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Faith Stowers is suing Bravo and NBCUniversal for discrimination and retaliation.
Years after Stassi Schroeder, 35, and Kristen Doute, 41, were fired from Vanderpump Rules due to their racially insensitive actions against her following her affair with Jax Taylor, 44, who was dating now-estranged wife Brittany Cartwright, 35, at the time, Faith has hired lawyers Mark Geragos and Bryan Freedman, who are also working with Bethenny Frankel, 53, amid her reality reckoning.
“This case concerns Faith Stowers, a former cast member on Bravo’s popular reality TV show Vanderpump Rules, who appeared on 51 episodes as the show’s only black cast member before being driven out by a vicious campaign of racist harassment and retaliation,” the attorneys declared in her case.
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online on April 5, Faith “was recruited to the show” by Lisa Vanderpump, 63, to add more “color to the cast.”
“Although she had never set out to be a reality star, Stowers was excited by the opportunity and accepted the offer. She was paid a total of $5,000 for her first season,” the documents stated. “Very quickly, however, Stowers realized that she was getting more than she bargained for. Stowers was subjected to racism, sexual harassment, and physical assault in her first season.”
While Faith reported the mistreatment to NBC and her Pump Rules producers, she was allegedly met with pushback as they supposedly “warned in no uncertain terms to keep quiet and play nice,” which she did for the sake of her career.
In the lawsuit, Faith also called out some of her former costars including Lala Kent, as she alleges that during a verbal and physical argument, Lala held a knife to her neck and then threatened to “cut a b–ch.”
Faith then claims she was forced to share a bed with Lala during a cast trip, and alleges, “Production pressured Kent and Stowers to ‘get intimate’ and touch each other sensually on camera,’” according to Page Six. “All of this was greatly distressing to [the plaintiff].”
The lawsuit also mentions Kristen and Stassi, claiming they accused Faith of going “AWOL” from the United States Army while also accusing her of being a “serial criminal” who drugged and robbed men in Los Angeles. Faith also accused the pair of filing a “false” police report naming Faith as the assailant.
“Over time, her treatment got even worse,” the suite continued. “Many cast members embarked on an overtly racist social media harassment campaign, accusing her of having gone AWOL from the military [false], of being a thief [false], and being a career criminal wanted by the LAPD [false]. NBC [ and producers], which tightly control the cast’s public statements and messaging, condoned, ratified and amplified these vicious lies, causing untold harm to Stower’s mental health and reputation. To make matters worse, NBC threatened her with ruinous legal action when she attempted to speak out.”
Ultimately, Faith said she was demoted to a volunteer role on the series, even though her participation didn’t change.
According to Faith, she believes that producers “belatedly terminated several cast members for behavior they had long known about” in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and calls for equality but never reached “out to Stowers herself.”
“Now that the racial reckoning of 2020 has receded,” she continued, “NBC and [show producers] have reverted to their old ways. A Vanderpump Rules spin-off entitled The Valley debuted in March 2024, starting a who’s who of the 2020 chopping block.”
As Pump Rules fans well know, Kristen is currently starring in The Valley, which Stassi turned down.
Faith is suing the media giants for unspecified damages.
In other Faith Stowers news, the former Pump Rules cast member took to her Instagram page earlier this week to announce her new podcast.
“Subscribe right now….it [time],” Faith wrote in the caption of a joint post with Marcus Millions about The Frequency.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
