Reza Farahan
In its second season, Bravo had a clear hit with The Shahs of Sunset. The series about a group of Persian-American friends living in Los Angeles has managed to double its audience since its debut last spring, thanks to a mix of lavish real estate, glimpses at Persian-American culture and a group of compelling personalities that included openly gay realtor Reza Farahan.
Reza has been a reality TV jack-of-all-trades, delivering witty commentary, dramatic fights and personal drama, all while making sure his friends are getting the care they need amid the drama. Whatever role The Shahs of Sunset needed, Reza has filled it with flair, making him a vital part of the hit series.
So far this season, viewers have met Reza’s new boyfriend, Adam, seen him start to acknowledge that he’s getting too old to keep partying so much (which Raza called a “gay life crisis”) and met Lily, a client of Reza’s that he introduced to the group. We talked with Reza about what’s coming up on the series and how things have changed since the show aired.
AE: The show has been such a big hit, how have things changed for you since the first season aired?
Reza: Life isn’t that much different. I get recognized more, I have more people following me on Twitter, but for the most part life is pretty much the same.
AE: How has the Persian community reacted to the show?
Reza: Yeah, the president of the Persian community called me yesterday… no, I’m kidding. The Persian community has been a mixed bag, some good, some bad, some in-between. I take it in stride. I’m not going to make everyone happy.
AE: Have you heard from any gay Persian men?
Reza: That’s the best part of being on this program. I’ve heard from a countless number of gay Persian men as well as their relatives who’ve reached out to me via social media outlets to let me know they didn’t commit suicide, it helped them come out to their family and a million other beautiful, beautiful messages that I will never forget for the rest of my life.
AE: That’s amazing. It’s such a powerful thing to see someone else like you on TV or anywhere.
Reza: At the end of the day, to expose myself to all the backlash that comes from just putting all your stuff out there, from people following you around and you’re living your life. You’re going to laugh, you’re going to cry, you’re going to make mistakes and people are going to react to it but it’s because of the gay Persian men and women that I did this. All of the backlash that I get or the negative comments, pale in comparison to the difference I feel I am making.
AE: You’ve got a new boyfriend this season. How much are we going to see of him?
Reza: You’re going to see more of him. He’s definitely not someone I would have considered dating. I didn’t even notice him, but he was sitting next to this guy and he looked like a barnacle, he would not go away and he was super persistent, he would talk to me every time he saw me at the gym until he finally broke me down and I agreed to go out with him.
AE: That’s sweet. Do we get to hear that story on the show?
Reza: Yeah, especially the barnacle part, I’m sure I said that at some point.
AE: Whose facial hair requires more grooming? Adam’s beard or your mustache?
Reza: My mustache for sure. My mustache is so bushy. It likes to be combed, cut, conditioned. If there’s a white hair in there, he wants it gone immediately, he’s real bushy.
Two combs required!
AE: In the second episode, you mentioned that you’re in the middle of a “gay life crisis” is that something you’ll be dealing with?
Reza: I’m going to be dealing with it and, unfortunately, in episode four you’re going to see how I decide to deal with it and I’m still traumatized. I watched episode four recently to do a blog for the Bravo webstie and I’m still traumatized.
AE: I was wondering about your business, are we going to see you do any more real estate deals? It looks like you’re going into business with Mike this season?
Reza: Yes. I do go into business with Mike this season and, knock on wood, my business has been on fire but I have to be honest with you as far as the cameras this is something I’ve decided to embark upon, a personal experience for myself. I put my sexuality out there, I put my family out there, but I feel that in a really high-end real estate market with a clientele that’s incredibly, incredibly private. I have celebrity clients, a lot of high net worth people who don’t really want their lives exposed just because I’ve decided to be on a reality show, so that aspect has been really difficult for me, and I don’t and cannot put pressure on my clients to expose their homes. You know, people see that and everything’s on the internet so I show a house and then people know where the house is and it can lead to a lack of privacy. I’ll tell you this, the house you saw on episode one, my client was really happy for me to share it with the world. I actually found it for him, it was in terrible condition. It was a foreclosure, she fixed it up, put it on the market, we ended up selling it to a celebrity, and I didn’t have to sign a confidentiality agreement. I represented the seller, so I’m happy to say Jamie Lynn Sigler from The Sopranos bought that house that ‘s on episode one.
Reza with MJ
AE: It looks like there’s going to be some tension between you and MJ. Does that mean you’re going to be doing less business together?
Reza: You know, MJ and I had a relationship that we worked out of the same office but we kind of stuck to our own things. She has her own clients, I have my own clients and we were running our business out of the same brokerage house.
AE: How did Lily become a part of the show? It looks like you were the first one to meet her. Did you meet her and go to Bravo and say, ‘Here’s this amazing person who should be part of the show’?
Reza: Oh my God, I have a magic genie lamp at home and I rub it really hard every night and I pray a skinny bitch will come out of it and Lily popped out. Actually, I bumped into Lily in the lobby of the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills and immediately I was taken aback by her appearance. I went up and I struck up a conversation with her. She asked me what I did. I told her I was in the real estate business. She told me she was looking for real estate and cut to after several hours of conversation I gave her a business card, we kept in touch. And then I slowly started introducing her to my group of friends. Then Bravo was there to follow all of that and chronicle it for everybody.
Reza with Lily
AE: How has your relationship with your father been? You reunited last season, are we going to see more of that?
Reza: You definitely will see more of my dad in season two and our relationship… honestly, it’s so strange. We’re talking about a reality show and reality shows aren’t known for bringing families together and resolving deep-seated family issues. But, for me, if I could say the second most amazing thing to come out of it has been the transformation in my relationship with my father. It was the perfect storm for us to have this transformational dialogue and you guys were there, the cameras were there. I didn’t want to do the ugly crying in front of the cameras but you just forget that they’re there. One thing after another, I’m crying, my dad’s crying, my cousins are crying. It was a hot mess.
AE: It was pretty amazing to watch, though. It was very powerful.
Reza: Thank you.
Reza with his father
AE: In the first episode, you say “That’s so Persian” do you ever feel pressure to censor yourself because the cameras are there in fear of creating stereotypes?
Reza: No, not at all. The only thing I fear is my mom. Sometimes I wonder, this is like a sixtysomething year old Persian woman and in my head, like in my mind’s eye, there’s this cartoon of what I’ve done to her and her cartoon self says to me, “Listen queen, like you’ve done your thing. I’ve support you. You pushed it to the limit, just don’t cross the line with me. I’m here for you, but don’t cross the line.” Sometimes I think about that, how far I can push it with her before she turns on me, like “Listen fag, I’ve been there for you the whole time, I’ve had it with you, I can’t take it anymore, I’m out of here.”
AE: You guys say some pretty blunt things in your interviews. There was a scene in season one where GG is showing you her knives and you called her unstable. Did you have any tensions after the show aired and you saw some of those scenes? Or are you really honest with each other?
Reza: I’m pretty blunt. I am not a person that minces words and if I’m feeling something you’re going to know it. The irony of what transpired – GG and I had a lot of conflict when the cameras weren’t rolling and, obviously, being in a group of friends, our friendship doesn’t end when the cameras stop rolling. We still see each other, we socialize, we have an extended circle, we bump into each other and we’re around each other a lot. She and I went through a lot of conflict when the cameras stopped rolling and we were back on the path of being homies and then the pool party happened and she got physical with Asa and Asa’s like my sister so of course I was going to stand behind Asa. So, actually, GG and I have been texting back and forth and we’re trying to set some time aside to sit down and kind of see if we can get on the same page. Literally today she texted me to see if I was available later this evening to chat with her.
AE: In the first season, it often felt like you were at the center of things. You were involved in everyone’s lives. Some of the group didn’t see each other except at the parties, you were always visiting everyone separately. Are you the glue that holds the group together?
Reza: Ironically, I kind of am and who would have thought the homo of the group would be the one standing up holding the signs for everybody, like “Hello, this is where the Persians are at. We’re here.”
AE: Now that you’re a Bravolebrity, do you see yourself visiting any of the other shows? Hosting a Persian food challenge on Top Chef, for example?
Reza: That’s really funny because when I do interviews like this it pulls me out of life to talk about something that’s real, something that’s part of my life and when you say Bravolebrity it’s so strange for me because I’m just Reza, real estate agent who lives in LA. The funny thing is, living where I live, I see Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken a lot because I love SUR and Villa Blanca and I see them there, they’re very present, I see them often. I bump into Kyle once in a while, I bump into her husband Mauricio. I see Madison Hildebrand and Josh Altman is a dear friend of mine. So do I know if I’ll be on their shows? I don’t know but I definitely see them around town all the time.
