Entertainment

Britney Spears' BF Got Butterflies When They First Met & The Story Is Honestly So Cute

by Emily Mae Czachor
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Chances are you've heard of Sam Asghari, the personal trainer turned model-actor who's been dating Britney Spears for like a year-and-a-half now. Turns out, Spears' famously reserved beau might be a little softer on the inside than fans would expect. And after reading Asghari's comments about meeting Britney Spears for the first time, it sounds like he's finally ready to speak a bit more openly about what seems to be a pretty serious relationship between him and Spears. ("Serious" just by nature of the fact that it's lasted so long.) Suffice to say, vulnerability looks good on him.

In interview with Men's Health, published Tuesday, July 17, Asghari sat down with the magazine to talk workouts, career shifts, and of course, a little bit of romance, too. The interview is pretty dense, and Asghari's relationship-centric comments don't crop up until about mid-way through. That being said, they're totally worth the wait.

Now, fans of Asghari and Spears' enduring romance might remember that the two first met on the set of Spears' "Slumber Party" music video, which dropped in November 2016. During his interview with Men's Health, Asghari said he looks back on his "Slumber Party" casting and thinks maybe the whole thing was just part of the universe's big-picture plan. (For him, but also conceivably for his relationship with Spears.)

"I got a call at midnight," Asghari told the magazine, explaining that his agent frantically informed him he'd been cast in the music video the night before filming started. (A rarity when it comes to casting leading roles in major music videos, as Men's Health noted in the report.) Continuing, Asghari's gratitude was sincere. "[The casting directors] went through so much to get to me," he said, before adding, "I don't know if it's some sort of a blessing or just meant to be."

For those fans already swooning, you might want to brace yourselves for what comes next. Because if fans thought that last comment was sweet, Asghari only continued to outdo himself in the charm department. Speaking about what on earth was going through his head when he first stepped out onto the "Slumber Party" set way back when, Asghari told the magazine his thoughts were all about Britney. "I was excited that I get to meet one of the biggest artists of all time," he said sweetly. "I had butterflies."

Those who've seen Spears' super sultry "Slumber Party" video might also remember that Asghari's role in it coincidentally (or perhaps not-so-coincidentally) seems to foreshadow the way the pair's real-life relationship eventually unfolded. In the video, Asghari plays an alluring masked stranger with whom Spears shares some markedly electric moments of lusty tension.

Fast-forward to the present day: Almost two years later, Spears and Asghari seem just as hooked on each other in real life as they appeared to be in that 2016 video. So it was a welcome tidbit of intel when, courtesy of his Men's Health interview, Asghari provided fans with a more three-dimensional picture of what his and Spears' first on-set meeting actually looked like. According to his comments, it all started with an ice-breaker of sorts.

When the cameras weren't rolling, he and Spears first got acquainted. "She said, 'Hi, I'm Britney,'" Asghari told Men's Health, recalling their initial interaction. Without further adieu, he offers a retelling of his own punch line: "And I said, 'I'm sorry. What's your name again?'" As pretty much and and all pop culturally savvy folks could probably tell you, Asghari's goofy one-liner was a pretty funny one, since it's definitely not every day that someone mentions Britney Spears' name and the whole room doesn't automatically recognize it.

And as far as pick-up lines go (or ice-breakers lined with flirtation, whichever you'd like to call it), it certainly seems like Asghari's did the trick. How's that? Well, we're coming up on two years since the pair's fateful on-set meeting. And, if their exceedingly heartwarming relationship — the bits of it they decide to share with the public, anyway — is any measure of what's actually going on in their love life, then it looks like there's still more than enough butterflies, on both ends, to go around.