Sam Asghari is praising ex-wife Britney Spears as the “Princess of Pop” in a new radio interview three years after their split.
The Iranian-American model, 32, spoke exclusively with co-hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real on SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio, where he reflected on Spears’ cultural impact and his own journey to understanding her music. Asghari admitted that he “didn’t really know” Spears’ songs before meeting the pop star, 44, on the set of her “Slumber Party” music video in 2016.
“The second that I realized what these songs meant, and why people resonated with [them] and why they were icons — like Michael Jackson, Madonna and her: the King of Pop, the Queen of Pop and the Princess of Pop — then I understood,” he explained, “and it made me appreciate the music even more.”
Asghari went further in his praise, highlighting how Spears shaped the pop landscape in ways he believes remain unmatched. He described her as an artist who managed to evolve continuously while maintaining a singular status in the industry.
“[Spears] sort of created a blueprint that nobody after that has ever really accomplished,” he said. “We see some artists now that are trying to do it, but it’s just not ever going to happen.”
The model also emphasized his ongoing support for Spears’ creative freedom, telling Page Six Radio that he has “always been supportive” of everything she did and everything “that she wanted to do” in her career.
“At the end of the day, the artist is supposed to express themselves in their own way,” he said. “I think once you’re one of those people — you’re titled [as] the Princess of Pop — you can say [anything] and it’s gonna become iconic.”
This is not the first time Asghari has spoken publicly about how his relationship with Spears affected his life. In a June 2025 interview with Page Six Radio co-hosts Danny Murphy and Ian Mohr, he addressed the double-edged nature of their high-profile romance.
“I can’t sit here and lie and say, ‘It wasn’t good for me,'” the model shared. “When you’re in such a public relationship… It sort of gave me that platform for who I am.”
He added that the visibility came with professional costs, noting that people referred to him as “cheesy” when he would try to find work. “Did it make me, you know, have to work harder to prove myself? Absolutely,” he said.
In the viral moment that launched their connection, Asghari met Spears on the set of her “Slumber Party” music video a decade ago. The two went Instagram-official in 2017, before getting engaged in September 2021. Spears — who shares sons Sean Preston, 20, and Jayden James, 19, with ex-husband Kevin Federline — revealed in April 2022 that she and Asghari were expecting their first baby together. But the following month, they announced that they had “lost” their “miracle baby.” In June 2022, Spears and Asghari tied the knot in a star-studded Los Angeles wedding, which included A-listers like Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton, Madonna and Selena Gomez. After 14 months of marriage, Asghari filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.” Their divorce was finalized in May 2024.
Asghari’s recent comments stand in contrast to some of the tension that has surfaced between the former couple since their split. In August 2024, Spears wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post that their marriage “felt like a fake distraction” and called that period “the hardest years of my life.” She also claimed she was “cut off from calling or texting” her two sons during the marriage. Asghari responded to PEOPLE at the time, stating, “Our marriage was very real to me. It may have been short, but we were together for seven years. I was in love with her, will always have love for her, and wish her the best always.”
The model has also previously defended Spears against outside criticism. In May 2023, amid a TMZ documentary surrounding her conservatorship, Asghari called her inner circle “absolutely disgusting” in a video shared to his Instagram Story. “The last thing I want to do is speak on my wife’s behalf, I will never do that. I respect her privacy, that’s why I don’t talk as much,” he said. “I found it absolutely disgusting for the people that were in her life at the time when she didn’t have a voice, they went and told her story like it was theirs.”
Currently, Asghari is dating Brooke Irvine after confirming their relationship on Instagram in January 2025.