Lisa Vanderpump was noticeably absent from the Something About Her opening — but she is still rooting for Katie Maloney and Ariana Madix’s success.
“I’ve been out of town. I’ve been in Lake Tahoe. I’ve been in Vegas. I’ve been in New York,” Vanderpump, 63, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, May 20, as to why she skipped the sandwich shop’s Los Angeles soft opening. “I just came back from New York two days ago. I’ve been everywhere.”
Vanderpump — who was speaking to Us about her debut on season 2 of Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars — believes that Katie, 37, and Ariana, 38, need to “take the time” to get their restaurant off the ground before she’ll stop by and celebrate.
“We’ll have a soft opening in a restaurant, but we won’t really invite people until, you know, you are kind of two or three weeks in so you can kind of iron out the things,” the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star told Us. “I don’t wanna go there and judge that now. Let’s give them a couple of weeks a month to settle in. I think that’s normally what we do in the restaurant business.”
While Vanderpump was absent from the Friday, May 17, soft opening, former Vanderpump Rules star Stassi Schroeder was there alongside Bravo producer Andy Cohen and Summer House’s Lindsay Hubbard to try the sandwiches before the official store opens on Wednesday, May 22.
Vanderpump, for her part, turned the tables on Us and asked if Lala Kent was at the opening after things took a return at the season 11 reunion between Lala and Katie.
“Everything always shocks me in this group, but I’m never that surprised. Cause they kind of move very quickly,” Vanderpump told Us about Lala not being there last week. “People have drawn lines in the sand, whereas I’m not really like that.”
One of the main points of contention between Lala and Katie was Lala’s claims that Katie was among the several cast members frustrated with Ariana during the season, but didn’t speak up because she was a “fan-favorite.”
Vanderpump told Us on Monday that looking back, she thinks Ariana choosing to live in the same house as her ex Tom Sandoval — but not film individual scenes with him — after his 2023 cheating scandal led to issues among the group.
“While she was living in the same house, I think, it’d be almost, like, [That’s] ridiculous,’” Vanderpump explained. “I think that’s some of the things that the young women called out, saying, ‘Well, hold on a second. I can’t be friends with him, but yet you are living in the same house?’ I think that was the thing that people were struggling with.”
Following season 11’s drama surrounding Sandoval, 40, and Rachel “Raquel” Leviss’ affair fallout, Bravo is not filming season 12 during the summer months as in years past.
“We’re taking a little breath here. I’ve got to open another restaurant,” Vanderpump told Us of the hiatus. “I think we’re kind of done talking about Scandoval/Sandoval. So I think everybody, like, needs to have it kind of all breathe a little bit.”
As fans wait for more VPR, Vanderpump is staying busy with another reality series: Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars. Vanderpump is one of the contestants for season 2, which premieres on Fox Wednesday, May 22.
“When [Gordon Ramsay] first asked me to do it, we had a kind of playful relationship, albeit competitive because we had restaurants opposite each other. But I just also thought it was very interesting on many different levels,” she explained of the reality series. “Because it was going to be about the emotional component between the contestants, the business strategy, the challenges, survival of the fittest, the iconic places that we were gonna go. And ultimately how Gordon and I would handle each other.”
Vanderpump noted that Ramsay, 57, is used to “being autonomous and being the boss of everything he does, and suddenly there are two bosses in the picture.” She noted that viewers will see them butt heads but only because of their “respect” for one another.
“I can’t minimize what he accomplished in his life. It is extraordinary. But it was also handling him as well and getting him to settle down and shut the f–k up,” she teased. “Sometimes.”
Part 2 of the Vanderpump Rules season 11 reunion airs on Bravo Tuesday, May 21, at 8 p.m. ET. Plus, season 2 of Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars premieres on Fox Wednesday, May 22, at 9 p.m. ET.
