Former Vanderpump Rules star Kristen Doute opened up about the “really emotional” weeks following being fired from Bravo. “I wasn’t doing that well,” the Michigan native said.
“I think I was just really all over the place. I’m not used to being silenced, and it was a lot to take in that people had a certain perception of me that I didn’t hold myself,” the author, 37, told E! News in the first interview after her firing on July 15. “And sprinkled in there was, like, drinking and crying, to begin with, if I’m going to be super honest about it.”
Once she got over the initial hump, the reality star began “listening” and reflecting on the events that unfolded. “I was having conversations with a lot of my friends — and specifically, to be honest, my Black friends — and they told me to shut up and listen. So, that’s exactly what I did,” she added.
Bravo announced the firings of Kristen and Stassi Schroeder on June 9 following former cast member Faith Stowers accusing them of past racist behavior. Cast newcomers Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were also let go after past racist tweets resurfaced earlier this year.
Kristen said she found out she was canned from VPR after eight seasons when her lawyer called to let her know she was “no longer going to be on the show.”
She continued, “I never got to speak to anyone, which is really hard because I would have liked to have a conversation. In turn, I really wished that they would have talked about this publicly.”
An insider exclusively told Life & Style that the cast of VPR were “in shock” following the firings of their four costars, while Kristen and Stassi remained “devastated.”
Faith alleged during a June 3 Instagram Live with Floribama Shore star Candace Rice that the “Straight Up With Stassi” host and He’s Making You Crazy author called her hair “nappy” and reported her to the police for a crime she was not involved in.
During VPR’s season 5 premiere, the cast found out Jax Taylor cheated on his now-wife, Brittany Cartwright, with Faith. “I felt like after their friend did something that we both were involved in that he’s done like, a thousand times, they wanted to attack me instead of him,” Faith recalled. “They wanted to attack, attack, attack, attack, attack.”
Stassi and Kristen both released written apologies following Faith’s accusations.
“The show will go on,” a second source exclusively told Life & Style, while noting the network is “committed to making a difference.”