The Truth About The Vanderpump Rules Feud Between Stassi Schroeder And Kristen Doute
"Vanderpump Rules" is one of the most popular reality shows on television, and it's easy to see why. Thanks to the cast's years-long friendships before the show even began filming, the drama between the cast members has always stemmed from deep-rooted issues rather than random producer-induced plotlines like we see in many reality programs today.
As "VPR" fans know, though, the on-screen drama showcased in the series never just stays on-screen. Fans witnessed this in June 2020 when two of the series' stars, Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute, got axed from the show for past racist behavior towards SUR restaurant waitress and Season 4 cast member Faith Stowers, according to Deadline.
"They called the cops and said it was me," Stowers said of Schroeder and Doute, recalling the situation during an Instagram Live with actress Candace Renee Rice (via Vanity Fair). "This is like, a true story. I heard this from, actually, Stassi during an interview. It was just funny, because they thought it was me because it was a Black woman with a weave. So they just assumed it would be me, and they called the cops on me." While Schroeder and Doute both issued apologies shortly after they were canned from the hit Bravo series, the damage had already been done.
Stassi and Kristen are no strangers to drama and conflict
As die-hard "Vanderpump Rules" fans know, Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute have had their fair share of ups and downs in their years-long friendship. One of the pair's first major fights that was documented on the series occurred when Doute admitted to sleeping with Schroeder's then-boyfriend, former SUR bartender Jax Taylor, while he and Schroeder were still together. Doute had been dating fellow "VPR" star Tom Sandoval, who was best friends with Taylor, for five years at the time.
The Detroit native opened up about the "life-changing" night between her and Taylor in an essay in her memoir, "He's Making You Crazy."
"I know we were both drunk, but also that we made a mutual, consensual decision. I'm still not sure how it could have happened, but it did. I slept with my boyfriend's best friend, who not too long before this used to date my former best friend," she wrote (via Life & Style), later adding, "Looking back, I just wanted attention and affection. And it didn't matter anymore from whom or from where."
Schroeder and Doute eventually made up, and when Schroeder returned to the show during the second half of Season 4 after saying she needed to "wipe her hands clean" of the show after the toxic Season 3 reunion (via TooFab). She even lived with Doute while looking for an apartment of her own.
The drama between Stassi and Kristen simmered down for a while
After the bad blood between the pair simmered down, Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, and their fellow BFF and "Vanderpump Rules" co-star Kate Maloney-Schwartz went into business together and created the infamous Witches of WeHo wine brand, which ultimately ended up causing a rift between the three besties, as "VPR" fans started noticing during Season 8.
In addition to the trio's business drama, Schroeder and Maloney-Schwartz took issue with Doute's relationship with (now) ex-boyfriend Brian Carter, which they talked about during an April 2020 episode of Schroeder's now-defunct podcast "Straight Up with Stassi" with both reality stars calling their beef with Doute "a layered thing" that started "two years ago" (via Us Weekly).
"It became really difficult when she would defend him so aggressively to us on camera but then off-camera, it was a very different situation," Maloney-Schwartz explained. "She still wanted to have these heart to hearts and a shoulder to cry on and we would still obviously offer that to her because she was our best friend and we still were supportive of her."
She added, "But then, the next time we talked about it on camera, it was the same thing again where she would be aggressively defending him and coming after us and treating us like we were horrible friends for putting in this position, the position she had put herself in."
The drama between Kristen and Stassi came to a head during a VPR after show in 2020
As Season 8 continued, it was clear to see that the tension between Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder was at an all-time high, and during a "Vanderpump Rules" after show, Doute basically exploded on Schroeder for the lack of effort she put towards their Witches of WeHo wine line. "What the f**k are you doing? Like, you literally do nothing. You were asked to push something on social media," Doute said, referring to Schroeder's part in their business (via Bravo). "And because you have a f**king podcast and a book, you think you're the queen of England? F**k you."
Shortly after the clip aired, Doute took to Twitter to apologize to Schroeder for the comments she had made, writing, "I just watched a VPR aftershow where it feels like I was insulting @stassi work ethic. I [100 emoji] think Stass has built a brand for herself and I've always been proud of her. I was angry about the wine company at that time and i want to publicly correct my opinion."
The "He's Making You Crazy" author added in a separate tweet, "I'm not above apologizing or explaining my feelings. I don't want my opinions to be misconstrued," which sparked a response from Schroeder on the social media platform.
Stassi issued her own response to Kristen on Twitter
Taking to Twitter herself, Stassi Schroeder replied to her on-and-off BFF, writing, "I've never once said a word about the things @kristendoute work on. Cool, that you're 'not apologizing' for making fun of my podcast/how I'm probably going to come crashing down/that no one will want to listen to it when I'm 40," to which Doute replied, "And now you're just attempting to trash me publicly after we've been texting about this for the past hour" (via Bravo).
"Vanderpump Rules" fans also got in on the social media debacle, with one fan asking Doute, "Didn't you post first?" to which she replied, "Yes. She text me that she was disgusted by what I said. I watched it and apologized/shared my feelings + said I would publicly acknowledge the clip."
Another fan came to Schroeder's defense, replying to Doute, "Maybe because your [sic] responding to tweets trashing @stassi and @MusicKillsKate while praising you, about the same thing you're trying to apologize over. Come on girl," to which Schroeder replied, "And this is why we can't get it together. When I texted you PRIVATELY, I never ASKED for a PUBLIC half ass apology. But ya.. you clearly still don't understand why we are where we are today."