She’s getting real about it. Vanderpump Rules star Kristen Doute took to Instagram to address what she has been dealing with so far during season 8 of the Bravo TV hit show — and believe it or not, “Crazy Kristen” seems to have used all the drama to find her center. In fact, even her epic feud with costars and former BFFs Stassi Schroeder and Katie Maloney-Schwartz has given her clarity.
“This season isn’t going to be the greatest for me,” the 36-year-old captioned a screengrab of herself on Andy Cohen‘s Watch What Happens Live, adding the grimacing emoji to hammer home her point on January 22. “Because it was a rough summer. We all handle things differently and sometimes take more time to do so than others. They were my lessons to learn [and] HALLELUJAH — lessons learned. Laugh with me, laugh at me, cry with me and enjoy the ride. #PumpRules.”
Needless to say, a few of Kristen’s celeb pals flocked to the comments section to support the James Mae founder in her quest for transparency this season. “A-freakin-MEN,” costar and pal Ariana Madix wrote on the post, while reality star Chrishell Stause added, “Shine on beauty!!! So many people can relate! Brave to share,” tacking on the kissy-face and growing heart emojis.
Fans and followers also came through to send love to the starlet for being so honest. “You are beautiful and provide so much strength to others,” one user wrote. “It’s amazing that you deal with some of the toughest issues all while being recorded.” Another fan, however, made sure to call out the editing process on the show for how intense Kristen’s storyline has been this season.
“But some of us can also recognize when editing is forcing a narrative on you that isn’t entirely truthful and we’re very tired of them wanting to push this tired ‘Crazy Kristen‘ narrative and not showing us your growth!!!! love you,” the follower commented, throwing serious shade at production for the show.
Either way, Stassi, 31, spoke with Life & Style exclusively back in November about the epic falling out — and said it was a long time coming, actually. “It’s not just one thing that brought us to this place. It was just a series of years of things,” she revealed at BravoCon. “We kind of just felt like, ‘OK, we need a break and that’s it.’ And we love her still and care about her, but it’s just break time.”