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Thank you so much for having me.

Okay. Actor, advocate, director, bourbon connoisseur, father of Greg, best friend of Ian Somerhalder. I mean, it is such an honor and a pleasure to be sitting down with you today, Paul.

Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you.

Obviously, you were on one of the most iconic shows of all time, in my opinion, The Vampire Diaries. And I've always been obsessed. I remember when I started watching it. I've rewatched it. I've told you and Nina that I am a fan multiple times. You're like, Alex, we get it. And so it feels really full circle because now you, me, and Nina are going to be doing a television show together, which is very exciting. How awesome. You deserve to know the fact that you and Nina are going to be back on screen together. It feels like we're healing something within the world. How long has it been since you guys have worked together?

Oh my goodness. Well, I mean, gosh, let's see if my math skills are any good. So I guess the show ended in 2017 nina left two years prior to that um but she came back for the finale so i guess theoretically 2017 we're in 2026 it's been nine years since we've actually been on so it's almost

a decade by the time our show comes out it will literally be yeah by the time by the time we're

filming and by the time it comes out maybe yeah a decade over a decade okay i don't like that

because that makes me feel old but also i like it because everyone re-watches vampire diaries every five seconds so what feels nice is it feels like we haven't missed you guys too much it's such

a strange thing isn't it it's like it's the weirdest thing because like i you know once a show goes off the air typically you're like okay you like it fizzles out and like you know whatever and it's so funny because there are you know ian and i will do like you know uh conventions right and i'll have someone show up with their teenage daughter and they'll show up and make me feel I grew up watching you and now my daughter's watching you and it's like the weirdest like it's this generational thing because of streaming you know and it never ends it's like a vampire

it's eternal Paul it's like we're still in Mystic Falls we're still in Mystic we never left

I've never left I feel like I've never it'll never leave me oh I love that so much also I was

thinking about it you leave the show obviously and your life did eventually move on but like did you and Nina know that you wanted to work together immediately after the show or did it take a little second to get the itch to be like, should we do something?

Look, so it's like, it's very public that Nina and I had this very fun kind of back and forth relationship in the sense that what I mean by that is in the beginning, we didn't get along. And that's highly, you know, publicized. That's something she's spoken about. I've spoken about it. It's not like it's breaking news, you know? And now we're like, we're such good friends And I absolutely adore her. And it's one of these things that like, it's not like the show ended and we're like, let's do something together. It's just sort of like we would see each other, we'd stay in touch. And then enough time went on where I was like, you know, I don't know whose idea it was, but we kept saying we should do something, you know, and, and let's make it special. Like, let's really make it great. And so we, you know, we. We're trying to find something for years. And then we would not talk about it for two years. And then another, oh, we should do this. And then until finally, You Deserve to Know came about. And we're like, I think, yeah, this is it. Let's do this.

Is Ian jealous? Do we need to write him in?

We need to, maybe we need to like call a friend and ask him if he's jealous right now.

Ian, do you want us to write you in? There's still time. He's like, please stop.

He'll pretend no, but deep down inside, you know he wants to be written in.

Also, I love, didn't you guys, you and Nina were, didn't you do courtside together at one of the Knicks games yes yes just seeing it I think the Vampire Diaries every time you guys give any of those fans a little something we get excited

because you know Nina just moved to New York City full-time and I'm in New York I grew up in Jersey but I consider myself a New Yorker because that's like a lot cooler I always stay in New York and then people like really where and I'm like Jersey they're like uh um but um no but I you know I'm actually I've been going to Knicks games for years and I'm friends with Jalen Brunson he's a good buddy of mine. And I called Nina. I said, Nina, you got to go to a Knicks game with me. And I know they would love to have you. And Jalen, I'm going to call him out. I don't care. He's my homie. I love him. He's a huge Vampire Diaries fan. Him and his wife are huge Vampire Diaries fans. And so I was like, I got to bring Nina to a Knicks game because Jalen is going to love this.

Not him being a Vampire Diaries. Everyone's a huge fan of his. And he's like,

Elena, stop it. So I texted him right before the game. I was like, hey, just so you know, I'm bringing Elena to the game. And he's like, no way. And it's so funny because that game was like a blowout. They blew away. I forget who they were playing, but I think they won by like 50 points, which is like unheard of. And I was like, Jalen's doing this for Elena, isn't he? I know he is. That's actually amazing to know. Okay. In the new show that we're doing,

Nina's husband is murdered. And you are the top suspect. I am. That is giving very different vibes from Stellina, like it is very different. It is. What are you most excited about with this new dynamic? Like you're not in a romantic relationship. You're more friends on a show.

Yeah. I mean, you know, you were there when we were developing it, obviously. Yeah. Exactly. Producing it. But, you know, I mean, obviously, Aaron Kaplan, one of the EPs, he said, do you guys want to play, you know, romantic partners? And Nina and I talked about it. We kind of like we feel like there's some like there's just like this whole like the stefan and elena thing is so iconic and so perfect and in a weird way we don't want to like like i not ruin it but like have a comparison you know we don't want to we don't like if we were playing husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend like people would compare that to stefan and elena so we wanted to create a new dynamic so that we offered something new to the fans where we're still interacting on screen but it's in a different capacity i know and i really respected that

because just for everyone watching trust me we sat there and we're like so you're sure right you don't want to be married and you guys were like alex but i really respect that you guys have so much respect for the craft of like what you built on vampire diaries and i do agree with you in a way that like it would almost be hard to see you two in a couple and not be like stephan and alana And, oh, wait, no, this is a different show. So I think we did it right.

Exactly. I think so as well.

But don't worry, everyone, I asked.

Yeah.

Since the show is called You Deserve to Know, I'm going to ask you, okay, some stories that we deserve to know, Paul.

Yes, the public deserves it.

Yes, we deserve it. And you are going to tell us these stories. Please, please. Here we go. Tell us about your first kiss.

Okay. So my first kiss was kind of like, I remember I was in the, I used to live in this, community in New Jersey where it was like townhouses, but there would be like a public swimming pool. And I was in the public swimming pool. And this girl, I don't even know who she was, she dared me to kiss her underwater. And I was like, let's do this. I had my goggles on. I don't know, maybe I was like 10 or something. And I went down there and we kissed underwater. And I still remember her like freckled face kissing me underwater. And none of her parents

knew about it. It was really sweet. Not your first kiss being underwater. It was underwater.

Paul. With goggles and maybe even floaties. I may have taken off my floaties. Yeah. That's so

romantic. It was romantic. And then eventually you did it on land, but first underwater.

Eventually on land. And I remember my first on land as well, which was like my first girlfriend ever named Carolina, shout out. And I remember somebody dared us to French kiss, right? That's bigger deal right whoa big deal oh my god like a french kiss behind the you know after the school bus drives you off i was like and i was like okay i can do this and i just remember like you know you would think i would be like very excited i was just like i cannot believe people like this how do people like exchanging saliva i was still too young to like

fully appreciate it. And poor Carolina, because I did not, I wasn't like, I wasn't hyped about it.

You're just like putting tongue out and closing your eyes and hoping for dear life to get through it. I was like, let's get through it. Okay, cute. What is a time when you completely misread the vibe, but still shot your shot? Like with a girl? Yeah. Oh man, twice. Oh. Yeah. I mean,

it was twice twice twice that i could think of i remember like the the most the most simplistic one is like i remember being on a date with someone who would go unnamed because she's actually an actress and this was like obviously way back in the day um uh i was you know very single pre-vampire diaries and um and i just remember like i thought the date went really well and i was like i'm just gonna like i'm gonna go in for a kiss like a good night you know like a good good night kiss and and I just remember she just like I went in for the kiss and she was just like no it was like yeah like the turn and then I had to pretend that it wasn't a kiss and then it was like just a hug and I was like it was the most awkward it was so awkward I haven't seen her since thank god no literally since that moment never saw her again did you reach out after you didn't know you both didn't know it was like the worst oh my god it was the most embarrassing thing ever yeah paul yeah i was like traumatized that and then i remember one time i was in new york i just remember um i was on like a fire escape in york city and i was having this conversation with this girl i was like at a party i think and i was just like and i and never do this again paul and it's like there's any guys listening don't do this i was just like i looked and i was like can I kiss you? And she just goes, no. And I was like, oh, okay. Those are like the two times I

can think of. What do you do though to recover from that? Did you stay on the fire escape or

are we like? I don't recall. It was so long ago, but I remember being like, what a dumbass. I cannot believe I just asked her when she clearly has no interest in me. That's actually completely

amazing okay what is a night out that you can remember that gave you the worst sunday scaries

oh god i've had so many of those um you mean like is that what you mean by that is like

you made some bad decisions the night before you woke up really bad hangover you're like oh what did i do like paul what did we do last night i mean i was a bit of a troublemaker when

I was a kid. And my friends and I got fake IDs at the age of 15. And we would, these horrible fake IDs, but somehow they worked in New York City. And we would take the train up to the city at 15, 16 and go to these clubs and stay out till 7, 8 in the morning. And that was the worst. I

can't even imagine doing that at this point. Kids living in New York City when they're young or in New York City, you're like, you lived a different life. What do you mean you're at a

club at 15? No, it was crazy. And I just remember like sneaking out of my house and like, you know, doing the traditional like stuffing my bed with something that looked like a human and then like losing track of time. And then like my phone, of course, like I didn't even have a phone. I don't know if this was like pre cell phone. And I was at like a beeper. And I just remember like seven in the morning would hit on a Sunday and I would get like a beep. The beeper would go off. My mom would be like 9-1-1 9-1-1 call me right now paul and i'd be like oh my god how am i gonna explain

this oh wow but also like 15 year old boy being in the club oh my god like not having much um

success i would assume none none about as much success as i had on the fire escape you're not you're not buying bottles no i'm not doing anything i'm standing in the corner doing god

knows what you're lucky to like get in the bouncers like get out of here oh 100 and they

all knew it was a fake idea but they're somehow letting you in it was like new york in that time

was like a totally that's fair okay a time when you did something petty to get back at someone

oh gosh um i i mean i'm not i would not consider myself a petty person however however um you know like in high school um i went to three different high schools i wasn't like a cool kid at all and um and even in middle school and it was like you know the the the there was definitely like times where i was like you know the the town bully or like the cool kids who were older that didn't want to invite you to the parties or like you know kind of making you feel like you know you're not part of the in crowd and all that. And I remember, you know, I got on this big TV show, I was 26 and all of a sudden out of the woodworks come all these guys that wanted nothing to do with me in high school.

That like all, you know, the girls that wouldn't give me the time of day and all of a sudden they're like, hey, man, like, oh my gosh, my girlfriend, you know, my girlfriend or my sister or whatever, like, let's hang out or hey, you know, can you call my sister or something just to say hi? And I would just be like, you know what, like as petty as this is, no, like, no, you know what I mean? It just felt like now you want to be friends, you know what I mean?

i appreciate though yeah when people do that because you're like i remember yeah and i don't think that's fully being petty that's you being like oh i clocked exactly what's happening right now you don't get me now yeah that i'm all good yeah and i you know in my philosophy these days

is always like killing with kindness like i'm always the kind of guy who's like if to always just be nice to like kind of like that's my technique like i don't i don't want to be petty But I do remember when I was in my mid-20s and the show came out, I was like, you know what? I'm going to be petty. I'm going to be a little bit petty. I'm going to, you know what I mean?

I think we're all backing you on that one. What is something you did unexpectedly that went viral on the internet?

I mean, I can think of one very big thing that became viral on TikTok, which was when a fan asked me if I liked Madison beer. And I thought that was a type of beer. and i said i've never had that kind of beer before and i was like i don't i've never had

madison beer so that was that was special and then as it like kind of spiraled and then like

how did you handle that moment i mean at that point i was like do i then apologize to madison beer do i need to like make a public apology because she obviously is very famous she's you know but i'm just like an idiot i don't know and you know you're in your own world i don't know what's going on and so I was like you know it was it was it was very funny because it became this whole thing like I remember I forget there was some publication that like they I get you know frankly it was during COVID to me it was less less stuff going on but it was like top 50 pop culture moments of 20 whatever 2019 whatever the heck it was and I remember it was like Paul Wesley thinks Madison beer is a beer and I was like that makes the top 50. Do you get anxiety when something

like that you did is trending or do you not care? I think it's funny. I don't care. You don't care.

Yeah. You don't care. Yeah.

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Right.

I'm going to try to pronounce it and then you're going to. I can't wait. Okay, hold on. Your first name is Pave.

Almost.

Okay. and your last name is Vashilevsky.

Whoa. Oh. Do you have some like Eastern European descendant?

No, I actually put the pronunciation down for myself. Vashilevsky.

That's perfect.

So, okay, wait, you say it. Say your full name.

Pavel Vashilevsky.

Pavel.

Pavel.

Pavel.

Pavel.

Oh.

Oh.

Wait, wait, that sounds too Philly. Hold on, let me try that again. Say it again.

Pavel.

Pavel.

Vashilevsky.

Vashilevsky.

Amazing.

Oh.

Look at you.

Okay.

Do you want to play an Eastern European on You Deserve to Know? Do you want to play a Polish murder suspect? Because I think you could do this.

Honestly, maybe. How did we get here? How did you get from that to Paul Wesley?

So my parents are both from Warsaw, and they immigrated to this country. My older sister was born there from Warsaw, Poland. And I was the first of the family to be born in the United States. And growing up, we didn't speak any English or sorry, my parents didn't speak English well. And we spoke Polish at home primarily. So my mom always called me Paweł and Wasilewski is my name. But in school, it was Paul Wasilewski, because that's how the Americans would pronounce it, which, you know, phonetically, I guess that's like, or whatever, if you read it, that's so it was like my whole life, it was Paul Wasilewski. And I'm like, it's really like Wasilewski doesn't like speak to me. Do you know what I mean? that's not who I am. So I tried to correct people and be like, no, it's Vashilevsky. And they'd be like, no, no, no. And I started acting. And then I got my first few TV shows. And it was always this huge drama to pronounce my name. And I just said, you know what? If they're going to call me Paul Wazilewski, I might as well just change it. You know what I mean? So I didn't change it legally. I remember thinking I want my last name to start with a W and I want it to end with an E sound. Because like my real name, Wasilewski, Wasilewski. So I just literally started writing down random last names that could work. And I somehow stumbled upon Wesley. And I was like, I like the ring. I like the sound of that. And I just came up with it. It was as simple as that.

It's like totally arbitrary. Wait, what did your parents think about you changing your name?

Like, I remember asking my grandfather, who's on my mom's side. So technically, that wasn't his name. But I remember being like, he's like, go for it. Absolutely. Change it. Like, duh. Of course, you should change it. My dad was a little bit like, I'm not so sure. But then they kind of like came around to it. And I didn't change it legally. Yeah. Legally, I'm still, yeah.

Oh.

Vashilevsky. Yeah.

Okay. So your parents can be really happy about that. Okay. That's good.

That's just my stage name.

From New Jersey. Yes. Not New York. Good to clarify. Your parents immigrating from Poland. Can you paint the picture of what your house was like growing up? Like, put us right in there, Paul. What are we experiencing in this home?

I had a great childhood. You know, my parents are, they're wonderful. And they, you know, what's great is I grew up in the proximity, 45 minutes south of Manhattan. And so it was always like Manhattan was this kind of like, oh my gosh, this is like the place, right? Like you always, like I was so enamored. Like I really wanted to end up somehow in Manhattan. And I remember I was playing ice hockey my whole life. And my parents were, they're pretty smart people. Like my dad went to Columbia. He's a computer engineer. My mom has a master's in psychology. And my sister's a lawyer. They're all pretty like highly educated. And so I just never fit into that mold. I always wanted to do something different. And I started doing theater and all this. And my parents were so great because they put me in acting classes. And they were like, you know, they wanted me to like just be happy. And so I started doing these acting classes in Manhattan. And somehow an agent saw me and was like, hey, do you want to audition for stuff? And I was like, sure. And that's how I ended up in Manhattan. I got a TV show at 16. I started making my own money and I got my own apartment in the city. but so they I I guess in answering your question like I credit them with giving me the kind of like flexibility and like allowing me to pursue my dreams and being really like they they wanted me to be happy they weren't like you have to go to you know they wanted me to get good grades but they weren't they want they were like more important is for you to be passionate about what you do and so I feel like I was able to do what I love to do and to have this career in in film and television because they were supportive. Well, that's incredible because I feel like so

many people don't have that experience. So it feels like you have to rebel, but to have actually supportive parents, it must have felt so safe for you to explore your passions. Absolutely. Being close to New York, though, obviously, there's so many different cultures that come in and out of New York in a beautiful way. But like you were in New Jersey. Yeah. So was and close Jersey Shore.

right? Yeah, it's 20 minutes. You're like, please. Come on. Come on now. Calm down, Alex. But if I showed you some photos of me, you'd be like, for sure that guy could have been on the Jersey Shore. You remember the Jersey Shore, obviously, right? Paul? Yeah. Oh, my God. So I've never seen the Jersey Shore. What? But there's a funny story to tell you. So I used to do the whole Jersey Shore thing. I had a house in Belmar and my friends and I used to like lift weights and you know like it was like you know gym tan laundry and all the kind of like literally wax our eyebrows and like you know walk around like this in our tank tops anyway it was like so pathetic um and i remember like i was in my 20s and i was doing like a something for the vampire diaries and somehow they're like oh the cast of the jersey shore is here and i was like oh cool i don't know i've never seen it and um and um the guy who plays

the situation. I love how you say the guy who plays the situation. That's his real life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike, the situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So that guy comes up to me. He's like,

hey, Paul. And I was like, hey. And he's like, we used to hang out in the Jersey Shore. And I was like, we did? And he's like, yeah. And I asked a few friends. I'm like, yeah, he used to hang out with us. We used to go out with the Jersey Shore. I didn't even know. I was part of the

Jersey shore, you know, fist bumping. You had the situation right under your fingertips and you didn't even know. I had no idea. You may have been out with Snooki and you didn't even know.

For all I know, I could have been. Yeah. Paul, why do I feel like that's your life? Where you're

like, I didn't know Madison Beer wasn't a beer. I didn't know I was friends with the situation. I didn't know any of this. Like life just keeps happening. And Paul's like, what? Oblivious. Dude, that's crazy. Okay, so did you ever get a spray tan?

Of course I got a spray tan.

You were gym tan laundering, actually.

I did a spray tan when I was, my friends, I'm telling you, I mean, it's like I shouldn't be admitting this, but like, I'm telling you, when I was like 17, and we used to like literally, like it was all about like how big our muscles are. I was like 40 pounds heavier, like it was all about muscles and being tan, and then like making sure you have no chest hair and like walking around the Jersey Shore like this and like honestly fighting. We would get into like fistfights all the time. And like, oh my God,

it was like, you have no idea. When you were saying that you were getting jacked and you were doing all that, you know what it made me think of? What? Donnie. Donnie from the OC. Paul? Donnie from the OC. One of my favorite shows. Were you on one episode? I was only on one episode. Okay. You made such an impression to remember that you were on the OC and to only

be in one episode. That's pretty incredible. You'd be surprised how many people come up to me and go, Donnie, it is the craziest thing. Like just one episode. And I remember because I read for the main guy, Ryan, who's Ben McKenzie is a good friend of mine. I adore him. By the way, so is adam brody and i just met them on on when i was doing donnie when i was playing donnie but anyway doing when i was doing donnie um no and i uh no i remember i read for ryan i didn't get it i was very devastated and they called me like how about donnie you're more of a donnie and i was like sure i'll play donnie and then i just played myself basically oh it came so because that was

like you were in chino with ryan or something and you guys like or like whatever you yeah you were

there you were like the scary guy oh yeah i shot somebody i shot the the blonde guy i was like yeah bitch you shot luke you shot i shot luke thank you fully shot i shot luke you came into the party

you had the gun i had a gun oh my god cut the clip with good old paul roll the clip with donnie Bring it back. I remember I think you had like a thick armband.

Oh yeah, armband and oh my God.

Oh, you were so Donnie.

I was so Jersey. It was easy to play.

It felt organic.

A hundred percent. Didn't have to study for that role at all.

So you eventually get into acting.

Right.

And in the early days, you end up living with your childhood friend, Ricky and his Pomeranian in a studio apartment in the West Village. Did you have two beds?

We had two beds.

Oh, that's-

The Pomeranian and him on one, me and the other, two twins, you know.

Oh, two twins. Two twins, yeah. Two twins.

We're right there next to each other, yeah.

Oh, like a little nightstand in between.

And by the way, this is like, yeah, exactly, literally. And this is back when like we were like wearing tank tops and like, you know, and- Still feeling yourself. Oh yeah, still feeling ourselves. So everyone was like, welcome to the neighborhood. And West Village. In West Village.

What were you three getting up to around that time?

God, no. By the way, I love that you said you three, including the Pomeranian. Yeah, like the Pomeranian was... clubbing with us. No, it was like, I was on a soap opera with Brittany Snow. Oh, I love her. Yeah. I think she did the show. Yes, yes. Love her so much. I adore her. She's one of my dear friends. I adore her. She's the best. She's the best. So Brittany and I played boyfriend and girlfriend on a show called The Guiding Light. I was like 16 years old making a bunch of cash. I was like, Ricky, I'm going to get an apartment in the West Village. And he's like, great. Is that how you would talk? Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. Okay. Something like that.

There was a little accent in there. It was giving a little New York.

He was giving a little like Sopranos. Yeah, yeah. No, I used to have a thick Jersey accent. But anyway, and then I was just like, let's just like get the, and it was just like the best time of my life, you know, it was like fake IDs and just partying and, you know, doing this soap opera. And like, frankly, like, that's where I like kind of learned how to, you know, I remember when I first got on the soap opera, I was so uncomfortable. And like the soap opera taught me how to like work with the camera and like, you know, be more relaxed. And like, it was an amazing training ground. And so many great actors came from that. But like Britney, Britney's amazing. Want to hear something funny? I'm going to call out Britney. She said this story, so it doesn't really matter.

Yeah, give it to us.

It's really funny. Britney's, I wonder if Britney, she said this story, so it's fine. So I, we were on set and like, you know, I'm like 16, 17. So like, you know, whatever. I had like, you know, done a bunch. I had kissed, I had a girlfriend. I'd kissed women, girls before. and um and britney and i had our first kiss scene and i was like cool no big deal like whatever because we were playing boyfriend girlfriend and britney was younger than i was um and we did the kiss scene and i'm like okay like that was fine like that went well and i remember afterwards her mom comes up to me goes just so you know that was her first kiss ever and i was like what i didn't know that and like to this day yeah it's so sweet like to this day like britney's first kiss is the kiss on camera with me it was really sweet oh you're a good guy I feel like that you probably

made it just like so sweet and like yeah yeah wait that's cute it was really now we're really good friends yeah it was really and to see just how both like successful you've been in your own rights and just think about you like little youngins yeah and like imagining Brittany also

being probably so nervous oh my god I can imagine yeah oh my god it's actually probably good that

you didn't know yeah exactly exactly that's really sweet yeah okay so what would you and Ricky do though if you both if you had like a girl that you wanted to bring back and we've got the twin bets paul like what are we doing oh my gosh like what happened what did happen you're like ricky

yeah um no it was um let me get back to you on that one i don't remember i plead the fifth no i don't know i think we probably you figured it out like ricky you know go take a walk uh get out of here but you can leave the pomeranian yeah leave the pomeranian doesn't care okay fair

so you and ricky had your stint you did your thing yeah then there's been another bromance in your life uh-huh with none other than your vampire diaries co-star holder ian summer holder is that what we call him i call him the smolder holder like when you call him every day or is

that what you're saying? Just Smoldy. I call him Smoldy Pants. Smoldy. For years, I called him Smoldy Pants. Does he like that? I think deep down inside, he likes it. What does he call you? Fuckface, probably. Yeah. Am I allowed to curse? No. I mean, we're so funny. We call each other like, Ian and I are like, we're like in this like domestic partner. No, not a domestic partner. We don't live together. It's like this, like we're in like a marriage, you know? It's like we started off as like colleagues working together then we're like best friends then we're like okay we see each other every day for eight years i love you but also like then we're like brothers then now we have this business together it's like we are so it is like such a complicated it's like my longest relationship i've ever had in my life we've been i feel like we've been together for 20 years and we know i know what he's gonna say before he's even gonna say it and he knows what i'm gonna say and we're yin and yang do you bicker like a married couple oh my god we bicker we we hug it out we like i mean it is like it is how do nikki and natalie feel about it like when you guys are all together like the calm energies and like we're the tasmanian devils like they're like by the way thank god for nikki and natalie like natalie's like calms me down so much and i feel like nikki calms him down so much because him and i are are a little natalie's energy when we got

drinks i was like she is so good she's so good she is so steady so steady calm yes sophisticated oh my god lovely yes i'm so happy for you but now knowing the two of you are like that i'm like

even more now that makes sense yeah and like yeah nikki and nat and nikki as well is like much more like ian is like ian is like moves a thousand miles a minute you know and like have Have you met Ian?

No.

He's like, I mean, the guy will literally, he can talk to anyone for like two hours. Like he will literally just corner you and talk to you and lose track of time. Like he is like this, he's the most personable person that you'll ever meet. Like you would love him. Everyone just looks into his blue eyes and just like melts. It's like, I mean, it doesn't work on me anymore. I'm like, get the hell out of here. Yeah, but it worked initially. Wow.

Okay, almost 20 years in this partnership, in this marriage. Yeah. go back, think about what was your first, first impression of him? And like, when did you first

meet him? The first time I met him was in Burbank, California. After we both got cast on the show, we knew we'd be playing brothers. And they're like, you need to go to this dental office because you need to get a fang fitting. You need to get your fangs fitted for the show because they have to mold them so i remember i was like pulled up to this dentist and he's like leaving and i'm like hey hey and hey like i guess we're gonna play brothers he's like yeah yeah he's like i just got my fangs fit i'm like yeah i'm gonna get my fangs fitted as well i was like i'll see you on the plane tomorrow and then i remember like being like okay cool and then i remember we sat we decided to sit next together next to each other on the plane on the way to vancouver because we shot pilot in vancouver and i'm sitting there we're chatting and and this is a perfect um example of how me and ian are total polar opposites i'm glass half empty i think everything is doomed he's glass half full and we're usually somewhere the truth is usually somewhere in the middle this time he was right i look at him and i go so we're doing this pilot huh he's like yeah i'm like i don't know man i'm like vampire diaries i was like do you i was like you know you think we're gonna get picked up he's like yeah i think we're gonna get i'm like i don't You think it's going to be a hit? I don't think it's going to be a thing. And he just looks at me. And I still remember to this day, he just goes, au contraire, mon frere. It's going to be a big deal. Mark my words. And I was like, au contraire, mon frere. I was like, who speaks like that? But anyway, he was right.

He was right.

He was right. He was dead on.

Oh, my God. That's actually kind of crazy, though, because knowing because you guys ended up shooting all the time in Atlanta. Yes. But going for that pilot, I've obviously interviewed actors before that it is crazy to know like most of the time that first episode is not filmed where it's going to be filmed. Yeah. And you have no idea if you're going to get picked up.

No idea.

When was the moment do you think you were like, oh, I like I think I really like this guy. Like, so first you're kind of like dipping your toe in the water. You're like, oh, contrary. You're like, OK, this guy's like kind of kooky and I like him and he's uplifting. But when were you like, oh, we're friends?

well so we so the show got picked up and then i was like okay i was like well and then i was like i'm gonna take this shit really seriously like this is a big deal this is a huge because i had done like eight pilots and they all failed and like i mean some got picked up but none of them lasted and i had this feeling after the show got picked up i was like and it tested really well they tell you about like whether it tests well with the audience like they're like something special with this one i was like we have to do a good job so i was like ian we need to like we're playing brothers we need to like bond and we need to like really study together he's like you're right he's like i have an idea he's like let's fly to atlanta and let's get apartments next to each other so we can just live next to each other and i was like good idea so i remember and to this day i remember we literally get to the airport and i pull up i'm wearing these light blue jeans a black leather belt a white hanes shirt black ray bands and cowboy boots these like fry boots and i look over at him and he's wearing the exact same thing now we literally looked at each other and we're like we looked like the blues brothers we got off the plane and we were like decided to go apartment hunting and got apartments next to each other so that we can be close to each other so that we can practice and study lines together. And it was just like the funniest thing pulling into Atlanta wearing the exact same... Oh, we had the same color backpack as well.

Paul.

And I remember we stayed at the W Hotel for the first night. We walked in and everybody just looked at us like, who are these guys? It's really funny.

He's basically your soulmate. Yeah. Since day one.

So he was like my brother the minute we landed in Atlanta.

Okay, but then I'm like, I can't help but be like, why do I feel like I can see Ian and you living next to each other was a good idea at first and then you're literally like coming home after a long day on set then you're going into your rooms and he's like knocking and

you're like paul come out and play yeah yeah i was like leave me alone he's like knocking on the wall no but it you know truthfully like you know jokes aside like we really like we didn't mess around like the first two seasons we were like oh my god and then like by the third season we're like we're good let's this is doesn't need to be fake bourbon on set anymore like Like, let's go ahead and maybe switch that out with some Woodford Reserve. And by the way, yeah. Sorry, Warner Brothers.

Because you guys did drink so much. We were just constantly.

By the way, it's not like we were shit-faced on set. But like, you know, towards the end of the day, you know, you're like, I've drank enough of this like unsweetened iced tea, which is supposed to be bourbon. I think I can like, you know, pour a little bit.

And like the amount of scenes that like Ian had to do, like dancing, like in the mansion alone. Yeah. Give that man a little something. Give that man.

Yeah. Get him some bourbon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get him some bourbon.

speaking of bourbon look at that transition you guys started brothers bond bourbon inspired kind of by these like vampire diary days that you had together yes how many drunk nights did you guys

have trying to develop this and get it right so you know so covid hit right so we always talked about doing a bourbon and i remember covid hit and it was like i couldn't leave like i was sort of a nomad i was shooting these tv shows i was like up until covid and then i was stuck we were all stuck we couldn't leave and i remember being in um in in uh we lived in the same little community at the time in um we had houses in in topanga and i remember um ian called me up one day he's like hey man we're not doing shit we can't leave our houses we can't do anything he's like do you want to just come over and like blend some bourbon and like let's figure out how to blend some bourbon and like let's launch a bourbon and i was like yeah i'm not doing anything else so we i just would go to his house and we would just like drink uh create these blends for like and in his kitchen we'd go by the fire pit outside and we would just like try like he i would come to his house and he would have all these like graduated measuring cylinders he looked like a mad like you know like uh in back to the future what's his name daca what was that guy he kind of looked like that. His hair was everywhere. He was mad. He had a beard. He had all this bourbon. He was looking like a chemist. And I remember we just spent months just creating these blends that we liked. And then we finally found something we loved. And then we sent it into this lab, essentially, to analyze the mash bill. And they were like, this is your mash bill. I was like, great. That's Brothers Bond. And then we did a small friends and family round and raised a little bit of money and launch the bourbon and boom that it's like so crazy to see and it's such

a great idea obviously you guys have such a strong brand already in the two of you but then to launch

that that felt very organic for you guys yeah together and we like genuinely like gen this is not like a plug like we genuinely love bourbon and like that's all we drank in atlanta you know when we would film finish filming and be like god like we just shot 14 14 15 16 hours let's go to the bar and we would always drink bourbon. That was like our thing. And so like the brother's bond, obviously it's like a nod to me and Ian on screen. We have a bond as brothers, but also like off screen, that was like our brother's bond. You know what I mean? So it was very funny because when we started the company, we didn't have a name and we were like pitching Walmart and our CEO is like, we need a name. And they're like, we're on calls in an hour. We can't just like pitch a brand that doesn't have a name. And Ian's like, okay, I got it. I got it. I got it. I was like, okay, what is it? He's like, Brothers Supreme. And I was like, Brothers Supreme? I was like, dude, that's the worst name for a bourbon brand ever. I was like, we are not Brothers Supreme. He's like, I think it should be Brothers Supreme. I was like, all right, give me a minute. And I sat there. I was like, and I started like texting all these. And I was like, Brothers Bond. I was like, Brothers Bond. He's like, great, done. And then like 15 minutes, 15 minutes before our

pitch to Walmart, we had the name Brothers Bond. Well, I also love it because it's so you and Ian, And like he basically came up with the first word and then you're like, no, no, no, no, no. Adjust, adjust, adjust, adjust, adjust. Second word is this. Boom, go. Okay. Stefan obviously had doppelgangers. But do you have any alter egos when you're drinking, Paul?

I'm like, you know, I'm like a pretty good drinker. Do you know what I mean? Which is probably not a good thing.

Are you like happy?

Are you quiet? No, I'm just like happy and like funny. and like you know you know sometimes i do these q a's online oh we're getting there okay like half the time i'm like drinking okay so like you know yeah well that's how maybe more than half the time

no i love it so much that's how i know like that is some people's worst nightmare is like i don't want to do anything online unless i am what know exactly what i'm posting you're like oh no oh i'm

drinking give me a drink no no give me a drink i'll tell you what i like what i don't react well to is like, some people are like, oh, I'm going to smoke a joint and then I'm relaxed. That's like my worst nightmare. If I smoke a joint, which I don't, I don't react well to marijuana. I will be the most awkward, insecure, like I will have a total mental breakdown. Like I'll have a panic attack. But if you give me like a bourbon or whatever, I'm like chilling, man. I'm my real self.

Okay.

Let's talk about those Q and A's.

Yeah.

You have really, you've really cornered the market.

Unintentionally, for the record. This was not a master plan.

Paul.

Another byproduct of COVID.

Okay. A lot of good things came for you.

I guess so.

So you started posting this like close friends Q and A thing, basically. And talk to me about the criteria for, you know, close friends.

Okay. so this is how this is the genesis okay so um a girl that works with us named remy who's awesome she does all the brothers bond like she does our social media she does a lot of our marketing she does whatever long story short remy was like hey there's this app that allows you to have close friends um uh that subscribe to your like because i didn't have a close friends like on my own instagram and there she's like it allows your fans to be close friends it's this app thing i forget the name of it. And I was like, she's like, should I sign you up? I'm like, sure. What the hell else am I doing? It's COVID. And so she's like, great, do whatever you want. I'm like, well, I'm not going to like, it's not only fans. I'm not going to like post shirtless selfies, but I'm like, so what can I do? What can I do to like make people feel? So I'm like, how can I interact with people? So I just started doing these random, like, ask me a question and like, let's just shoot the shit, you know? And that, and then suddenly this was, I didn't realize that you could then take those Q&As, screen record them. And then suddenly they ended up on TikTok. And I, by the way, unbeknownst to me, so suddenly I'm all over TikTok with these Q&As and that is how this whole thing happens.

It is like, the through line of this is Paul Wesley has no idea what the fuck is going on. This whole interview, you're like, and then somehow this thing called TikTok.

I know. It sounds like it's this premeditated, I promise you, it's all just like-

No, no, I believe you. You could tell. Okay, so we're going to make the daddy gang feel like close friends of yours today. All right, let's do it. We're going to do a little Q&A. And you're going to get in the headspace of like, your phone's in front of you, you've had a little bourbon, and you're just going to answer from the

heart, whatever comes to mind. What is something that really pissed you off lately? What is something that really pissed me off lately? Oh my gosh. So many things piss me off all the time um well i haven't spoken to ian in a week so i've been pretty calm um zen more than no i mean listen i love ian but he will drive me crazy because he is um he's too positive for he's too he's too glass half full and i need some negativity in my life so i would say like ian The answer is Ian.

Why haven't you spoken to him in a week?

I just, I don't know. I've been busy.

Yeah.

I got to call.

Should we call him? Please call him.

We'll call him.

Yeah, we'll call him. Call him now.

Should we call him?

Yeah, just tell him to say hi. Come on, Ian.

All right. Let's see if he picks. By the way, he never picks up the phone. Let's just see, maybe. Do I even have him? I don't even have him in my favorites. That just goes to show you how little.

I think he's in my phone.

No, I have him in my phone.

Do you have him in as Ian Somerhalder?

Oh my God, you're going to laugh. I make fun of Ian's fedoras, his giant hats. Of course. I have a giant exaggerated fedora as his profile photo. He won't pick up. This is going to piss me off. He asked me what pissed me off. This is what's going to piss me off.

Like I'm in the middle of a ship.

He never picks up.

I feel like he would pick up. I feel like that's his personality.

Ian, come on. Pick up the phone. I feel like you're the one that wouldn't pick up. I'm the one. I definitely wouldn't.

Your call has been forwarded to voicemail.

Are you kidding me? This is what pisses me off.

Ian. Oh, wow. Okay, so he doesn't answer your calls often.

No, he does. He's just, you know, Ian's the kind of guy that like, he's like literally will like put his phone down and corner someone for like three hours. And then no one can get ahold of him. And we're all just like, yeah. He's very focused on what he's doing, which is probably a good thing. He's not a multitasker. Got it.

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oh um i refuse to go to bed unless i have a humidifier and a sound machine oh wow so i have to travel with a humidifier and sound machine you're high maintenance i like good sleep it sleeps important to me sleeps important do the mouth tape no mouth tape okay i i cover i cover earplugs sometimes oh you're strapped in i'm strapped in natalie's like i'm not feeling turned on right now she's like she's like i look over at you you have a mouth guard a sleep mask a white noise machine and a humidifier blowing in our faces she's like paul can we just like can you chill just tone it down can you just like relax can this is a good

visual to have yeah or not you know yeah okay what is the craziest thing a fan has sent you

I mean, I have a crazy story. I don't know if this is something that they've sent me, but one time I came home, I was living at the time in the Hollywood Hills and I came home from a, this is kind of a weird, this is actually kind of creepy. I came home from something and it was like the middle of the night and I remember like at 11 p.m. I pull up and I'm in, I don't live in this house anymore, so it's okay. But I pull up to the driveway and all of a sudden I see like nine suitcases in my driveway, okay? and like you know those like it was the weirdest thing you know like back in the day when women would go to the hairstylist and they had those bowls oh yeah what do they call them for like a yeah like a perm like a perm bowl it was a perm bowl i was in your driveway in my driveway i was like why is there a perm bowl in my driveway i was like what is going on and there was a fan there and she goes hey and i was like uh can i help you and she's like i we've been emailing you told me i can move in i by the way i swear to god and i was like what are you talking about she's been she was emailing with someone who thought she was pretending to be you was pretending to me and said that i she can move into my home and she brought the perm bowl i was gonna say

i don't know what's weirder that she was ready to move in not weird at all the she brought the

perm bowl was the thing that weirded me the luggage i was like whatever it's fine we can deal with this the perm ball i was like why does that have to come with a perm ball yeah or whatever

it's a dryer that is when you're getting a perm ball so what did you do i just i said look

it's not me i haven't been emailed first of all i was like how do you know where i live and she's like what do you mean everyone knows i was like everyone knows i was like what are you talking

about so that was yeah yeah that's weird that was weird i also heard someone sent you a big uh

box of sausages oh yeah yeah someone did send me a big box of salt thanks for reminding me um but yeah no i did i did get sausages and what did you take from that i didn't eat the sausages yeah i don't i don't know if it was innuendo if it was just maybe it's because i'm polish yeah

kielbasa it will make you feel better if that was it it was because of the kielbasa yeah maybe

they were meant for ian um they were so they were like get this to ian i was like no no worries i'll get that over to him um love island have you watched i've never seen love so do you not know what the clam slam i have no idea what the hell you're talking about that is the weirdest

thing i've ever heard in my life if you had to think about like all right a clam slam i i what

I don't even know where to... start okay okay walk me through this this is your new madison beer okay so everyone in the world is

talking about like the clam slam clearly not everyone in the world but you know nothing okay

okay it's the clam slam that was heard around the world basically okay so there is this woman kenzie and on love island yeah she could just be mid conversation with you and then she just drops to the ground and she does a split i'm seeing your face oh my god i'm laughing so hard it's just a quick little one two boom to the ground um what i mean this is so out of left field i don't even know but i just didn't know maybe you jersey i don't know like do you know

are you what are you asking me i guess i was wondering like as have i seen a clam slam in

the jersey shore what have you ever seen a clam slam in real life like i have never i didn't even

know i don't even know where i don't even know what to say i'm i met first time in my life i'm

at a loss for words i have not laughed this hard in the interview yeah no okay so you've never witnessed the clam slam no okay okay my mind now no this is good this is good because the love island fans are gonna love that we're moving on um please kenzie's gonna love that one okay okay are you and justin bieber in any way related i don't think so

i don't not to my knowledge you see people say you guys look like yeah not when i was younger it is true yeah i've seen some photos of the fans have taken photos of the two of us and they put

them and yes no have you ever met him i don't think so okay we gotta get that together yeah okay someone who also looked like you there was a uh halloween costume situation oh yeah and yeah I'm gonna have to find the pictures and put them up because when I was looking at them yeah it is so insane it's unbelievable can you tell the story to everyone watching of like what

happened Paul right okay well I just I don't even know how they came to my like how did I how I learned about them but effectively like I just started getting word of these that I was people were like, hey, man, like, I didn't know you were doing Halloween costumes now. And I was like, what? Like, what are you talking about? Like, yeah, my sister just saw you in the Halloween store. And like, yeah, man, like, you're hard on cash. Like, what's going on? I was like, what is that? So I was like, somebody find me these Halloween costumes. And suddenly, fans started sending them to me. People online were like, hey, Paul, I just saw you at this Halloween store. And they would send me photos. And so I got wind of these Halloween costumes that are so unbelievable because they're so awful, where they just literally took my face and they would put them on various, it's almost like a comedy. They would put me in like various positions, like, you know, like Luigi, but then like the mustache was upside down. And then they'd be like, warrior, warrior, you know, Zen warrior master. And it was like me in a robe. And I called my lawyer and I'm like, what can I do about this? It's like, there's Halloween costumes with my face. I was like, there was one with me with a sombrero. It was like unbelievable. And I was like, where did they come up with these ideas? Anyway, I had a few people bring them to me. Like I actually have them, physically have them. So anyway, my lawyer found out the company that was making the Halloween costumes. And she was like, hey, cease and desist. Like, what are you doing? Like, you cannot use my client's face. And they were like, we have no idea what you're talking about. They're like, this is not, this is someone that looks like Paul Wesley. This is not Paul Wesley. Like this is, and it's literally my face. And I'm like, what do we do? She's like, we don't, it's a company out of like the company's base in China. Like we don't know how to get to, we don't know what to do. So to my knowledge, they're still producing these Halloween costumes.

Oh, Paul Wesley's still out there.

He's out there like, and I'm just like G.I. Joe. And there's always a new one. There's like doctor. And then it's like, but then it's like my, like my hands are huge, but then I have these like short legs. It's like the weirdest. It's like, they're like the worst Halloween costumes ever.

I mean, so you just keep seeing like every Halloween.

There's like a new, I'm playing, it's like cosplay. Like I'm playing a new character.

Oh my God. And so you have no compensation for this.

No compensation. By the way, I should be getting tons of compensation. The sales are through the roof. Through the roof. Okay.

That's really weird.

Yeah. Yeah.

Can you, this is a really big question.

Yeah.

So I need you to lock in.

Okay.

Can you just-

still thrown off from the clamslam but I'm still recovering by the way like I'm frazzled

I started sweating

i was laughing so hard yeah me too i snorted i don't snort the clam slam yeah will go down you know what the clam slam yeah it will perfect literally um this is this is a good transition

from the clam slam okay it's kind of same caliber okay walk in okay can you define steph

fussy. I got to lock in. Yep. That's what I said. Take your time. I got to take my time with this.

Water break, whatever you got to do. It's a bit, it's a bit, uh, it's a bit of an enigma. It really is. I was doing the Q and A, uh, as you know, the infamous Q and A and, um, And one of the questions, someone called me a step fussy. And I was like, I am going to answer that question. I think they said, are you a step fussy or something like that? And I was like, I'm going to answer it because I could choose the questions, you know? So I willingly chose that question. I was like, I think this is a good idea. This is a good one to answer. and i uh and i was like uh and i don't remember i somehow was like yeah i guess i am a step pussy and somehow this became the greatest like now when i walk down the street i swear to god people aren't like hey paul or like hey you know stefan from the vampire diaries or whatever any other thing they're just like what's up step pussy so now for the rest of my life i am a step pussy because someone asked me if I was a Steph Lizzie on my Q&A.

Paul.

So.

Paul.

If you want, you tell me what a Steph Lizzie is.

I have no idea. Nor do I. I can't even.

Like we kind of maybe understand what it is. It's groundbreaking. Yeah.

It's almost better to not define it.

It's almost better to not define it because it could be whatever it is for anyone. And we can't put it in a box. Exactly. We can't put it in a box. Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah. And by the way, I keep waiting for it to fade. I'm like, surely in time, I will no longer be Steph Fussy.

You're on Call Her Daddy. It's been years. And we got Steph Fussy questions. Oh, no, no.

It's been years.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It will not leave me.

But you did it to yourself.

I did it to myself.

You almost wonder, who was that person?

And are they pissed that they are not getting the credit?

The credit. Come forward.

And how do you prove? How do you prove it?

How do you prove? Who came up with Steph Fussy?

Some genius. some genius. Who knows? Who knows? We're going to circle back to that. We will.

I have a question. Yes. Even though obviously you touched on this way earlier, but I still have to ask. When you and Nina started Vampire Diaries and you were like, we hate each other. How did you, when you look back, how did you two come together and make it look so good on camera?

Because I'm like. Just, you know, just for the record, it's not that it was like we immediately were like i hate you it wasn't like that we were like actually great and then it was just like we would have these like it's slowly you know it was like first of all we were all in our 20s i was i will take a lot of responsibility because i was a bit of a curmudgeonly i was like a bit of a grumpy pain in the ass i was like i'm taking my acting seriously i heard you were a little intense no phones on set. I was a little bit intense. I was a little bit intense. And then everyone else was a little bit more chill. And so I think I'm going to take a lot of responsibility for being a bit of a pain in the ass. Okay. All right. So that's number one. But we were both professional and we both knew and the work mattered to us so regardless so we would we would like butt heads on set but then the minute the cameras rolled it was like we knew we wanted to make it magical and like some actors just you can be like have two really good actors and the chemistry isn't there for whatever reason Nina and I had this chemistry and I remember when I was auditioning for the Vampire Diaries, um, screen testing for it. It was like me and nine other guys. And I remember like all these guys were like, you know, kind of kissing your ass, trying to like, you know, whatever. And I remember I just was like, I'm not going to look at her. I'm not going to look at her. I'm not even going to acknowledge her. Cause I want to meet her in the audition. I want to meet her for the first time in the audition. And that cause our scene was us meeting for the first time. And I just remember being in the audition at Warner brothers, like in front of all the executives and just like, we looked at each other and it was just like this immediate chemistry and we were these two characters and it just was magical and so regardless

of us not like getting along it's somehow yeah I don't know I guess I didn't really answer your

question no like when did you guys start to be like okay like maybe we can be friends like was

it like season one we were like you know what no it was like season I was like season so her last season was season six okay you're like that's when we became friends yeah yeah her the and then five minutes before she left no um no and I just remember like in during season six I remember we like we all kind of grew up and i chilled out and i was like less of a pain in the ass and i just remember looking at her and i was like you know what nina she's still i was like you're gonna miss me one day i said that to her i was like you're gonna miss me one day and she's like maybe maybe and i remember like then like she and then like years like two years went by and we kind of kept in touch and then she came back to do the finale and i like look and we we like hadn't worked together in two years. And I like, we like looked at each other and I was like, I was like, I missed you. You know what I mean? Like I missed her. Like I missed having her around. And then, and then like, it was like just, and then to this day, she's always like, I remember you said to me, uh, you're going to, you're going to miss me one day. And you know what? You were right. Like you were right. And it was like, it's just like this thing that just like slowly happens. Well, you know, it's also cool about that. And cause I remember talking

of neat about it it's like the amount of episodes that you guys were doing tv shows don't really do

it like that anymore like how many were in a season 22 sometimes we would do 23 i wish we

could go back to those days so i could just binge it all but now there's like eight but like that amount you guys were together so much and so sometimes you almost like don't recognize what

you have until it's gone kind of thing absolutely and i also think like it's different environments like you're you're there was a lot of stress you know and you're young and like there's this whole Like, you know, this was like very pop culture, you know, like we were like at the forefront. It was very different from like having like a success in like a prestige show where it's like, yeah, people know you, but you don't have like screaming, you know, fans. And we had this like a lot of pressure and it kind of like we just didn't know. I I'm going to speak for myself. I didn't know how to handle it in a way that was like like really mature.

I was going to ask, becoming so famous and having such a fandom, how did you feel about it in the

beginning? And how did you navigate that? I was really very deeply uncomfortable, truthfully. And I'm not just saying that's like, oh, humility. I genuinely was deeply uncomfortable. And I kind of turned into a bit of a recluse. I didn't go out that much. I didn't do that much. And thank God we were in, in a way, thank God we were in Atlanta because we were kind of like separated from Hollywood and all the parties and all the nonsense. And so, but I definitely like sort of like tried to hide under a rock a little bit, you know? And I didn't like luxuriate in that moment because it's such a special time, you know? Acting is such a difficult career and like to have something that's successful that people love and people like look forward to is such a privilege you know and i didn't take it for it's not that i didn't i i i didn't take it for granted but i definitely the things that came with it i didn't enjoy them whereas now i'd be like this is awesome you know but at the time i just didn't i wasn't equipped yeah did you guys

in atlanta like would you guys hang out and like go to bars all together because you're together

24 7 totally absolutely were you able to go out yeah yeah it was we had like our one bar that was like our stomping ground that was like our bar and it was it doesn't exist anymore but it was called krog bar and it was this tiny little bar it was like a wine bar and we took it over every friday night every saturday night it was like our thing the all the whole cast would go the crew would go and that was like and nobody else would and like nobody else really went and that was like our thing and we didn't really go anywhere else oh my god that makes us that makes me really happy

daddy gang today's episode is brought to you by sour patch kids anyone who works out unwell could tell you we keep them literally everywhere in the office you're an edit bay sour patch kids you're in a conference room sour patch kids my desk drawers multiple packs of sour patch kids my pockets sour patch kids because sometimes when you're you know staring at your inbox for the seventh hour of the day, a Sour Patch Kid is exactly what you need. There is a reason they have been one of my favorite candies literally forever. They are soft, they are chewy, and they have that classic sour then sweet flavor. You get that little sour kick at first and then, oh, it's sweet right after. Honestly, they're just fun and I feel like we could use a little bit more of that. If you're looking for something that has that balance of sour and sweet, Sour Patch Kids are always a solid option. Lean in. to your mischievous side with Sour Patch Kids. Call Her Daddy is brought to you by Ashley. You know, when you're scrolling furniture inspo and everything you love feels kind of like out of reach, well, Ashley just launched a new collection called Ashley Lux, and it is completely changing that feeling, okay? Ashley Lux is beautiful, it's luxurious, and it is designed for how you actually live. If you think about it, it's like elevated intentional pieces made with sculpted wood, soft velvet, leather, brushed metals that instantly transform your space. Data gang, everything is also so versatile. So check out the Whitehaven collection. You can kind of think of it as like comfortable, cozy seating that you want to melt into in a customizable, modular design, which we love. And it's not just furniture. Ashley Lux also includes art, rugs, lighting, throws, and accents that let you layer in your own personality and style, which we love so much. If you browse the Ashley Luxe collection, I think what's really important is you want everything to feel cohesive, but you also want to make sure that it's in your personal aesthetic. And so to make sure that your art matches the couches, like it all needs to come together. And so if you're feeling stressed and you're like, OK, wait, Alex, I'm literally in the middle of redesigning things. Ashley Luxe collection is the place for you. Discover the new Ashley Luxe collection by visiting Ashley in store or online at Ashley dot com slash L-U-X-E. okay stefan yes walk in if stefan had told elena in season one that he stalked her because she looked like katherine do you think their relationship would have survived probably

it's kind of creepy kind of weird no i don't think it would have okay did stefan and caroline's

relationship feel like a natural evolution to you not really i agree yeah i i didn't need that yeah do you think he should have ended up with caroline or elena i think the brothers should

have died together and he should have ended up with no one oh my god morbid ian feels the same wow have you guys talked about that a lot oh yeah ian's like i wish i died with you he's like so upset oh you guys oh my god he's so upset oh wow yeah okay i'm glad you guys agree though yeah um did you ever take anything from set yes i took the daylight ring and then i lost it

Paul.

Can you believe it? Ian still has.

Paul.

I took a pair of jeans. They still have Stefan on them.

They had them engraved? Stefan?

No, just so they wouldn't get mixed up with Damon's.

Oh, like on the back?

Yeah, no, on the inside. They put Stefan.

You lost your ring.

I lost my ring.

So you guys can't like go to events and wear your rings together. You need to get like one.

Not that we would do that anyway. Come on. Go to events and wear my ring?

Me literally going, oh. But you have them. And Ian puts his on, no?

Oh, Ian's like, I have my ring on just to give him a taste of Damon. I was like, you're a loser, dude.

But you're also secretly like, I wish I had mine.

But I secretly am jealous.

He needs to get you one made for your birthday.

Yes.

I'll work on that.

Yes.

Okay. Who do you identify most with in real life? Stefan, Silas, or Tom Avery?

Silas.

That is such a good segue to the next one. Where do you stand with Matt Donovan today?

I, firstly, love a Zach Roig who played Matt Donovan. I have a, my whole gag with Matt Donovan, the whole reason I'm always giving Matt Donovan shit is because Matt Donovan was the only human. He's the only mortal, okay? And he's the only one that like didn't die.

How did he not die?

And I'm like, how did Stefan die like nine times? and then like how did Elena he also there's this one scene where like Stefan I don't know if you remember this like Elena's drowning in a car with Matt Donovan and Stefan's like this immortal vampire and I'm like I'm gonna go save the love of my life and he dives down there and he's like trying to get her out and she's like no no no don't save me save Matt Donovan and Matt and and Stefan's like okay and then he just takes Matt Donovan and she drowns so like I have this like you know i'm like what is going on okay i forgot that it was matt donovan in the car that's my

whole beef that's my beef wait that was so unbelievable but it was because like elena

felt bad for matt donovan whatever imagine are you kidding me like what no we don't care about we don't we don't we do not i mean we love we love matt look matt was an instrumental character and we love matt donovan but we will the love of my life here come on i'm gonna say i'm not going to save the sheriff and you say and i save the sheriff and let her drown okay so to this day

it's a big problem for me as it should be thank you what storyline could you just not get behind still still um oh god there was so many storylines because we did like 170 episodes it's like it's like my brain is like it's all just like this mishmash yeah i mean there was a couple what there was like these what what did they have these these um gosh you know the show better than me i've never even seen the show they had these um i've never seen it i've i've seen i've seen the first couple of episodes and then I directed a few episodes. I watched the episodes I directed. I've never seen the show otherwise. So I actually don't remember.

Oh, we got to do like a re-watch.

Should we wear daylight rings?

Wait, you know, you want to make some bank?

Yeah.

You and Ian re-watch podcast Vampire Diaries.

That would probably do well.

Call me.

I'll call you. Can we like do a-

Yeah, we'll do a whole thing. Unwell collab. Yeah, I got a whole studio for you. We'll make it look like Mystic Falls. Okay, let's discuss.

We'll talk.

We're going to do a whole thing. We'll talk offline. We're going to get everyone too excited. So now you actually have to do it.

That is true. You can't fall through. That is true.

Let's talk about your love life.

Okay.

You got engaged last summer.

Yes. Last summer? Yes.

Congratulations. Thank you. You guys met in the wild. Yeah. Which is like so few people meet in the wild now. So can you indulge us? Like how did you guys meet?

You know what's funny? Ian was there.

Of course he was there.

Ian was there. I so it was there was we were promoting Brothers Bond and my buddy owned a bar the bar doesn't exist anymore sadly in the East Village and he said hey pop into our bar and like we'll we'll get you guys a Brothers Bond cocktail and we'll you know you know whatever shoot a few photos for us like get us impressed for the bar and like we'll we'll support Brothers Bond and he's a good friend of mine I was like yeah of course let's do it so we were like Ian and I were in New York and um and i was like let's pop into this bar so we went to the bar in the east village and um we were shooting some content and stuff and i had a couple other friends meet me there and um and i just see this beautiful woman sitting there and i was like who's this like hot girl right i was like i and i looked at her and i was like okay i don't want to be creepy i'm not gonna look and but then i saw her look at me and i was like aha it's like okay so clearly there's like some something's going on so i was like i'm just gonna go and i never like i like i like don't hit on girls it's like not my thing i'm terrible at it and i whatever so i was like i'm just gonna go there and i'm just gonna like say hi and thank god my friend who owns the bar happened to be there and i walk over and he's like hey and he's like hey by the way have you met natalie and she was right there so thank god he introduced us because it probably would have been a disaster if i just like cold you know whatever yeah and i said hey nice to meet you we started talking and um found out she was from europe as well she spoke five languages i'm i speak two languages and we started talking and then just like um just really hit it off and that was it that was kind of like you know and then just like i left the next day actually we just like exchanged numbers and i left i left for europe i went on a guy's trip to europe to italy funnily enough and then um we just were texting and I would send her some pics from Italy. And then I got back to New York and she was still there. And then I asked her out on a date when I got back because we had been texting for like a

few weeks. And then fast forward, you're now engaged. And now we're engaged. How was the proposal? Were you stressed? Did you put a lot of thought behind it? I put some thought behind it

because so I had to go to once we started dating, we hadn't been dating for very long. and i had to go to italy for um i was doing a uh there's a there's a magazine called um icon it's an italian whatever it's a cool fashion mag and i did the cover and we were doing a launch party in rome and um they were like you can bring a guest if you want and we kind of like we'd only been seeing each other for a little bit and i said hey do you want to come with me to this to rome and she's like sure so um it was in october all the hotels were closing i was like let's rent a car and drive down um to the amalfi coast like let's just go see like i didn't book anything and there's a hotel down there belmont uh caruso it's called and it was the final day before the closing for the season of final two days so we and i booked a room and i was like we had the hotel for ourselves and we had this like magical time there and really kind of like fell in love and um so i thought, so I thought, why don't I contact the hotel? This is years later when I want to propose and tell them the story and tell them I want to propose there. And so I contacted the Belmont. I said, hey, this was like our first trip together and I want to make it special. And they were so awesome. This girl, actually her name's Elena, funnily enough, who works at the Belmont. Now she works for a different company, but at the time she worked for Belmont, she's like, of course, I'm going to make it really special so she set up this um we we sort of talked about it on our last night there I took her to the Belmont And our last night there, there's this like private olive grove. And she set up this long table with candles and a private chef. And I tricked Natalie. I was like, hey, you know, the Belmont wants to do like a goodbye, like a goodbye dinner for us because it's our last night here. And she's like, oh, that's so nice. I was like, dress, yeah, dress nicely. Like, you know, I was like, I was like, and I kind of like made it, you know, like it was them, like the Belmont did this and not me. And then we got there and she was kind of suspect. and then of course that's when she realized um and then i popped a question that's when she realized like oh this was a setup paul set this whole thing up oh yeah that is so romantic yeah

it was it was really sweet wow it's also so sweet to like connect it to an early core memory that you guys had together exactly back yeah wow yeah oh my god i'm so happy for you thank you well you have a lot to look forward to you are starring in season four yes star trek strange new worlds Yeah. Can you give fans anything? Like, what can we expect?

So I love this show so much. And I play a young James Kirk, which, you know, is one of the most iconic characters like in the history of television. So obviously, it was like a huge honor for me to be given this role. And, you know, what I love about our show is that it It pays homage to the original TOS from the 1960s, which is such a important, iconic piece of television history and so important to so many people. While we also pay homage to that, but we also kind of create our own spin, our modernized spin. And we sort of like, we tell the story pre-enterprise. So this is Kirk, James Kirk, before he was captain. He's Lieutenant Kirk. He's not as like, he's not, it's like the genesis of who he is, but it's really about the crew that was on the Enterprise prior to James Kirk taking the helm as captain. And this show is this beautifully imaginative, adventurous, cinematic series that has humor and heart. And we explore all different genres. And if you watch, sorry if I'm blabbing, I love I love this show so I can like go on about it um what I love about the original series about Star Trek is that it is so optimistic it is so filled with imagination and our show is exactly that it's like this every episode is like kind of like individual you can enjoy them like individually because they all have their own like sort of like story of the week but there's this beautiful through line with all the relationships and all the characters and I don't know we're just really proud of it and we we want we want people to tune in no of course as you should be proud of

it also it's so cool like being a part of such a huge franchise obviously i and now obviously knowing you and knowing how much you take your craft really seriously it's so cool to hear you also talk about like recognizing what was so well done before and still having the respect for that and also leaning into a new version and finding a way to bring that to life while still yeah it's

really cool yeah i'm proud it's a lot of pressure obviously because it's like william shatner it's like i'm not you know it's like no pressure he is yeah exactly yeah um kirk's look is quite you know the switch up from stefan's like talk to me about that costume well i mean it's the starfleet uniform it's like it's it's very um everyone's kind of wearing the same thing although i will say when he's um when he's not on the ship you do see him in some civilian clothing but like um you know it's definitely a switch up like it's definitely and i sort of lean into this sort of um you know kirk can be interpreted in so many different ways and my interpretation of kirk is like a little bit more less of the kind of you know machismo kind of like ladies man that sort of like is in pop culture and he's more of like kind of this i wouldn't say like bookish but he's definitely like a little bit more of the sort of not nerdy kirk but like like still coming of age kirk like still trying to find out how to be like a captain you know what i mean that's what

i love so much about like obviously everything you've done so far like this is so different from stefan yeah and then even this i feel like is so different from what you're about to do on the show that we're making because the character on you deserve to know like your character is

pretty sus yeah and like you know when you're when you're when you're get cast in a show or when you're um when you're starring in a show that has become so popular it is so difficult to break away from that image right like that's such a thing like it's like a cw thing too i feel like or even like friends or whatever and so like my whole goal ever since i ended um my work on the vampire has been like what can i do

that's the opposite of Stefan. Like, how can I possibly, how can I differentiate myself because I don't want to be, you know, I mean, now I am Step Fussy.

You were forever Step Fussy.

So at least I had that going for me.

No, no, no. That is like in the Hall of Fame. Like, Stefan Salvatore is kind of yet to the wayside.

It's sort of like in the shadows, right? It's kind of not a big deal. It's not a big deal anymore.

It's Step Fussy through and through. But that's not even like a television character now. So now you can focus on Kirk. You can focus on, you know, our new show. Stefan's over there. but it is Seth Fussy is kind of like the top co and then we have all these little things

it's like unwell right and then it's like we have yeah there's a bunch of different and it's like Seth Fussy and then within that is you know

that needs to be on your trailer yeah I'm gonna make sure that's on your trailer please do you have anything weird on your rider like should I know about anything not that I'm gonna be filling your trailer on my rider no no yeah like you know

oh you mean like we want this kind of shit yeah like what's on your rider no should I start being that guy I don't know I feel like Ian would have good shit in his rider i feel like he would have like hair mirrors and hair products and a cowboy fedoras you don't ask for anything i don't ask for any i'm gonna start what should i ask you

need to put a rider together and we're gonna make what do you ask for i have some for like sour patch and like no shit iced tea you can do that oh my god yeah before i was pregnant i'd have like casamigos reposado in there if i need a little hit brothers bond brothers bond i told you when you gave me that bottle by the way you loved it matt and i drank it we were like oh and then it was so nice because like it was really good and i was like okay now yeah you don't have to you don't have to pretend delicious okay so we'll work on your rider yeah please um paul this has been so fun such a pleasure i am so like i love getting to talk to people who have such a good personality and you are one of those people where i could talk to you for forever but the range in this episode from jersey shore from donnie then we had the step fussy then we got clam slam we got yeah how is this not called yeah step fussy and the clam slam

it has to be your publicist that's a good spin-off yeah they're gonna step fussy and the clam slam they're like what is this no that was what have you done yeah this was we were going on here with a vision and you went completely and now we're just yeah we went off on a tangent

No, it was so, so fun getting to sit with you and talk with you. And I, you know, I'm a big fan and all the things. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

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