Although the three were best friends at the start of Vanderpump Rules, their friendship has evolved 12 years later.
The Witches of Weho have come a long way since they were SUR-ving together as best friends when Season 1 of Vanderpump Rules premiered 12 years ago. Since then, they’ve gone through breakups, cheating scandals, weddings, divorces, and even pregnancies.
Kristen Doute and her fiancé, Luke Broderick, recently sat down with executive producer Alex Baskin on Bravo's Hot Mic Podcast to clear the air on the status of Kristen’s friendship with Stassi Schroeder and Katie Maloney.
“You were asked recently about your friendship with Stassi, and I thought you really maturely said, ‘Look, we don't really talk, but she was an important part of my life and, you know, so I value that, but we're just in different places,’” Alex said to Kristen on the podcast.
Keep reading to see how Kristen responded.
Is Kristen Doute still friends with Stassi Schroeder and Katie Maloney?
Kristen noted she and Stassi are still friendly, although not particularly close. She has a deeper friendship with Katie these days, although they are not "best friends" either.
Kristen then clarified on Hot Mic when she last spoke to Stassi: It was when Kristen was pregnant, before experiencing a miscarriage.
“I mean, the last time I talked to her…I'll say like a year ago when we had our pregnancy last, she was texting me pretty often and being just very loving,” she said. “The way that I think she just naturally is, especially because we were in each other's lives very close for so long.”
But the two haven’t spoken much since then.
“As of today, we haven't spoken since I think her anniversary [in September],” Kristen added. “I texted her, like a happy anniversary thing. And she was like, ‘Oh, you introduced [me and Beau Clark].’”
Stassi mirrored the same sentiment about Kristen when she was on Jeff Lewis' podcast in January 2024.
“I’m not close with Kristen,” Stassi also said to Jeff. “We text every now and then, but that’s kind of it.”
Kristen holds no ill will toward Stassi over their friendship.
“There's no hate. There's no, ‘We're not friends anymore,’” she said on Hot Mic. “It's just — people grow apart. She has two kids. She has a huge taxing career that keeps her very busy. She has a husband, and she has a different group of friends.”
But Kristen shared that she is still better friends with Katie, even though their relationship has changed.
“Katie Maloney, I’m still close to. Are we best friends the way that we were? No,” Kristen said on Hot Mic. “We are in very different places in our lives. It's kind of the same thing. I'm closer with Katie, but it's OK for people to just grow apart without there being some big dramatic breakup, strangely enough.”
What ups and downs did Kristen, Stassi, and Katie have in their friendship on Vanderpump Rules?
Stassi and Kristen had a tumultuous relationship on Vanderpump Rules, including when Kristen hooked up with Stassi’s ex, Jax Taylor.
But the Witches of Weho’s friendship began to dramatically change during Season 8, when the women navigated drama with Kristen’s now ex-boyfriend, Brian Carter.
"I think it's not just because she made a mistake and lied about it years ago [with Jax], which is already something that's hard to get over — it was years of Katie and I dealing with this constant cycle of every other day Kristen is crying or depressed or sad and wants to leave Carter and always hear s--- about Carter — and then the next day saying, 'Can he come with us to happy hour?' So after a few years of being like, 'You know what? No, he can't come to f---ing happy hour.' I don't want to be around this anymore," Stassi explained during the Vanderpump Rules After Show in 2020.
Katie also said she’d had “enough.”
"It's not about us losing patience with her or abandoning her, it's just about her taking advantage of our friendship and taking it for granted," Katie added.
At the time, Kristen responded that she would “really love a different kind of friendship with both of them,” and in 2025, it sounds like that’s becoming a reality.
Hear Kristen’s full interview with Luke on Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast on Bravo and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Watch Season 2 of The Valley premiering in Spring 2025 on Bravo, and catch up on The Valley and Vanderpump Rules now Peacock.
