On her new reality show, Stassi Schroeder got brutally honest about how she thought Vanderpump Rules protected the men over the women.
“I loved Vanderpump Rules but it also is literally what we’re gonna have PTSD about and have to talk to therapists about for the rest of our life,” Stassi, 38, told Katie Maloney in the series premiere of Freeform and Hulu’s House of Stassi.
Stassi called the Bravo show out, adding, “It was always, ‘Make the girls look psychotic, make the girls look like they have issues. They covered for the boys, they covered for the men.”
In a confessional Stassi elaborated on her “mixed feelings” for the show that made her a household name.
“I’m so appreciative of it, and it’s given me so many opportunities. But it normalized so much darkness,” she continued. “It rewarded so much darkness until it didn’t. And then coming back to reality TV, I’m like, ‘Are you being a dumb bitch?’”
Stassi continued: “I’m scared of reality TV but it’s all I know. I love it but I’m also traumatized by it. But I can’t stay away from it. But I was not gonna let Vanderpump Rules be my legacy. I had to make this happen. I had to.”
Stassi made her reality TV debut as a contestant on season 8 of The Amazing Race. She also starred on the short-lived show Queen Bees, which aired two years before Stassi took a job as a waitress at Vanderpump’s SUR restaurant.
It didn’t take long for Stassi to become the fan favorite on Vanderpump Rules after it premiered in 2013. While documenting her life for the hit Bravo series, Stassi started to expand her empire by releasing her first book, Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic Bitch Handbook, in 2019.
The following year, however, Stassi was fired from Vanderpump Rules alongside Kristin Doute at the end of season 8 following controversy with their former costar Faith Stowers. She has since authored a second book, Off With My Head, and shifted her focus to her podcast.
“Even when I started Vanderpump Rules, the goal was then to always do something even bigger after that,” Stassi told TV Insider earlier this month. “Granted, Vanderpump Rules was huge. We didn’t even know how big it was. We still, I don’t think, understand how big it was or whatever, but I never thought it would be Vanderpump Rules or nothing. Anyone who goes on Bravo, they’re like, ‘Oh, I want to get a spinoff out of this.’ Everyone will tell you that. And so it was always like, ‘OK, what can I do after this?’”
In her personal life, Stassi found love with Beau Clark. The couple exchanged vows in 2020 before welcoming daughter Hartford in 2021. Two years later, Stassi and Beau expanded their family with son Messer.
House of Stassi premieres Thursday, July 30, on Hulu.
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