'Vanderpump Rules' Star Scheana Shay Opens Up About Sharing Husband's 'Difficult' Addiction Struggles on TV

If you had any doubts that Vanderpump Rules was a staged reality show, star Scheana Shay says season four will set you straight.

Starting this week, viewers will get to see what happened when Scheana was forced to confront her husband Mike’s addiction issues. According to the series trailer, Mike struggles with pills and alcohol.

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“I don't like to live with regrets,” Scheana tells ETonline of sharing the story on the show. “I like to live and learn. And one of the things, I think, about our show is how real it is. It's unscripted. We're a group of friends who love each other, can't stand each other, and same with Shay. You know, we're not always perfect.”

Still, Scheana and Mike never expected to reveal this part of their lives to the cameras -- it just came up.

“It was just like word vomit,” Scheana says. “It was just a casual, comfortable conversation with Ariana [Madix], with Katie [Maloney], with Lisa [Vanderpump], and then I was like, 'Oh, wait. We're filming. And now everyone's gonna find out about this.’”

“It is difficult,” Scheana adds. “You know, he's like, ‘Why would you do this to me? Why would you tell everyone?’ And I'm like, 'I don't know! I didn't mean to. And you weren't here, and I was sad, and I was lonely, and I was like, but maybe he's doing this again.' And once I said that, I'm like, 'Take it back, take it back.' Like, rewind, rewind. But there’s no, like, DVR rewind button in life.”

In fact, Scheana says she thought they had gotten Mike’s problems under control between season three and season four, when the cameras weren’t rolling.

“All of it came back up,” Scheana says. “Last December, we had a terrible month. We were going through a lot of stuff, but we weren't filming in December. Then, everything, I thought was resolved. We're all good.”

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“And then, June comes around,” Scheana continues. “And I'm like, 'Oh wait, this might still be an issue.' Then, we're filming, and then it's captured. The one thing I was so thankful we got over when we weren't filming was captured.”

Scheana says Mike is in a good place now -- but reliving these difficulties for the next few weeks on the show is going to be hard. Scheana tells ETonline it will “completely” put added strain on their marriage.

“On the show, you don't talk about being on the show,” Scheana says. “You know, we're not the Kardashians. We don't see cameras and all that. So, it's like, it's hard when we're fighting about something we can't fight about for everyone to see, because that is a struggle.”

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Still, Scheana says they’ll make it through.

“He's doing absolutely amazing, we're doing amazing,” Scheana says. “I hope that all of these things we've gotten past can help other people … Addiction is something that's so relatable. It's a struggle that so many millions of people deal with, so I just hope that, by telling our story, and showing people how real this is, then -- if we can just help one person then, you know, my job's done.”

See how it all unfolds Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo when Vanderpump Rules airs new episodes. While you wait, check out more of our chat with Scheana and co-star Katie Maloney in the video below.

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