Lala Kent, Katie Maloney, and Ariana Madix. Nicole Weingart/Bravo
Lala Kent is throwing shade at Katie Maloney and Ariana Madix‘s reaction to Vanderpump Rules overhauling the cast ahead of season 12.
During the Tuesday, December 31, episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, Lala, 34, was asked by host Amanda Hirsch about Katie and Ariana “pretending that everyone’s fine” with the shakeup.
“I don’t want to say that I’m fine with it because I’m not. It was like the greatest time of my whole life,” Lala said about her complicated response to the news. “But at some point, you have to look at the bigger picture and say, ‘Are we even able to film it any longer?’”
Lala was specifically asked about Katie, 37, claiming she wasn’t planning to come back and Ariana, 38, appearing “to be happy” about the news.
“I just don’t think we were able to film it any longer. So anyone who’s acting OK with it, I feel like it’s a slap in the face,” Lala, who has been at odds with Katie and Ariana since season 11, added. “There are moments where I look around and I’m like, ‘Do we realize we have all these opportunities that are fabulous because of Vanderpump Rules?”
Lala Kent, Katie Maloney, Scheana Shay, and Ariana Madix. Todd Williamson/Bravo
Vanderpump Rules started on Bravo in 2013 as a spinoff of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Lala joined in season 4 and remained on the show until the November 2024 announcement that season 12 would feature an entirely new cast.
“Without this show, no one gives a f— about any of us, and I just tried to always remember that. I always tried to remember what got me to this place,” Lala noted on Wednesday. “Because before Vanderpump Rules, I was just a bitch trying to beat the streets, a squirrel trying to get a nut. This show changed my whole life.”
Lala’s comments come after Katie revealed she told Vanderpump Rules producers she wouldn’t return before news of the casting shakeup.
“I didn’t plan on returning. I had made a decision months ago after this past season. I needed to move on with my life,” she said on her “Disrespectfully” podcast last month. “I had talked to our producers about it and I told them my decision on that. I felt personally ready to move on from the show. I felt like my life and where I was at was moving in a different direction. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, I was prepared to move on from the show.”
Katie recalled being ready for something new. “It had been a long time. I lived many lives and went through so much on that show,” she continued. “It just got to a point where I don’t know that I can live and grow and be the version of myself I want to be on this show any longer.”
Ariana, meanwhile, also spoke out about looking at the bright side of the situation.
“I was just relieved that the public finally was privy to the conversations that we had been having,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in December. “So, it’s nice that that news is out there and yeah, now I don’t have to sit here holding that.”
