Nearly six years ago, Samantha Barbash was the brains behind a ring of savvy strip club workers who swindled rich executives out of big bucks.
Now she’s the inspiration for Jennifer Lopez‘s character in the blockbuster movie “Hustlers”.
In this week’s episode, Barbash talks to Maggie and Ian about how upset she was about seeing her life on the big screen and what really happened during her “Hustler” days. Plus, Thomas Middleditch and Tom Hiddleston are having a risqué week. And Jennifer Lawrence and her fiancé paid a suspicious-looking visit to City Hall.
Jennifer Lopez’s portrayal of her in the movie
Barbash: “Jennifer did great in the movie. Her body looked amazing. She did stuff that I wish I could do on the pole. But just because I don’t want to partake in the movie, don’t you think she should have studied me a little better? She looked at Instagram pictures and they supposedly went by court records but definitely they did not. Jennifer looked cold-hearted in that movie. I’m not a cold-hearted person. I mean, I did take in stragglers. I admit that I always try to help people so that’s always been my downfall. I get the bad end of the stick. But I do always try to help people. And so that part she got right.”
Seeing “Hustlers” with her 25-year-old son
“I’m very close with my son. So he’s knows everything. And he said he got really upset that I left the movie but he actually made me go back in and watch it. He was like ‘Mom this is Hollywood.’ He was like ‘You can’t get upset.'”
Going on shopping sprees with Wall Street guys
“People think the guys were twisted and they had to be drunk to take you shopping. Not at all. [One time] we went at six o’clock in the morning. I knew the manager at Louboutin. I called him up and I said ‘I have a client in town who wants to take us shopping.’ He said, ‘As long as the guy is not drunk and he has to spend a minimum of $30,000’ which indeed he spent almost $80,000. I felt like Paris Hilton that night because who am I to have Christian Louboutin open the store. The next day, he took me and he bought me two Presidential Rolexes at Tourneau and he was not drunk at all. We went to dinner after that at Smith & Wollensky.”
What it was actually like before the scheme was discovered
“I feel like there was a lot of greed there. The money was never enough. And I feel like this was a blessing in disguise — that I got in trouble. I have a lot of remorse but I would have never gotten it if I didn’t get arrested. It’s very hard to get out of that business. You’re making so much money. How could you walk away?”
Also, TMI: Tom much information
It’s been a pretty interesting week for a couple of Toms on Page Six. Thomas Middleditch, who’s known for starring in the HBO show “Silicon Valley”, says becoming a swinger saved his marriage. Yes, THAT kind of swinging.
And then an audience member at a Broadway play starring Tom Hiddleston allegedly masturbated during the show.
And Jennifer Lawrence fuels marriage rumors
We got the scoop on the possible A-list wedding that no one saw coming. Our spies caught Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney leaving New York City’s marriage bureau.
Editor-at-large Sara Nathan, who wrote the story for Page Six, broke down her sleuthing and laid out the wedding clues: “I was like, ‘Hang on a minute.’ Your average paparazzi photographer doesn’t wear double denim. Doesn’t look THAT chic. Doesn’t have that expensive-looking a camera.”