Heavy/NBCUniversal "Vanderpump Rules" cast members.
Stassi Schroeder revealed she felt forced to forgive her co-stars just so she could stay on “Vanderpump Rules.”
On the June 5, 2024, episode of her podcast, “Stassi,” the former bar star spoke out about forgiving her onetime bestie Kristen Doute for hooking up with then-boyfriend Jax Taylor in the early days of the Bravo reality show.
On season 2 of “Vanderpump Rules,” in an episode titled “B*tch Slap,” Schroeder found out that Doute and Taylor hooked up while watching the movie “Drive.” At the time, Doute was dating Tom Sandoval, who was asleep in the next room. Schroeder slapped Doute across the face when she learned of the hookup and told her she never wanted to see her again.
Over time, the two women reconciled and even partnered together for the Witches of WeHo wine line with Katie Maloney. Schroeder also forgave Taylor and later invited him and his wife Brittany Cartwright to her wedding to Beau Clark, although they did not attend the nuptials in Italy.
Here’s what you need to know:
Stassi Schroeder Explained Why She Forgave Kristen Doute & Jax Taylor
PeacockJax Taylor, Kristen Doute
On her podcast, Schroeder explained that she felt she had to let her anger toward Doute and Taylor go in order to survive.
“The thing with ‘Vanderpump Rules,’ that was just because we had to keep our jobs,” she said. “So, it was like if we don’t forget, if the only way forward is to forgive and move on, otherwise you’re going to torture yourself holding all of this in and being angry and mad. And then saying ‘I’m not going to film with this person’ or whatever. Like you’re torturing yourself. That’s hard to be on a show.”
“’Vanderpump Rules’ is different,” she continued. “In real life, I would never have actually, like, forgiven and forgotten about Jax and Kristen. I would never in real life have, like that was purely because I’m like, ‘Wait this isn’t fair that I’m the one that has to leave this show.’”
Schroeder briefly left “Vanderpump Rules” at the end of season 3. She had an epiphany when she realized, “Wait so everyone’s just like BFFs with Jax and Kristen again and I’m on the outs.”
“I’m like, ‘this feels unfair,'” she said. “And then I quit halfway through and then I realized what the [expletive]. I’m the one that’s being punished. I just lost, I quit my job, and they get to prosper. And I’m like, ‘hell no.’ No, I’m going to forgive and forget. So then I went back and forgave and forgot so that I could also have my career and my job. And it’s not normal. Reality TV is like not a normal thing.”
Schroeder added that that particular type of behavior is “very specific” to Bravo TV. “It’s like a dark place to be,” she added of the sometimes-toxic environment on the reality show. Schroeder did reveal she is a fan of Doute’s Bravo spinoff “The Valley.” “It’s like my favorite show,” she said.
Kristen Doute Told a Very Different Story About Stassi Forgiving Her
PeacockKristen Doute, Stassi Schroeder
In 2016, Doute opened up about how Schroeder forgave her—and her story was a bit different. Speaking with AOL she claimed, “I gave Stassi the space that she needed. It took us about a year and a half to even start talking again. And little-by-little I started reaching out.”
Doute admitted she was “nervous” about rekindling her friendship with her former Sur co-worker but was “willing to accept a rejection if that’s the way she wanted to go with it.”
“I didn’t want to go with her thinking that I didn’t care enough to try,” Doute explained. “It definitely took some time, and we started talking little-by- little a couple of years ago. Eventually when she was able to really get over Jax and not care about him anymore and become self-aware in her own place, she was able to then forgive me. It took time to rebuild that trust. And I tried really hard to prove to her that I was a changed person that she could trust. I’m really grateful that it worked out.”
In 2024, Doute and Taylor starred in the Bravo spinoff series, “The Valley.” Schroeder was also approached to join the series, but she turned the offer down.
During an appearance on Sirius XM’s Jeff Lewis Live, Schroeder noted that Doute, Taylor, and Cartwright, aren’t part of her “crew” these days. “I’m not friends with any, you know, it’s just not my group of friends,” she told Lewis in the January 2024 interview.
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