Scheana Shay has her own ‘Vanderpump Rules’
In The Zone: Reality star says nothing’s off limits when the cameras start rolling
NEW YORK – You first knew her as Brandi Glanville’s nemesis, but now Scheana Shay has distanced herself from the role of "the other woman" and transitioned to a starring role on Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules.” The 30-year-old reality show star told FOX411 about living her life out on TV and why nothing is off limits when the cameras start rolling.
FOX411: You’re in Season 4 of the show so you’ve come a long way as a reality TV star.
Scheana Shay: Yeah.
FOX411: It’s been a big process. I used to watch “Vanderpump Rules” from the very beginning but I have to say the drama is more intense than ever.
Shay: Yes.
FOX411: And instead of you guys evolving, although you have evolved a great deal, your co-stars seem to be stuck in high school. Why do you keep signing up to deal with them?
Shay: I love them. I really do. I mean it is entertaining. It makes a great show. But I love each and every person on our show and in a different way, you know, some are my best friends. Some are people I fought with and rekindled a friendship with, and they’re all really good people just unfortunately you don’t always see the good side of everyone.
FOX411: And when you say you don’t see the good side of everyone, does that give us a look into reality TV and how it’s produced that may be some people are edited into the character of the quote unquote “villain?"
Shay: I don’t think you can be edited into a certain person because obviously whatever you say you’re giving them that footage.
FOX411: Right.
Shay: However, what I’ve experienced this season and it’s very frustrating you don’t always get the full story because there could be an hour conversation that’s been edited down to five minutes but you’re like, “Oh, but you missed this part or this part!” So now I look like this but I gave you that, I said that so...
FOX411: But it’s a sound bite like you said. Not the full picture. But looking back, as we called it an evolution before, when you first started you were vilified. You were deemed the other woman and you were put in the position by Glanville and a lot critics online. How did you as a human being, forget the whole media side, how did you as a human being deal with that?
Shay: Umm, laughter.
FOX411: Really?
Shay: This season it’s got to me a little more because everything with [her husband Mike Shay] that has been put out there is extremely personal so that’s been a lot harder to deal with, but going back to Season 1, I was just like look, I have this opportunity unfortunately this guy was a liar. I didn’t know and you know, I just did the best I could with that and we’re on our fourth season now. You know it may have helped start the show but it isn’t the focus anymore and whenever people send me angry things or call me a home wrecking whatever I just laugh. I’m like, “You’re sitting behind your computer screen and I don’t know where in America or in another country and you’re talking to me and saying all these bad things, and that’s fine.” It kind of makes me pity them and feel bad for them. I just try to laugh.
FOX411: Try to raise above it and like you said make a giggle out of it, but one thing that is not a laughing matter is what you and your husband, you guys have been married for about a one-and-a-half years now. Congratulations.
Shay: Thank you.
FOX411: And you’ve documented the struggles, the ups, the downs, the wedding but also your husband’s struggles with addiction was that something that you decided before the cameras started rolling as a couple and say, “Can we really let the world in on this?”
Shay: Not exactly because when we were dealing with his addiction it was last Christmas and by last I mean 2014.
FOX411: Okay.
Shay: So, by the time we’re filming he was six months clean and doing amazing. There were a few incidences that happened in his family that I thought might trigger him to go back to that. He had an uncle and a cousin pass away both unexpected, unrelated in the same 24 hours.
FOX411: Wow, that’s tough.
Shay: Unfortunately, you didn’t get to see that on the show because that was what really hit home for me. “Oh my God, he’s so depressed and sad right now. Is he going to go back to this?” And it was just a question it was never a relapse, it was never anything that happened. I was just a concerned wife. I have a big mouth. I talk a lot. It came out in conversation with people I’m so close with. Cameras are like flies on the wall to us now so when I’m having a conversation with Lisa or Arianna who I feel comfortable with it just kind of came out. Whoops. Now that’s out there what do we do about it? It was very difficult for us in the beginning. He was getting a lot of support and I was getting a lot of crap, and it ended up being very positive. A lot of people reached out and shared their stories, and a lot of people have said we’ve helped them and inspired them to come out to their parents to seek help, to go to rehab. As difficult as it was to deal with we’re both glad we made the decision to let it be a part of the show.
FOX411: Is there anything for you whether as an individual or as a wife you’re going to say, “No, that is never going to be allowed on camera? Never, never, never?”
Shay: Umm, when I get there I’ll let you know. So far I’ve been pretty much an open book. There are very few things I refuse to do. I like to keep my producers happy. I like to make a good show. So, they always know they can come to me and I’m a team player.
FOX411: One of the things a lot of reality stars are doing is taking all their passions into different passions, and for you makeup is one of them.
Shay: Yes, it is. So, I’ve had a signature line for about a year but I’m thinking now that that is kind of over, I want to do my own thing and just focus on one item and that is eyelashes.
FOX411: Oooo, those are some nice eyelashes!
Shay: I always get asked how I do my eyelashes. It’s a very specific technique. There’s a strip and then there’s a half and then there’s individuals, and we were like, “Why don’t we just market this instead of trying to sell so many items, so many manufacturers, so many.” So I’m like, “Why don’t we just end that and just start fresh with one item, and see how that does.”
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