Kristen Doute is returning to the reality series amid her ex, Tom Sandoval's, cheating scandal.
Kristen Doute is back. Bravo confirmed that the 40-year-old reality star will be returning to Vanderpump Rules as the show addresses Tom Sandoval cheating on Ariana Madix with Raquel Leviss.
Doute previously dated Sandoval for roughly five years when Madix first joined the Vanderpump Rules cast in 2013. At the time, there were rumors swirling that Sandoval cheated on Doute with Madix. They later confirmed that they did kiss while Sandoval and Doute were together.
Ahead of her appearance on the show, Doute has spoken out several times on Sandoval's cheating scandal, and in defense of Madix.
"This is all very surreal that this occurred with him and Raquel behind Ariana's back," she said on Friday's episode of Dear Media's Scheananigans With Scheana Shay. "Like, there's still something I have not fully digested yet. I was literally shocked. But now, in hindsight, I'm like, yeah, that sounds about right. But I really didn't think he'd do it to her."
Doute added that Madix is better off without Sandoval. "She doesn't have a leech that's going to dragging her down anymore," she told Shay. "She gets to flourish. She can write her own book without someone riding her coattails."
The return of Doute to Vanderpump Rules comes a few years after she and Stassi Schroeder were fired from the show after past racist actions against former VPR co-star Faith Stowers resurfaced. In 2020, Stowers recalled a 2018 incident involving the women during an Instagram Live session.
"There was this article on Daily Mail where there was an African American lady. It was a weird photo, so she looked very light-skinned and had these different, weird tattoos," Stowers said at the time. "They showcased her, and I guess this woman was robbing people. And they called the cops and said it was me."
"This is, like, a true story. I heard this from actually Stassi during an interview," Stowers added, seemingly referencing Schroeder's past appearance on the B*tch Bible podcast.
Around the same time as Schroeder's podcast appearance, Doute tweeted the Daily Mail article and a message to her followers. "Hey tweeties, doesn’t this ex #pumprules thief look familiar? someone put her on MTV and gave her a platform for press. I didn’t wanna go there but I’m going there," she wrote, referencing Stowers.
After Stowers brought up this incident in 2020, Schroeder and Doute both issued apologies for their actions.
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