways, thanks for reading my memoir, Sheena Shay.

[Ben Mandelker]

You're like, what? How are you not gonna talk about Good as Gold? It's, like, arguably, like, the best thing that she's ever done. It's such a great song. Yeah, it's just a silly song, and it's so good. And, like, I would have loved to hear about, like, how did she get the opportunity? What. What was like, to sing it? Were people skeptical? And, like, how it's being received now, like, does not even touch it. So if she has secretly written some sort of movie that got her on the WGA and then got her to Dr. Bennoni's office, I would not be surprised if it just didn't make it into the book. Because she's like, oh, yeah, I read a movie. But, like, whatever. Anyway, so then I was hanging out with Jesse McCartney, and, like, we went and got drinks and I had Red Bull.

[Sheena Shay]

She also says, like, I was so Upset with Vanderpump rules. When the show started, they promised they would be following me on my auditions and my singing career, trying to make entertainment. And that was never a part of the show. It was like, just me waitressing. And like, every year I'd be like, are you gonna show my singing? They'd like, no. And then in her own book, she does even talk about it.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. She's like, I just wish I had a platform somewhere where I could talk about my singing. Oh, j. That. Too bad.

[Sheena Shay]

So as she's going through this, like, heartbreaking miscarriage, she then tells a story about Lala being a terrible friend because Lala ghosts her to hang out with Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly and Russell, who at the time is there. And I don't know how I didn't catch this, but as I'm reading about how they're like, Russell says he's got to get Megan and Machine Gun Kelly on his private jet to go back to la. So, like, I can't be there for you tonight. I'm thinking, oh, my God, this was that, like, Switchgrass movie that they did. Because it's like. It's how they. It's how Megan and Machine Gun Kelly met. And it's like this horrible movie. And I was like, well, of course Russell produced it. Were you aware that Russell directed it?

[Ben Mandelker]

I was not aware.

[Sheena Shay]

Wow, isn't that nuts? He directed it. And what's crazier is that, you know, Bruce Willis was in the movie and obviously got it greenlit. He has aphasia. And Russell was apparently, like, so mad that he couldn't remember his lines. And it's like, you're the one who brought Bruce Willis onto your scam movie so that it would sell at the Red Box.

[Ben Mandelker]

That's crazy. That is wild. Oh, my goodness. Russell, he's really. He was so gross. I used to live in an apartment building up on Fuller Avenue, right by Runyon Canyon. And Lala was friends with someone in building. And she came by one day and there was a pool on the roof. It was the best. And she came by one day and she was with Russell and she was with some of her friends. She was with Jasmine, who's currently on the Valley, which everyone should watch if you're not watching. It's great show. And Russell was just disgusting. He was awful. And he would just be like, I remember at one point, like, they were in the pool, and then he got out to, like, get something from a chair. And then she was like, hey, babe, can you get me My something. Another. I can get me a towel. And he would like yell back like, oh, cause you're so wet. Like, he would just sort of like just across this public space. It's like just making these sort of like body jokes. And I was like thinking to myself, you don't even know who any of us are. Like, like, that's just. It just was a weird. I'm not a prude. But it just to me spoke to like what a pig this guy was.

[Sheena Shay]

Oh, yeah. Here's my rule for men. A piece of dog inside is a person or ugly. You get one.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Sheena Shay]

You do not get to be both. You don't get to be ugly and a piece of bro.

[Ben Mandelker]

Correct. Correct.

[Sheena Shay]

One, sir. You can't have both. But apparently if you're rustling, you can, because he still dated Lala for a time.

[Ben Mandelker]

He really did. No, I think this whole reason why Sheena included this story with Lala was because it was a fight that they had on the show, if I remember correctly.

[Sheena Shay]

Yes, yes. And it was their falling out.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, they had like a big back and forth about it. And again, I kind of felt like I was like, why is this being included in the story? But I was like, oh, she's relitigating. You know, she's like, I've got my platform. And now you're gonna hear, this is my side of the story. This is why I'm writing the argument against Lala. You know, I don't care about like Machine Gun Kelly, which by the way, I don't believe in an entire book of. Of celebrity name dropping. Suddenly she's like, I don't even care if Megan Fox was there. Of course you cared, Sheeta.

[Sheena Shay]

That's so funny. Yeah. Well, then you know what? I'm gonna give her another literature point. So I think we're to seven with this sentence. This is my favorite sentence in the book. Maybe, maybe Vanderpump Rules wasn't the right show to highlight my journey into motherhood. You think, Sheena? Yeah, maybe.

[Ben Mandelker]

Maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe not.

[Sheena Shay]

The one she talks a lot about, you know, getting pregnant, giving birth, and then she talks about all these decisions she made to make sure that she could have her child because, you know, she was like a high risk pregnancy and all these things. And then says she induced an early pregnancy so that she could film Vanderpump Rules and make the shell shooting schedule and that, that she later said it ended up being a great decision. To which I say, I don't know. And I mean, that is so crazy to me that you would induce an early pregnancy to get the baby out so that you could make it to filming, which I get. She's the breadwinner. Brock doesn't make no fucking money, apparently. And yet. Don't do that. Why can't you give birth on the show if it's between those two things?

[Ben Mandelker]

Well, I would think the show would like that.

[Sheena Shay]

That.

[Ben Mandelker]

I think she was concerned, if I remember correctly. I think that she wanted to have time to give birth and then also to recover. So that way she could. Maybe she was afraid.

[Sheena Shay]

Three days.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, it was. Well, yeah, exactly. I think that she was originally mostly concerned that she would. If she had the baby during shooting, then she'd be out of commission and wouldn't be able to really be on the show significantly. I don't know what it was, but she. That was wild. And then she said, yeah, she was. Was. She had preeclampsia. And actually, if she'd had the baby any. Any later, they might not have found it out, and she might have had a stroke, and it was actually a blessing in disguise. But it was wild that it was all precipitated by a shooting deadline.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, I'm gonna need. I know there are cookies who are OB GYNs. I am gonna need you in the chat because I don't want to cast doubt on anyone's health. But, like, what. What? So she took so many precautions during that pregnancy. She was like, I stopped eating cheese entirely. Like, I didn't even look up. Allowed to have. Like, she did so many things. And to. Yeah, to. To take the baby out early to make the shooting schedule. And I'm like, sheena, none of these decisions make sense. Because imagine, like, we're back at sir, right? She's on the floor fully pregnant. Her water breaks. Come on, you're the star of the season.

[Ben Mandelker]

Like, you are the star 100% trying.

[Sheena Shay]

To make this all about TV. Let's make some good decisions here.

[Ben Mandelker]

I know. Come on, give us a moment.

[Sheena Shay]

Exactly. I mean, so wild. And then after she gives birth, she then deals with postpartum ocd. And she'd always had ocd, but it, like, really flared up, but. Which I really have a lot of heart for. But I do have to note how funny these OCD healing stories are, which are that she could only follow 420people on Instagram because she. 420 is a special number for her.

[Ben Mandelker]

Did we find out why? Or is it just. Cause 420 is 420.

[Sheena Shay]

I used to be a big Stoner. And I said, that's not enough.

[Ben Mandelker]

Not enough to build OCD around that.

[Sheena Shay]

And so she's like, I could never, like, if I met someone and I wanted to follow them, I had to find people to unfollow to keep it at 4:20. And she just discusses, like, how this was, like, such a struggle for her. So she goes to therapy to overcome this, and she makes progress when she starts following more people. And listen, I know numbers with OCD is a really serious thing, but the fact that it's 4:20 and it's Instagram, we can find some humor in that.

[Ben Mandelker]

That if she said, like, I always had to, like, like, open and close the door five times before I walked into any room, I'd be like, totally sure, get it. Ocd. But, like, there was something about, like, you don't understand. Like, I could only have 420 people. And so, like, someone would have to go. And, like, that would be really hard. I had all these excuses. It was, like, really hard. And then she says how she got through it was, again, the most Sheena story one time. And then I went to, like, this party, and I met, like, these two people who are on Big Brother, and they were, like, really great, and they knew who I was, and they said, okay, we're gonna follow you. So they followed me. So I had to follow them back.

[Sheena Shay]

Back.

[Ben Mandelker]

But that would put me over 420. But at that point, I just could not think of anyone else to drop. So I just. I kept them, and I kept them at 422. And I just love it. I was like.

[Sheena Shay]

She's like. And then I called my therapist and was like, I did it.

[Ben Mandelker]

I met two people from Big Brother. They broke it. They broke my ocd.

[Sheena Shay]

Had she been like, I went to this party, and I met two people, and they followed me, but I'm not following them back. It's like, but Big Brother, now I've cured my oct. That's how the other story goes. Which is so crazy. So she's like, okay. So then in. I was so afraid to be with Summer Moon in crowds. And so I made my big goal to cure my ocd. I was gonna go to Disneyland with my daughter. And listen, I get crowds. I get this. But it is funny that it's like, I'm gonna go to Disneyland to, like, cure myself, right? And then she's like, I got really, you know, nervous and panicked because waiting in lines, like, Summer, her daughter, you know, got really, like. She was crying. She's a child. And So I called my friend who worked there and got privileged access to meet with the five Disney princesses. And then I called my therapist and I said, I did it. I survived Disneyland and cured my ocd. And I said, okay, we can cure OCD through nepotism at Disneyland.

[Ben Mandelker]

That's. That's the cure. She's like, and my sister volunteered to come down to Disneyland, and I think actually she accepted this. I think she was like. I was like, at that point, I was so tired. So my sister came down, and I was like, thank God that you're here. But, like, at that point, like, my OCD was broken because, like, nepotism helped everything.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. I was just like, okay. She's like, yeah. And actually, my sister was there for half the day, but I did it. I went to Disneyland. So, so tough. And so then it was a very.

[Ben Mandelker]

Emotional hurdle that she surpassed, by the way. I also thought it was funny that she said that, like, her OCD was famous enough that people would be like, oh, my God, you always have 420 followers. What are you going to. You have 422. What? What's happening? You have two people over your 420. That's crazy. I'm like, I'm pretty sure no one was paying attention to, like, the number.

[Sheena Shay]

She was like, people would DM me if I had accidentally followed one. Too many people to let me know it wasn't at 420. And I said, said, I don't know how OCD works. Then how did you know you had gone over. You. You didn't know you went over it. The fans had to tell you. I don't know. I don't know.

[Ben Mandelker]

I'm gonna say someone had, like. Someone had deactivated their accounts or her numbers looked, like, depressed, and then they reactivated, so her numbers went up again.

[Sheena Shay]

Thank you. How dare I actually thought about this. How dare I second guess this? You are right. You are right. Well, then they go into season 10, and Brock's gonna be a part of the show because of this. She said the next obvious steps were engagement and marriage. Brock wanted to do both on the show because given my history with men and the way I'd been presented on vpr, first as a homewrecking whore and later as a pick me girl. He wanted to show the world that I was truly loved. I said, that's not the anecdote to a pick me girl. That's actually the equation. I'll do anything. So a man likes me. Hey, look, this man likes me. I did it. Now I'm not saying that's what it is, but it's like, I'm sorry. He wanted to be on the show so that people wouldn't think you were a pick me. Like this math. Don't. That's not the math. That's not the math that'll do this, you know? No, but he's on the show from this noble cause.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

And she said she then gets demoted. I actually, I think that's season nine. And then she gets demoted in season.

[Ben Mandelker]

10 because I didn't even realize she was demoted in season 10. Season 10 was the famous scandal season. And I thought she was like, very present. Her marriage is like a very big part of the season. It's like one of the central feuds that happens. It's like a very funny storyline that happens. I do seem to vaguely remember she was demoted in season eight. I remember there was like, talk, like, but she lives in Palm Springs now. Oh, but she lives in San Diego. Like, we didn't know where Sheena was, but now, like, it's surprising to hear she was demoted in the scandal season.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. And I think she says that she doesn't know why she was demoted except maybe that she was living in San Diego for Brock. But then she also said they didn't to want. Want Brock back because of how the fans reacted to him having children and an ex wife in Australia who he seemingly had no contact with.

[Ben Mandelker]

And there was also something about him hitting her.

[Sheena Shay]

Huh. Well, that wasn't in the book, was it?

[Ben Mandelker]

That wasn't in the book. But that was a thing that I think he, I think he says it. I think he, like, is he. He talks about it on the show that like, like, he hit her. People magazine, it is no longer slander. Brock Davies admits he once slapped his ex wife. Now, I mean that so people that obviously.

[Sheena Shay]

So he's in history. Domestic violence.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. And he was very. I'm not trying to excuse it or him, like, but I will say to his credit, he was very, very upfront with it, like, right away. And he was like. It was one of the worst things I ever did. Like, I, I appreciated like that he was very honest about it and like, took it, you know, like, he, he took it head on. But that I think was one of the main reasons why people were very like, anti Brock at that time. Because it was.

[Sheena Shay]

It's a great reason.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah. You know what? It's actually an excellent reason. Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. It's like kind of the best. I gotta tell you. I'm calling a Monica Garcia, when you show up day one and you're like, I have an ex husband. I cheated on him. I did all these horrible things. See? And you go, oh, what a good person. They've come forward with it. It's like, because you're hiding so much more. Because also in this book, she's like, I went to hand Brock the VIP passes, having met him two hours earlier, and he told me he had an ex wife and children in Australia that he doesn't see. And I thought his honesty was so amazing. But I was also like, why are you telling me this? I'm just giving you VIP passes. And it's like, yeah. Why are you leading with this, my friend? Yeah, this shouldn't be so easy to say.

[Ben Mandelker]

I think I'm just so used to it at this point because this. This came out in 2021, so it's been like four years. So, like, the sad thing with reality TV is that, like, terrible stuff comes out about people on reality TV all the time. And then, like, within a year, you're desensitized. You're like, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. They have this thing in their past, but whatever. Anyway, he was really good the next season.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah, so true. And so what happens is she doesn't talk about that. She just is like, I understand how Brock didn't see his children because he's the Raul in the Ron and Raul situation. And I think it was amazing that those kids in Australia have their own Ron to show up and take care of them like my father did. And I'm with the Raul, the father who abandoned me. And I get it. I get how that's possible. And I said, yeah, okay.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Precisely. Yeah. So, you know, she does a lot of mental workarounds. Like, that's. That is. That's classic Shishu behavior, you know?

[Sheena Shay]

That's right.

[Ben Mandelker]

That's her nickname, by the way. She doesn't even mention her nickname. She's a whole book.

[Sheena Shay]

And she really doesn't pull the My good side through or, you know, everything was good as gold. She misses a couple opportunities.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah, she does.

[Sheena Shay]

Well, they're getting. They decide they're getting married even though she's demoted. They don't want him on the show. Then they're like, actually, we want a wedding storyline. Get that in. In season 10. And they say, we will double your day rate if you get married on camera. And she says, great, no problem. Time to get married on camera. Camera, obviously. Thank God. That's how, you know, Scandal, like, really goes down. And then we get to chapter 16. Ben, I screamed. Did you scream? Chapter 16 is titled the whole truth. And then it says to be revealed. The publishers didn't print it in the galleys.

[Ben Mandelker]

This. So here's what was crazy to me. So previous chapter talks about scandal and everything where. Which she talks about this fight she has with Raquel. She gives us some insight. You know, it's pretty much stuff that's been, like, really been all over the media for a while. I love that Sheena centers herself in it and she's like, I know that Ariana was a real victim in this, but, like, when I had to be like, you know, I was like, dodging paparazzi with my baby. And, like, that was, like, really hard for me. So after all that happens, the fact that we get to this whole truth to be revealed, I'm like, like, what was. What else is left?

[Sheena Shay]

What else is left? And it's got to be about scandal, right?

[Ben Mandelker]

I actually was guessing that maybe it has to do with Brock.

[Sheena Shay]

Listen, the book is coming out the day this episode drops, so I'm sure a headline will come out. And I'll see you on the Patreon comments. Okay, so we now know what was in that missing chapter, and it is a whole story about Sheena's husband, Brock cheating on her. Now, we brought Ben back and recorded an entirely separate episode discussing this chapter at length. Wild quotes are from it. If you want to listen to that. It is up on the feed right now. It is a subscriber only episode. $5 on Apple, $5 on Patreon, ad free listening, blah, blah, blah. Or, you know, I'll put it up for $3 too, so you can just get it, listen to it, move on with your life, whatever you want. We did a whole extra thing. Thing. So go listen to that there. And now let's dive back in. The one thing I could connect it to is chapter 17, which also made me gasp, where she writes, in the wake of my divorce, I feel like I learned a number of essential lessons. The first was to keep my finances separate, which also meant asking Brock to sign a prenuptial agreement. The next two lines of the book are redacted.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

Then she said, said. Unfortunately, as a result of my rocky history with men, I no longer believe in forever. Between Shay's addiction, his lies, and redacted, I've become more wary than I probably need to be. So just a pause.

[Ben Mandelker]

Is it. I guess.

[Sheena Shay]

No, please guess.

[Ben Mandelker]

Is it like, does Eddie Cibrian. I bet I know what it is. I bet she. And it's like a. I bet, like, she and Brandy, like, meet up up and, like, talk things through and compare notes.

[Sheena Shay]

Interesting. Yeah. Because if chapter 16 does not relate to what is being blacked out on chapter 17, it is so insane that these redactions are included at all because there's no other context around them.

[Ben Mandelker]

I did not realize that this would be like, oh, this is redacted because we're still trying to clear it legally. I was like, this is redacted because it's something really juicy that they want us to be talking about, that there's something really juicy that we don't know about. And then therefore, when this comes out, like, people would be interested in it.

[Sheena Shay]

Perhaps it's only redacted in the galleys, and maybe it'll be cleared by the time the book drops. Well, as I was reading, she's like, I no longer believe in forever. We had a prenup, and I'm like, oh, my God, she and Brock are over. And then she's like, and Brock and I are in love. And then the book ends. So I was like, okay, this is the last sentence of the book. I've come a long way and I'm not stopping anytime soon. I'm embracing that. All sides of me are good, from the scars to the scarlet letters. Though I still prefer to be photographed. Photographs on the left. Okay, then let's do the book dill test. Three questions. We're going to answer them both. Okay, first question. Was the author vulnerable in the sharing of her truth?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes.

[Sheena Shay]

I'm a half. I think she explained a lot of things, but I don't know if she was vulnerable.

[Ben Mandelker]

You know, I just am thinking about, like, the stuff with, like, the pregnancy and, like, the pregnancy stuff I feel like she was vulnerable about. But maybe the thing is that, like, what is vulnerable for Sheena Shea?

[Sheena Shay]

Like, and you're the expert. What would you say? Did we reach it?

[Ben Mandelker]

You're making people. Okay, I'm bringing it back down to. To a. A mix. I think she would say she was vulnerable. I think she would say, like, I told you, like, what was going on? And therefore, that opens up me to potentially being made fun of. So therefore I was being vulnerable. But was she. Did she really dive into, like, how she. How what the emotional experience was of, like, betrayal by Eddie Cibrian. Besides, like, I couldn't believe you did that. Maybe not vulnerable.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah. Okay, second question. Was it entertaining to read?

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. 100%.

[Sheena Shay]

100%. I feel like I. I had one cocktail. I was halfway through at a second cocktail. I'd finished the book. It was. It was a rip roaring time. I loved it. I. This is a book that I think you take to dinner to have just a fun little night by yourself. Yourself.

[Ben Mandelker]

Let me tell you something. I read the first 50 pages, like, sort of here and there over the course of last week. And then yesterday I got onto a plane and I was like, okay, I gotta read this book. I've been really slacking. Okay, I guess I'm just gonna sit down and read this book. And I was done after, like, 90 minutes. It's a quick read. You just read it and you're just sitting there chuckling. Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

Oh, yeah. I keep joking that I need to make merch of fake book covers to put over the book you're reading. So no one knows. Go to dinner, have a glass of wine. But, like, you need a different book cover over the Shina Shay memoir.

[Ben Mandelker]

Oh, I. I had had this out and proud. I was like. I was signaling with this one. I was like, I want to know.

[Sheena Shay]

Come and talk to me.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yes. I kind of was like, I want to know who else sees this book and is like, I love that you're reading Shina Shea also, by the way, I love reading a book like this on an airplane because I'm like, well, maybe I'll get a free cocktail. Because, you know, every now and then you get a flight attendant, and he'll be like, oh, my God, I love her. Yeah, you get a drink on the house.

[Sheena Shay]

Oh, I love that. The only thing that's ever happened to me is a flight attendant sent me his script about baseball that he had written and was like, can you get this produced? And it didn't. And it didn't come with a free drink. I said, sir, you would have had a chance.

[Ben Mandelker]

And that script was called Moneyball. Wow.

[Sheena Shay]

And I really missed out. Okay, final question. Did reading this book elevate your life in any way?

[Ben Mandelker]

I don't know if it elevated my life aside from being able to chat with you, which always elevates my life same. Do you think it will ultimately elevate our lives? Because I am totally sincere when I say that this really should be optioned and turned into, like, an Alexander Payne movie or a satire, because it really is hilarious. It's a hilarious story of fame in la.

[Sheena Shay]

That is so, so genius. And no, I think it de Elevated my life because I just kept thinking, like, how nice would it be to live as Sheena? Like, we're just like, la. La la la la. Like, oh, that was weird. Oh, well, I'll him. Oh, well. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm going to court. Oh, my God. And I was just like, what a life. Yeah. Like, my brain is just a series of haunted nightmares. Like, what is it to just be like, gotta get my Jameson shot.

[Ben Mandelker]

Yeah.

[Sheena Shay]

La la la.

[Ben Mandelker]

And then my mom threw out my Hershey's syrup container, which was sentimental to me. La la la la. And she just. Just floats from one thing to another.

[Sheena Shay]

But I'm pretty fine. I have identity issues, but not really anyways. And I'm like, what a life.

[Ben Mandelker]

And I was so mad that I then went and found his best friend so I could sleep with him, which I know was solely wrong, but I was mad, and I was also young. La la la la la la.

[Sheena Shay]

And it's like, I know she's vain. I know she goes through a lot, but at the end of the day, she is still rebounding into that brain and that life. And I don't know, just. It seems like a nice reprieve.

[Ben Mandelker]

And, like, you can't really be upset. Like, this is. This is a book about Sheena. Like, Sheena's whole Persona is that she is like that. She's like. She. Like, she lives in her own world. She views things sort of like, through, like, through a lens that. That, like, centers her and makes her the hero of her own story. And she moved forward. And I have to say, by the way, I mentioned at the top of the show that, you know, she'd come on to watch what crap. And she did. We do a thing every year called the golden crappy is where it's like, you have a big award show or where we give, you know, awards to all, like, triumphs and across Bravo. So she came out as a special guest star two years ago, and she was great. And she. Not only was she great, she, like, she got it. She understood the assignment. She was like, what do you need me to do? I'm gonna wear this because I think this will be funnier for your audience. So, like, when she talks about, like, this will be a better fight, or, I want to be ready for shooting, or I knew what I was like, I didn't want to do this, but I had to do it. Like, I saw that in. In person, and in many ways, like, we laugh at it, but being on the receiving end of actually needing her to sort of To. To do that for us, like, it was actually very refreshing. It was great. And so, like, she gets the game.

[Sheena Shay]

Yeah.

[Ben Mandelker]

And it's just like a fascinating character.

[Sheena Shay]

I. I love that. And I constantly feel with reality TV shows, I'm grateful. I'm like, thank you, thank you, Mormon Wives. Thank you, Witness. Thank you, thank you for dancing naked and drunk and falling down so I can have this show. And. And then you get the money. I'm so. I love this interaction we have. I don't want anyone to bully anyone because it's a gift. And if Sheena Shay didn't exist, like, we would not have Vanderpump Rules. We would not have Scandal. And, like, I'm so thrilled about her decisions, and I'm. And I'm happy for her and happy she exists.

[Ben Mandelker]

I always root for Shishu, and, you know, she just. She gets in herself into, you know, one. One dust up after another. She's currently in one right now. Courtesy. Not courtesy of. But on Kiki's platform. We just mentioned Kiki before. She. She said something earlier this week, and now she's in. She's in a little bit of a thing right now with some of her castmates, and she's just great. She just gets into these things because, I mean, I didn't mean it that way. This is all I was saying. If you listen to the whole clip, you would know that that's how I meant it. Oops. And then on to the next listen.

[Sheena Shay]

And it's the drama, it's the clicks, and I love Kiki. So I guess, you know, Ben, thank you so much for coming on. Everyone already adores you. They were begging for you to be the guest. But please drop your podcast deeds, your Instagram deets, all of it.

[Ben Mandelker]

Okay, well, you can come listen to me and Ronnie Caram on Watch what happens. Our podcast is literally on every platform. It comes out, like, every day. We just talk about Bravo all the time and Love island on Patreon, which is the best show also. And then our Instagram is at Watch what Crappens. And my personal Instagram, which you should definitely follow because I am very much like Sheena. And unlike Sheena, I don't have a cap on any numbers. So I just want to go up higher and higher. So follow me at Ben Mandelker. That's on Instagram and also like Twitter and all that stuff. And yeah, check out my food substack. Nbd. Fancy. Because if you like food, I like to write about.

[Sheena Shay]

I love that you are a dream. Thank you so much for coming on.

[Ben Mandelker]

Thanks for having me.

[Sheena Shay]

A big thank you to our senior managing producer, Christina Lopez, our executive producer Jordan Moncada, our sound engineer Marcus Hamm, and our amazing associate producer, Jaron Padre. I also want to give a huge thank you to our incredible partners over at Thrive Cosmetics and everyplate. We will link to those brands in the show notes. Go check them out. Everything else we discussed is also linked in the show notes. And if you have questions, thoughts, comments, go to the Patreon sign up. There's a free tier you can join. Leave a comment chat with your fellow cookies. We will keep the book club continuing over there.

[C]

If you're a podcast host, listen up. This one's for you. My name is Ali Jackson. I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast that I've been doing for four years now, sharing my positive and practical approach to dating that's built on my own life experience. And I wanted to share another experience that I've had. My secret behind monetizing my show. It's called Red Circle. And I was just telling my colleague about how much I love their platform. With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience, but I also love the support I receive in ad sales. It's not just typical ad sales either. It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life. And the platform is super simple. You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you with sponsors that align with your show. Grow. You can vet every opportunity and their platform gives you great analytics. More recently too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast on social media to really augment the podcast partnerships. Bring them full circle. I just can't recommend them enough. If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial. That's redcircle.com for a free trial. If you're a podcast host, listen up. This one's for you. My name is Allie Jackson. I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast that I've been doing for four years now, sharing my positive and practical approach to dating that's built on my own life experience. And I wanted to share another experience that I've had, my secret behind monetizing my show. It's called Red Circle. And I was just telling my colleague about how much I love their platform. With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience, but I also love the support I receive in ad sales. It's not just typical ad sales either. It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life. And the platform is super simple. You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you with sponsors that align with your show.

[Sheena Shay]

Grow.

[C]

You can vet every opportunity and their platform gives you great analytics. More recently too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast on social media to really augment the podcast partnerships. Bring them full circle. I just can't recommend them enough. If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial. That's redcircle.com for a free trial.