From NSYNC to 'The Notebook': Scheana Shay Spills Early 2000s Dating Secrets

Max Sterling, 7/23/2025In a deliciously nostalgic tell-all that feels like reading TMZ's greatest hits circa 2003, Vanderpump Rules' Scheana Shay dishes about her impressive roster of celebrity conquests. From NSYNC's JC Chasez to Jesse Metcalfe, her memoir reads like a time capsule of pre-Instagram Hollywood hookups, when celebrity encounters still had that old-school magic.

Gone are the days when chance encounters at exclusive clubs could lead to spontaneous star-studded adventures. Shay's revelations read like a time capsule from that golden age — back when Hollywood nights meant anything could happen, and often did.

The reality star's dating history spans an impressive roster of early-aughts heartthrobs. There's the much-discussed John Mayer situation (which he, rather predictably, claims not to remember). Then there's Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives fame — "still a dreamboat," as Shay puts it, though their relationship apparently burned too hot, too fast for their twenty-something selves to handle.

But wait — there's more. Much more.

The memoir drops some seriously juicy bombshells, including hookups with Shemar Moore (spotted across a crowded Super Bowl party), Shane West, and — in perhaps the most perfectly Y2K detail imaginable — NSYNC's JC Chasez. She even hints at encounters with "two actors from The Notebook," a tidbit that's bound to keep social media sleuths busy for months.

"Social media has completely changed the life of celebrity," Shay muses in one particularly nostalgic passage. She paints a vivid picture of those pre-Instagram days: "Any night you could be at a club and like, 'Oh, I'm at Leonardo DiCaprio's table.' And then Cuba Gooding Jr. walks up. Now Justin Timberlake's here — and I'm just the girl at the table. What is life?"

The list doesn't stop at actors, either. Shay's romantic adventures extended into the world of professional sports, with unnamed players from the NFL, NBA, and MLB making appearances in her dating highlight reel. It's enough to make one wonder how she managed it all — a sentiment she addresses with refreshing candor: "I don't know how I did it in my early 20s — people don't believe me!"

Now 40 and married to Brock Davies (though that relationship has weathered its own storms, including his admitted infidelity during her pregnancy), Shay reflects on her celebrity-dating phase with a mix of nostalgia and wisdom. The experience eventually led her to seek something different — "someone who's under the radar," as she describes it, free from the complications of fame.

Perhaps what's most fascinating about Shay's revelations isn't just the who's who of early 2000s Hollywood, but how they illuminate a bygone era of celebrity culture. In today's world of carefully curated social media presence and publicist-approved interactions, her tales of organic star encounters feel almost mythical — relics from a more spontaneous time when fame felt both more accessible and somehow more magical.

The memoir stands as both confession and cultural artifact, reminding us that sometimes the best stories are the ones that seem almost too wild to be true. Then again, that was Hollywood in the early 2000s — a time when reality often outpaced fiction, and a girl from the Valley could find herself living out the plot of an unscripted romantic comedy, one celebrity encounter at a time.

Remember the wild west of early 2000s Hollywood? Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay certainly does, and her new memoir "My Good Side" serves up a deliciously unfiltered peek behind the velvet rope of celebrity dating culture that defined the era.Gone are the days when chance encounters at exclusive clubs could lead to spontaneous star-studded adventures. Shay's revelations read like a time capsule from that golden age — back when Hollywood nights meant anything could happen, and often did.The reality star's dating history spans an impressive roster of early-aughts heartthrobs. There's the much-discussed John Mayer situation (which he, rather predictably, claims not to remember). Then there's Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives fame — "still a dreamboat," as Shay puts it, though their relationship apparently burned too hot, too fast for their twenty-something selves to handle.But wait — there's more. Much more.The memoir drops some seriously juicy bombshells, including hookups with Shemar Moore (spotted across a crowded Super Bowl party), Shane West, and — in perhaps the most perfectly Y2K detail imaginable — NSYNC's JC Chasez. She even hints at encounters with "two actors from The Notebook," a tidbit that's bound to keep social media sleuths busy for months."Social media has completely changed the life of celebrity," Shay muses in one particularly nostalgic passage. She paints a vivid picture of those pre-Instagram days: "Any night you could be at a club and like, 'Oh, I'm at Leonardo DiCaprio's table.' And then Cuba Gooding Jr. walks up. Now Justin Timberlake's here — and I'm just the girl at the table. What is life?"The list doesn't stop at actors, either. Shay's romantic adventures extended into the world of professional sports, with unnamed players from the NFL, NBA, and MLB making appearances in her dating highlight reel. It's enough to make one wonder how she managed it all — a sentiment she addresses with refreshing candor: "I don't know how I did it in my early 20s — people don't believe me!"Now 40 and married to Brock Davies (though that relationship has weathered its own storms, including his admitted infidelity during her pregnancy), Shay reflects on her celebrity-dating phase with a mix of nostalgia and wisdom. The experience eventually led her to seek something different — "someone who's under the radar," as she describes it, free from the complications of fame.Perhaps what's most fascinating about Shay's revelations isn't just the who's who of early 2000s Hollywood, but how they illuminate a bygone era of celebrity culture. In today's world of carefully curated social media presence and publicist-approved interactions, her tales of organic star encounters feel almost mythical — relics from a more spontaneous time when fame felt both more accessible and somehow more magical.The memoir stands as both confession and cultural artifact, reminding us that sometimes the best stories are the ones that seem almost too wild to be true. Then again, that was Hollywood in the early 2000s — a time when reality often outpaced fiction, and a girl from the Valley could find herself living out the plot of an unscripted romantic comedy, one celebrity encounter at a time.