The 'Vanderpump Rules' star opens up to ET about all the season eight drama and her first 'true love' with her boyfriend, Brock Davies.
Justice for Scheana!
"I mean, it just gets worse every year," Scheana Shay tells ET of how she comes across on Vanderpump Rules. "It's just, like, every season, it's a different style SUR dress and a different boy I'm awkwardly flirting with."
Scheana is one of the only Pump Rules OGs still clocking in for shifts at Lisa Vanderpump's West Hollywood eatery, and while she says she loves her job, she'd like to make it known that waitressing is not the be-all, end-all of her life.
"I would love to be on stage in Vegas, in my podcast studio… with my boyfriend," Scheana, who starred in the Las Vegas show Sex Tips for Straight Women From a Gay Man, admits. "Like, my actual life, I would love. But ... I am at SUR."
Being at SUR means interacting a lot with the new crop of SUR-vers, including Brett Caprioni (alleged bad kiss included) and Dayna Kathan. Scheana and Dayna did not get off to a great start, with Scheana "hazing" Dayna with menial tasks -- something Scheana herself experienced during season one of the show, thanks to Stassi Schroeder's "training."
"Look, it was all in fun," Scheana says. "I apologized very shortly after, but also, what you didn't see was, I was being directed into what she was supposed to do from Peter [Madrigal], from other managers. 'Go make her do this. Go make her do that.' So, I was just the messenger, but I was just like, if that’s my job today to be the b***hy trainer, then so be it."
Still, Scheana does admit to not exactly liking Dayna from the jump, which was obvious.
"We just didn't vibe right off the bat," she says. "I think she has a similar personality to, like, Stassi and Lala [Kent], and that's just not the type of personality that I'm drawn to. It's usually the one I run from. So, right off the bat, we didn't hit it off, but you'll see as this season plays out that we do become friends."
Complicating things for Scheana and Dayna is Max Boyens, the TomTom general manager whom Scheana dated before Dayna. Viewers and castmates alike -- Lisa included -- assumed Scheana's attitude toward Dayna was sparked out of jealousy over Max, which Scheana denied. Now, Scheana admits she was jealous, but maintains that it had nothing to do with Max.
"I was jealous that she was getting her career filmed and that everyone was going to her comedy show and all of these things, like, you've been here for two seconds and you're getting all of this that I worked eight years for?" Scheana confesses. "Meanwhile, I'm just at SUR and flirting with a boy. SUR, boy -- no Vegas, no podcast… no anything else, so it was a jealousy thing, but it had nothing to do with Max."
"I love Max, but I would not introduce him to my worst enemy to date," she continues. "Like, I just -- we're friends, so it was so frustrating because everyone was like, ‘You're jealous!’ I'm like, but not about that! Like, can you just listen? And no one would listen to me, and I just... I needed to speak out about it because I'm like -- I will admit to when I'm wrong if I am jealous, if I'm overreacting. Like, I can admit fault. I'm not above that at all, but I'm not going to admit something that's not true."
The whole thing came to a head when Lisa straight-up asked Scheana if she was jealous of Dayna. The conversation was cut into a montage that made Scheana look a little unhinged, as she started to tear up while defending herself against the jealousy allegations.
"With Lisa, I love her so much and I love her advice and all of those moments I get with her, but she has this way of telling me how I feel and what I want, and that drives me insane," Scheana notes. "She's like, 'I know you're…' and so then there's this whole montage because I'm like, 'Lisa, I'm not jealous of that!'"
Scheana says she hasn't been able to unpack that issue with Lisa just yet ("Maybe at the reunion…"), but viewers did see her confront being labeled "boy crazy" by her co-stars earlier this season. While she got upset in the moment, Scheana says, after taking stock of how she was acting at the time -- and rewatching old clips of herself being, self-admittedly, boy crazy over her ex, Rob Valletta -- she overreacted.
"I was like, wow, Scheana. You are a little boy crazy," she says. "[Max] was not wrong. And I took so much offense to it and I'm like, I just need to embrace it, that's who I am, or who I was."
Scheana is taking back the power in the situation, too, capitalizing off the label by launching a whole line of “Boy Crazy” merchandise with the help of her new boyfriend, Australian fitness entrepreneur Brock Davies.
"He's like, 'Look, you can be boy crazy because you're with a man now,'" she shares.
Scheana and Brock have been together for about six months. The two first met at a music festival, with Brock having no idea who Scheana was, something she says has been a blessing.
"I love that, because it wasn't like he came up to me at the party and was like, 'Oh, this girl's on a show, I wanna get on the show…'" she says. "He has his own career, his own life and is very established down in San Diego and has a whole life in Australia, as well."
None of Brock’s life has been documented for Vanderpump Rules cameras, and it may never make it to TV. Scheana says she’s torn on whether she would want to expose enough relationship to reality TV.
"I genuinely feel this is the only real 'true love' relationship I’ve ever been in, so I would love to show that," she says. "But, at the same time, I want to keep him as far away from all of it, because, you know, one little Aussie joke and that will be the whole season!"
"I just don’t want that for us," she continues. "He wants nothing to do with the show. He's friends with everyone. We've all hung out several times, and he's boys with all the boys, but he really doesn’t care to be on it. So, we'll see."
Scheana says she's never been made to feel "so secure and wanted and loved" than with Brock, a sentiment that doesn't exactly help her "boy crazy" label. This is Scheana's third serious relationship in the spotlight following Rob and her marriage to Mike Shay. But, Scheana notes, she's only opening up about Brock because people are asking; she doesn't run around gushing over her man for no reason.
"There's just this spark that we have that I've never experienced before," she says. "And it's like, every relationship I get in, this is the happiest I've ever been, because, obviously, I am going to date someone better than the last. I'm not gonna date down. So, of course, everyone, I hope, would make me happier than the last, but this relationship is just very different in all of the best ways.”
Both Brock and Scheana are divorced, a piece of common ground that's helped them navigate where their relationship is headed. They both know what they want and what they don’t. While Scheana says she's not sure she'll get married again, things are getting serious with Brock -- serious enough that she's considering a move to San Diego, two hours outside of Los Angeles.
"We both talked about it, we are both open to it," she says. "We need to make sure it's right and not rush it, and if the time feels right, then why not? We're taking things slow and quick at the same time."
"The most important thing is that he and I are on the exact same page, and I've never had such good communication with someone I've dated," Scheana adds. "I mean, we're not perfect -- and that was the thing with Rob and Shay, like, 'Oh my god! Everything is great.' Brock and I aren't perfect. We have our arguments, our disagreements, but our communication is so good that they're resolved almost instantly.'
A move to San Diego would likely mean Scheana would have to leave the world of SUR -- and Vanderpump Rules -- behind. That's a fact she's not quite ready to confront, though. Scheana says she's renewing her lease in Marina del Rey for another year, so she'll be in the L.A. area through at least 2021 (and a highly likely ninth season of VPR). For now, the plan is to just split time between L.A., San Diego and Palm Springs, where Scheana owns a vacation home. Plus, she'll need to be in Los Angeles as she continues her fertility journey. The 34-year-old is about to undergo her third round of egg retrieval.
"I, unfortunately, have a very low, low -- almost non-existent -- fertility numbers for my age," she reveals. "So, we're not getting that many eggs each round we do and, after the second round, I was like, 'Wow, I have 16 eggs. This is amazing.' And my doctor is like, '16 is good, it's not great, consider a third,' and this was something I talked to Brock about and he's not weirded out by it, he's not afraid by it, he absolutely supports it and he knows, down the road, I mean, if we have a chance to make a good, healthy embryo the scientific way, then so be it. But, I'm not gonna get pregnant on my own, it's just not in the cards for me, unless there was a miracle."
Scheana teases that one of her Vanderpump co-stars is planning to undergo the procedure with her, too, this time, but she won't reveal who just yet; it seems likely Scheana is saving that content for her newly launched YouTube channel.
"I really wanna show the side of my life that nobody gets to see unless it's in an Instagram Story here and there, and I really want people to get to know [Brock]," she says. "Regardless if there is a season nine and he's on the show, you're not gonna see that for a year from now, so I just really want people to see this relationship, because it is the real deal."
As for what's unfolding on season eight, Scheana says she's getting caught up -- and notes she does actually watch the full episodes, despite her co-stars claiming she only fast-forwards and watches her own scenes. Scheana says she actually fast-forwards through her own scenes because she finds them so cringy.
"I didn't want to relive that relationship [with Rob or Adam Spott]," she says. "But also … I remember scenes with, like, Stassi and [her ex] Patrick [Meagher] and I'm like, they're not even together anymore, why do I care to see this guy be so rude to her? Like, I don't need to see that … and I know they do the same thing with me, but now I am in a good place with everyone. I love our show and I do watch every scene."
Not everyone on the cast is getting along, though. Soon, fans will see the big falling out between the "Witches of WeHo," Stassi, Katie Maloney-Schwartz and Kristen Doute.
"If I had to pick a side, I'm definitely on Kristen's," she notes. "I talk to her almost every day and she's one of my very closest friends, but, I mean, I love Stassi and Katie, we're in a good place, we're not best friends -- I don't think we'll ever get back to that -- but I'm in a good place with both of them."
Then there's the drama surrounding Tom Sandoval and Jax Taylor, after Tom confronted Jax over why it took so long for him and Brittany to fire the pastor they had booked for their wedding, despite knowing for months that the pastor had made homophobic comments in the past. Tom and his girlfriend, Ariana Madix, were the only two cast members outside of Lisa who seemingly took a stand on the issue, which led Jax to disinvite Tom from the wedding (only to quickly reinstate him as one of his best men, a move he says he regrets).
"I honestly didn't look into whatsoever," Scheana admits. "Not my wedding, not my business. I was there to be a supportive bridesmaid."
"I see both sides, but it just I think got so blown out of proportion," she continues. "I'm like, OK, I get where Jax is coming from. Like, why didn't you speak up sooner? But I get where Tom's coming from … and Sandoval's the type of friend where he genuinely is happy for his friends, he's not jealous of his friends' success, or love, or anything. He wants the best, and even if that means some constructive criticism or saying things that no one else is gonna say, I appreciate that so much about him."
Even so, Tom's honesty has caught him in hot water with Lala. After calling her out for saying mean things behind Ariana's back while also claiming to be a "safe space" for Ariana to open up, Lala slammed Tom in a heated Instagram Live.
"That's very flip-floppy," Scheana says, seemingly siding with Tom. Plus, she says she’s had her own "flip-floppy" issues with her co-star.
"After we did the Like a Boss [music video] shoot I was like, why don't we do this for real? But the thing with Lala -- I love her -- but she says one thing to my face and another thing behind my back," she shares. "We're literally sitting on set of the Like a Boss shoot and I'm like, we're a good duo … [and] I was like, 'I would love to do this more with you,' and she's like,' 'Yeah, yeah, we should…' and I'm like, but the thing is, you're gonna get home and make fun of me for suggesting this and nothing's ever gonna come out of it. And nothing's come out of it, so…"
Scheana is hoping to collaborate with James Kennedy again, though. He recently revealed he's nine months sober after his girlfriend, Raquel Leviss, essentially gave him an ultimatum: shape up or lose me. That came after James sent both Raquel and Scheana a string of nasty, derogatory text messages while they were enjoying a girls' night out.
"Raquel is a saint, she's a very forgiving person and this was the breaking point for her," Scheana says. "She had finally had enough, but I think up until that point -- and same when I was with Shay -- for so long, it's like, it is a disease and people don't realize that. I didn't even realize it when I was in the marriage until after and I'm like, oh my god. There are things that you can't help unless you want to help yourself, and I think she saw that with James and just wanted to stay and just fix him and help him, but then it's like, once you reach your breaking point, you can only be disrespected for so long."
"I was so proud of her for standing up for herself and speaking up, and they're in a great place now," she adds.
As for what’s still to come this season, there will be some not-so-great moments for Scheana.
"Just knowing what I filmed, I know at a birthday party [will be rough], because it wouldn't be Vanderpump Rules if there wasn't a breakdown at a birthday party," she teases. "I have a very vulnerable, probably one of my most vulnerable moments I've ever had on the show with Lala, and I'm not looking forward to seeing that."
"I just finally just threw down all my walls and I'm like, yeah, I'm depressed and I'm not happy and here's why, instead of just acting like, no, I'm fine," she says. "I was not in a good place last summer, I was struggling with a lot of anxiety, depression. I just wasn't in a good place personally, and no one was understanding that. Everyone just thought, oh, you're jealous of Dayna, and I'm like, no. I got a lot of other things going on. It's not about Dayna."
Scheana says going through egg retrieval while filming is what pushed her to that place; that meant she was shooting sober, so no alcohol and, harder for Scheana, no marijuana.
"Bravo to Lala and now James and other people who can do it, because I mean, I don't drink a lot, but I do smoke weed and that's the one thing that helps me with my anxiety," she notes. "And so, being dead sober, injecting myself with hormones, waking up alone every day, like, putting my body through this for a maybe baby? It really took a toll on me, emotionally, and I just, I lost it."
Fans will have to tune in for that and more every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT, when Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo.
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