NEED TO KNOW
- Scheana Shay is sharing details about her affair with Eddie Cibrian in her upcoming memoir, My Good Side
- The Bravo star remains adamant that she did not know he was married to Brandi Glanville at the time
- “This was pre–social media, so it wasn’t like he was posting pics of his family in matching pajamas in front of a Christmas tree,” Shay said
Scheana Shay is coming clean about how she “didn’t see a single red flag” while unknowingly having an affair with Eddie Cibrian.
The Vanderpump Rules alum, 40, is going from reality star to author with the upcoming release of her memoir, My Good Side. In an excerpt shared with Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday, July 2, she details exactly how she fell for the actor, 52.
Shay claims she had recently graduated from Azusa Pacific University in May 2006, when she moved to Los Angeles to “make a name for myself in the entertainment industry, whether that was as an actress, a TV host, or a news reporter,” when she met Cibrian.
The then-21-year-old began working at a “private member’s cigar lounge and restaurant” where “every A-list celebrity, director, writer, and actor hung out.”
A few months later, she and Cibrian had their first encounter when he came in to play poker on a Tuesday night, which became a regular part of his schedule.
“If you were to ask me when I was growing up what my exact type was, to a tee it was Eddie—tall, dark, and handsome, with dimples. The second we made eye contact, he smiled at me with those dimples, and I melted. How could I not? He’s undeniably a gorgeous human,” Shay wrote.
Cibrian was married to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, now 52, from 2001 until 2010. However, it would be a few more years before the series would air in 2010, with Glanville’s castmate Lisa Vanderpump. Vanderpump Rules debuted on Bravo in 2013.
Shay admitted her relationship with the actor didn’t begin immediately, but claimed there was potential from the start.
“Eddie was the sweetest, funniest, most charismatic, consummate gentleman I’d ever met. He always made me feel like I was the only girl in the room when I was working,” she wrote, claiming other patrons just wanted their drinks and to be left alone.
The reality star went on to explain why him being married never crossed her mind.
“This was pre–social media, so it wasn’t like he was posting pics of his family in matching pajamas in front of a Christmas tree,” she said, in addition to him allegedly never wearing his wedding ring around her.
“To be clear, Eddie wasn’t my boyfriend (at least not exclusively). But we did start a physical relationship at the end of 2006, which was a weekly booty call,” she later continued.
According to Shay, their hookups would always be on a Tuesday night after her shift ended and he was done with his poker game. The pair allegedly spent lots of time in public together with friends and even on his boat, cruising “around Castaic Lake taking photos together.”
“The frightening thing is that I totally thought I could end up with Eddie; he looked how I’d always imagined my future husband would, and he treated me well,” she said.
During their fling, Shay mentioned that she was young and not fully ready to commit to just one person.
“That was when I started seeing Jesse Metcalfe, the sexy gardener from Desperate Housewives,” she wrote.
She recalled seeing him as the star of 2006’s John Tucker Must Die, “thinking what a dream it would be to date him (not his character) —which I did” in early 2007.
Shay described him as an “awesome guy” who was focused on his sobriety, took her shopping at Neiman Marcus and would also serenade her with “Hey There Delilah” on his guitar. However, they they “grew apart” and things picked back up with Cibrian.
Shay went on to explain why she never visited Cibrian’s house.
“It really felt like we were building something. Did I think it was weird that I never went to his house? No! He lived in Calabasas, supposedly. And I certainly wasn’t making the trek to Calabasas in 2007, when Ubers didn’t exist, and I had less than $1,000 to my name,” Shay said. “It was so much easier and more fun to hang out in Beverly Hills or Hollywood, and my place was closer and more convenient. I didn’t see a single red flag, especially since we weren’t exclusive.”
Eventually, someone at her job tipped her off to him being married, but when she asked him, he denied it.
Shay wasn’t the only one Cibrian was seeing outside of his marriage. He also began seeing LeAnn Rimes while still married to Glanville. After he and Glanville divorced, he married the “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” singer, 42, in 2011.
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Glanville shares sons Jake, 18, and Mason, 22, with Cibrian. The RHBH star has since made peace with Cibrian, Shay and Rimes since the affairs.
My Good Side arrives July 22 and is available for preorder now.
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