‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Shayne Davis Opens Up About Crystal Meth And His Unique Band-Aid Tattoos: “He Gets In Car Wrecks, He Overdoses, He Gets Shot, He’s A Cockroach”

Quickly becoming one of Vanderpump Rules‘ most interesting characters, Shayne Davis has lived quite a life. In the most recent episode of the Lisa Vanderpump-led spinoff, Davis—dubbed the “Tom Schwartz of the group” as he’s the only cast member who doesn’t actually work at SUR—opened up about his drug-filled upbringing and his decision to get sober.

Davis—a budding actor, screenwriter, and model—shares in the episode that he was given his first alcoholic beverage at five years old, and that his family eventually introduced him to hard drugs like crack-cocaine and methamphetamines. According to the rookie reality star—who stopped by DECIDER’s studio this week—his life, despite getting “locked up” multiple times, was “a party” until he turned 18.

“It stopped being a party for me, really, once I realized I couldn’t stop,” he told us. “Then the war started. I didn’t even know how deep the war really was. I just knew, step one: get off crystal meth. And if we can do that, then we might have a somewhat bright future.” 

Per Davis, he earned his nickname, “Nine Lives,” which is also the title of the screenplay he’s working on about his life, after overcoming many unfortunate circumstances, like the time his best friend accidentally fired shots at him when they got into a fight with another group of guys. “They were like, ‘This guy just won’t die.’ He gets in car wrecks, he overdoses, he gets shot. He’s a cockroach,’” Davis said of his nickname’s origin. Those scars, now, are covered by Band-Aid and zipper tattoos, which Davis added to his body to “bring more levity to the scenario.”

While the story has certainly lured women to Davis—as we’ve already seen in multiple instances on Vanderpump Rules—the actor is ready to stop bringing it up, as it provides leeway for his potential matches to, in turn, dump their own traumas on him.

“Is there a way we could just not talk about it for a second? Just because I feel like it always invites some sort of trauma bond,” he said. “But does trauma bonding work? It does work.”

When Davis stopped by our studio, he also revealed which actor he’d want to play him in his movie, how things are going with Angelica Jensen, and why he was initially hesitant to join Vanderpump Rules. Check out the full interview below.

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DECIDER: You are the only one of the group who does not work at SUR, so how were you approached about doing this show?

SHAYNE DAVIS: I’m best friends with Marcus. He even lived with me at one point, and I’m always in the area going to recovery meetings, so I pop in and out of SUR. They were just like, “Hey, do you want to be a part of the show?” And at first, I was like, “Not really”. And then Marcus was like, “Dude, you can’t let me go in solo.” So I was like, “Alright, let’s do it.” 

I am curious: did you watch the original Vanderpump Rules? Did you know any of those people through the modeling and acting world?

No, but once it was offered to me, then I watched the first episode and I was like, “I can’t do this. I’m just going to be honest. I can’t do this. It’s so much like fighting and it’s public.” But you know what? I was like, “My boy Marcus wants me to do it. The girls are hot, so fine.”

Because you were so close with Marcus, were you at all nervous that reality TV could hurt your friendship?

No, because I lived with Marcus. We did have our little battles then. If we survived that, we can survive this.

Natalie brought up your laugh in last week’s episode. Were you aware of how unique it is?

It’s funny.I would hear comments over the years and it wasn’t really until this became public that I really, really found out. I was like, “Oh, this is like almost a trademark thing right now.”

We need to talk about your date in last week’s episode, and how, when Karina showed up, you said she was your sister, which she clearly wasn’t. Have you heard from either of these women since that episode aired?

Yeah, I had a lot of apologizing to do. I was in trouble for a minute with that one. Karina is a super talented photographer. So I was like, “Let me just let me pay for a shoot. Let’s just sweep it under the rug.” Kristen was understanding. I was like, “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just like … you know what type of time I’m on right now. 

We’re also starting to see a bit of a spark between you and Angelica. Did any part of you feel bad for stealing Jason’s interest? 

Yeah, I did feel bad. But Jason has absolutely no trouble with the ladies in the slightest. I had a talk with him. I was like, “Hey, bro. I just think that there’s something going on here.” He was like, “Dude, go for it. Screw her or whatever.” I was like, “Alright, cool.”

Penis pump-gate is taking center stage in this week’s episode. How did you feel about Angelica after she sort of outed Jason to everyone, including Lisa Vanderpump?

I mean, at first I thought she was just clowning. And then after a minute there, I was like, “Oh, I think she’s really trying to dig at my boy here.” So I was a little uncomfortable. 

Where does your relationship with Angelica stand today?

Great.

Did you watch her on Landman?

I’m proud of her. Angelica is a hustler through and through. She hustles. She has a lot of hustles outside of SUR.

You have a very interesting backstory, which we started to learn about on your date with Natalie when you talked about getting shot multiple times by your best friend. Are you still friends with this person? How does something like that change you? Tell me a bit about that time in your life, if you’re comfortable.

I’ll always have love for him. We grew up together. This guy was like my brother. But, yeah, it’s just these are sometimes the consequences when you want to be a drug dealer. I watched too many movies growing up. I grew up around too many drug addicts. I saw a way to make money, and that way led me down some paths that had a lot of really bad consequences. And that was one of them. 

You seem to bring it up when you’re trying to woo women. Does that backstory typically work in your favor?

You know what’s funny? It’s funny because I started bringing it up when I would take my shirt off. We would go to the pool, beach, whatever, or we’re about to hook up, and then it would always get asked about. Like,  “Wait, what the hell happened?” I just learned, I was like, “Okay, is there a way I can get this out of the way?” And at first when I would get it out of the way, it was too sad and then it would actually kill everything. And then it was just her telling me about some terrible thing that happened to her. And I was like, “There’s got to be a way that we can just speed through it, have a little bit more levity.” But now I’m learning, like, man, is there a way we could just not talk about it for a second just because I feel like it always invites some sort of trauma bond. But does trauma bonding work? It does work. 

You also have the Band-Aid tattoos. How did you come up with that?

I can’t really remember. I just know that I thought it would bring more levity to the scenario. My first tattoo [about the shooting] was “Nine Lives” tattooed on my lip right here. Because I had the nickname “Nine Lives” because they were like, “This guy just won’t die.” He gets in car wrecks, he overdoses, he gets shot. He’s a cockroach. I just started thinking about tattoos. I got a zipper on one of the scars, Band-Aids. Just wanted to make a little art out of it. 

In this week’s episode, you open up about your upbringing. You said you had your first drink at five years old, your family introduced you to crack cocaine and methamphetamines. What was the moment that you realized you needed out of that environment? And how did everyone around you react at the time? 

It all came in different moments of realization. But I found out that something was really wrong when I was 18 because everything was a party up until that point. Even getting locked up … I got locked up for seven months. Well, I got locked up a bunch in my teen years. House arrest. For some reason, it was all a party until 18. It stopped being a party for me, really, once I realized I couldn’t stop. Then the war started. I didn’t even know how deep the war really was. I just knew, step one: get off crystal meth. And if we can do that, then we might have a somewhat bright future. But there weren’t people in my family that I was like, “Oh, this is the guy that I gotta be like in order to have a happy life.” That’s not even close to what I had. I didn’t have any of that, so I had to figure out what not to do first. That was it. All I had was “step one: don’t do crystal meth.” Maybe from there we can develop. But then once I got off the meth, I was like, “Oh, you’re jacked up mentally.” So then I had to start working on the 50 other problems that we had going on. 

Obviously, a lot of this show is partying and drinking and the result of drunken behavior. How do you keep yourself in line in an environment like that?

Boundaries. I know at a certain point in the night, I’m done. I also always have people there. Natalie’s super supportive. Natalie’s always got my back. There’s different people there that are only going to have one or two drinks in the night and they’re going to be kicking it with me. But yeah when things get too much I know how to walk away.  

Boundaries are a great thing to have!

There’s no point. I’m not going to sleep with a girl after two drinks, so now that’s completely off the table. I’m not really going to have good communication after probably the third drink, you know what I mean? At a certain point you find out, like, OK. Or you find yourself a little sober buddy. 

It was really cool to see your dad show up to the screening in this week’s episode. What does it mean to have his support? 

That was pretty crazy. My dad had never been to LA. It was probably the best moment of my entire year. My dad and me did not have the best relationship growing up. I really didn’t know the dude that much. But he said some things that I know are going to stick with me forever. He told me he’s proud of me. Yeah, it was great. 

Speaking of the screening, you had your co-stars thirsting over you – even the guys! What was your reaction to some of their confessionals?

At first I was like, “Well, it’s natural to see me that way.” No, I’m just kidding. I was very happy to hear that they liked it. A big part of making short films is trying to get financing to make the feature, the bigger project. That’s one of the goals that we have with that particular project. I love that my friends really enjoyed it. They’re pretty honest and brutal, so they would have roasted me, at least, behind the scenes. And they didn’t. My sister’s brutal too. She would’ve got me. 

You said you were working on something about your life story. Where are you in that process? And who would you want to play you? Would you play you?

I would not play me. I wouldn’t even be in the movie. The movie is called Nine Lives. We have like a fifth draft of a screenplay written up. I have a pretty big production meeting at some point [in the show]. I would want the kid who plays Ashtray in Euphoria, because I need a kid who I believe is a drug dealer who looks like a kid, because that was me. I was selling dope at 15, dropped out of school. I want to see a kid that looks like a kid selling drugs. Or get a real street kid. I don’t know if you ever saw White Boy Rick. Matthew McConaughey’s the dad, and the kid is like a 15-year-old crack dealer. It was crazy. They really got this kid off the street. They went to, like, a Baltimore high school, and they were like, “Who’s the troubled kid here for casting?” And they were like, “This kid right here.” And then they ask, “Do you know who Matthew McConaughey is?” And he’s like, “I have no clue.” You’re perfect.

I know you guys have a cast trip coming up. What can you tease?

Oh, my God. It’s just crazy. Even for me, when I actually watched back, like, oh, my God. It was everything. My brain needed such a break afterwards because I had such high highs there and such low lows and so many secrets [that] came out were just awful. So many family secrets came out. You just got to watch it. I don’t know what I can give away. 

I hope to see a reunion in your future. Who do you think is going to be in the hot seat?

There’s going to be a few. It might be me, too. I don’t know. It could be me. I’m a little messy. I don’t know how much I can give away. You’ll have a way better idea. Once you watch the next two episodes, you’ll have a really good idea of who’s gonna be hot-seated.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.