Kristen Doute made her share of enemies on “Vanderpump Rules,” but as “The Valley” finishes its second season, she has seemingly reinvented herself.
Kristen Doute has had an eventful year. The second season of “The Valley” is about to conclude and she recently gave birth to a daughter, Kaia. Credit...Jennelle Fong for The New York Times
In 2013, Kristen Doute was working as a server at the West Hollywood lounge SUR and struggling to make it as an actor when one of the restaurant’s owners — Lisa Vanderpump of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” fame — approached her with the opportunity to be cast in a new Bravo reality show.
Called “Vanderpump Rules,” the show would follow the personal and professional lives of the young staff members at SUR. The two decided to give it a shot, unaware that one day, Ms. Doute’s boyfriend at the time, Tom Sandoval, would become the most hated man in the United States, and Ms. Doute would be publicly fired for racist behavior.
“The worst-case scenario is that it doesn’t do well and no one ever hears about it again,” Ms. Doute, now 42, said of her decision to join the show during a recent interview. “Our IMDB pages are not through the roof right now. I think we’ll be OK.”
After agreeing to join the cast, the two immediately went home and binge-watched MTV’s “The Hills,” one of the most popular reality TV shows of the time. “We wanted to learn how to, quote, unquote, do reality TV,” Ms. Doute said.
Turns out, she did not need the help. With “Vanderpump,” Ms. Doute quickly became one of the network’s biggest reality stars — for better or worse. Since debuting on Bravo screens more than a decade ago, she has been an insatiable vortex for drama, earning the nickname “Crazy Kristen” for her drunken antics (i.e. throwing a drink on James Kennedy, a castmate), battling with gravity (i.e. tripping over a coffee table on a girls’ trip to Solvang, Calif.), and embarking on tireless quests for the truth — or at least her truth. (Her other cast-given nickname is “Detective Doute.”)
That type of drama is what drives reality television, and Ms. Doute spent nearly her entire 30s, and now some of her 40s, living her life in front of the cameras for the consumption — and criticism — of American audiences.
Now, as the star of the “Vanderpump Rules” spinoff “The Valley,” which will air its Season 2 finale this week, Ms. Doute is playing a different type of role: the voice of reason. (Relatively speaking, of course — this is still reality television.) Where she was once deemed toxic or unhinged, she has been recast by some fans as iconic; her multiple-year absence from TV screens has allowed her to reset expectations.
Born and raised in Dearborn, Mich., Ms. Doute moved to Los Angeles in her early 20s to pursue a career in acting, appearing in a few small projects before Bravo producers came knocking. Throughout her time on “Vanderpump,” she endured many breakups, including with Mr. Sandoval; admitted to sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend; and was unceremoniously fired from SUR after drunkenly berating her manager.
Despite being a beacon for chaos, Ms. Doute managed to parlay her Bravolebrity status into several business ventures. She wrote a book in which she embraced the “crazy” moniker and started the T-shirt and accessories brand James Mae.
Ms. Doute remained on the show for eight seasons, until 2020, when she and her castmate Stassi Schroeder were fired after their fellow cast member Faith Stowers, who is Black, said during an Instagram Live chat that they had reported her to the police for a crime she had nothing to do with. A Daily Mail article had described a Black woman who was wanted for theft, and Ms. Doute and Ms. Schroeder claimed it was Ms. Stowers, with Ms. Schroeder confirming the accusation that she had contacted the police.
Bravo fans were horrified by their actions, and both apologized, with Ms. Doute claiming her actions were not “racially motivated.” She said she was “ashamed and embarrassed” and acknowledged that her privilege had made her unaware of how dangerous her actions could have been for Ms. Stowers.
Last year, Ms. Stowers filed a lawsuit against NBCUniversal saying she had been a victim of racial harassment during her time on “Vanderpump Rules,” and the actions of Ms. Doute and Ms. Schroeder were mentioned in the filing. Ms. Stowers’ case was moved to arbitration earlier this year. She declined to comment on Ms. Doute’s comeback.
Despite the fallout from the incident, Ms. Doute was brought back to reality television four years later with “The Valley.”
“I was absolutely terrified,” Ms. Doute said of her return. “I didn’t know if anyone was ready to hear from me. I didn’t know if people wanted to give me the opportunity. With being canceled, there was a lot of weight and pressure. I felt like I had to talk to what I felt I owed the viewers of our show, and the people that were affected by what happened.”
In retrospect, Ms. Doute said, the time away was necessary “to just pump the brakes and sit back, shut up, listen and do a lot of self-reflection.”
So is the new Ms. Doute more self-actualized? On “The Valley,” which follows a handful of “Vanderpump” alumni and their friends as they navigate parenthood and marriage in the suburbs of Los Angeles, she’s certainly shown a different side. She’s still not afraid to speak her mind or defend her friends, but the volatility that defined her “Vanderpump” era had lessened — before ratcheting up some in the last few weeks.
She has even been lauded by some as a truth teller. And while the 12th season of “Vanderpump Rules” will be a reboot with a new cast, Ms. Doute is thriving on “The Valley.”
On a recent episode, she got engaged to her boyfriend and co-star Luke Broderick, and just a few weeks before this article’s publication, she gave birth to a daughter, whom the couple named Kaia. On the show, Mr. Broderick is a perfect foil for Ms. Doute, calming her down and doing his best to keep her out of unnecessary drama.
“We’re really happy with where we’re at,” she said of their relationship. “Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing, because it’s working.”
And though she has changed a lot throughout her decade-plus in the reality TV spotlight, or at least grown much more self-aware, Ms. Doute knows that some parts of her are still the same.
“I had someone messaging me the other day, and she was like, ‘Oh, you were always my favorite on ‘Vanderpump,’” she said. “But I was like: ‘Girl, I was not my own favorite. Let’s not go there.’”
“It’s not that that person is gone,” she added. “I’m still going to fight for everyone that I love. I’m still a little messy. I definitely get involved in certain things that are not my own business necessarily. I also kind of have only so many F’s to give. And some people are not worth it.”
