The shocking revelation of Tom Sandoval’s infidelity in the 10th season of Vanderpump Rules—with his girlfriend’s best friend, after nearly a decade of dating, while she was grieving the deaths of her dog and grandmother—had nothing to do with Lisa Vanderpump. However, as the drama wore on, some fans and cast members questioned how the show’s namesake had handled some aspects of the #Scandoval fallout; one critic even dared wonder if the show had outgrown its creator.
But Vanderpump’s season finale—which aired before a screeching trio of expletive-ridden reunion episodes—proved how very necessary Vanderpump remains, as least to the so-called poo-poo heads she hired. It’s during face time with the Vanderpump Rules boss, and on her soothingly overstuffed sofa, that Ariana Madix sees her angry façade finally crumple, and that Sandoval later claws his unnerving white fingernails over his face in something resembling agony. Vanderpump hired these two people to mix cocktails in her restaurant over a decade ago. But in the years since, she’s cast them, molded and mothered them, and even financed their dreams. She’s done something similar for the show’s fans as well: Who else but Vanderpump can we thank for distracting us from our tiny lives on a burning planet for 20-odd episodes a season?
And so, ahead of a “Secrets Revealed” episode of Vanderpump Rules that will close the season at long last, Vanderpump called VF from the medieval-fortress city of Carcassonne, in the South of France, where she’s currently plotting her recently announced Hulu series, Vanderpump Villa. The new show will again follow a group of her staff, this time as they “navigate every extravagant desire of their well-to-do guests” at her French villa—but Vanderpump promises it will have a vibe different from that of Vanderpump Rules and its West Hollywood crew’s televised travails. “We’ve been super busy, but I like to work. I would rather do that than sit by a pool. Mind you, a glass of rosé has been in my hand,” she says, with her elegant little London chuckle. “But I can do both. I’ll take a vacation later this year. Make hay while the sun shines, eh?”
Vanity Fair: How has #Scandoval spring been for you? Were you surprised by the giant reaction, from New York Times explainers to global watch parties?
Lisa Vanderpump: I’d be lying if I didn’t say everybody was surprised at the momentum. It just picked up so quickly and gathered so much speed—to be the headline on CNN and to be, as you say, on the front pages of newspapers. But people have been invested in the show for so many years. I’d liken it to: You’d watched Friends and you feel like you know these characters. We saw them live together. It was compounded by the fact that it was her best friend. To see the footage of Raquel [Leviss] asking Ariana [about her sex life with Tom], and Ariana taking Raquel into confidence, it all seemed bizarre and clandestine and duplicitous. I don’t think anybody believed those two were capable of it.
How did you feel about those last five minutes of the reunion, in which Raquel reveals to a producer that Tom encouraged her to lie about the timeline of the affair? They were much-hyped, and some people thought overhyped.
The hype was that I knew, and they were pretty aggressive to me online. Finally I had to tweet and say, “No, I didn’t know. I wish I had.” It was pretty astounding. For her to even utter words, maybe, that they weren’t in unison—it was a bit surprising, to be honest. But that’s what good producers, and a good reality family, endeavor to do: get the truth.
People think you knew ahead of time. They’ve pointed to that memed scene of your husband, Ken, being gossipy, because it seemed so un-Ken. So, last word: Did anyone feed Ken that line?
Ken didn’t have a mic on! Ken wasn’t filming. I’d told Ken before, and he just thought he was having a bit of a laugh. I don’t think he realized the ramifications of it, but nobody did at that time. I mean, if he’d been in the scene, maybe somebody would’ve fed him the line. But to suddenly walk into the scene without a mic, and then walk out the other side? It was funny at the time because it wasn’t that serious. It was more of an innuendo. Ken doesn’t care what he says on reality television, or whether he’s on it or not. I think he established that a long time ago.
Kaitlin Menza
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