The SUR hostess walks ET through her whole love story with the movie producer, from first meeting to nearing marriage.
Lala Kent is officially retiring the phrase, “My man.”
“It takes a lot of energy to constantly call someone, like, 'My man, my man, my man…’” she tells ET. “It's like, a lot of work, you know?”
After years of solely referring to her boyfriend as “my man” on Vanderpump Rules, the 28-year-old can finally call him by his name: Randall Emmett. The SUR hostess has been in a relationship with the 46-year-old TV and film producer for, basically, as long as she’s been on the show. But, because Randall was in the process of finalizing his divorce (he and his ex-wife first separated in 2015), the couple kept his identity a secret on the series.
“I was nervous, just because of all the hate that I’ve gotten in the past,” Lala admits. “But also, it felt liberating … to finally be able to talk about my life outside of my friendships with my cast members is so refreshing. You know, because he hangs out with my cast members, as well. We vacation together. So, I think it would be difficult for everybody at this point to like call him 'Your man, your man.’”
Because the show kept Randall’s identity a mystery for so long, Vanderpump Rules fans never got to know his and Lala’s love story -- until now.
“He actually came into SUR one night that I was hostessing,” Lala recalls. “He was having his holiday party there, and he sent his assistant up to me to ask for my manager’s number because they were casting for a film called The Row.” (That movie came out this past summer, starring Lala.)
“I went in for multiple auditions, and each time he was the jokester,” she continues. “I was like, 'He's cute.' Like the way -- I've never dated anybody like him, but, like, whatever he's about, I'm feeling it. I'm not gonna fight it.”
About three months later, Lala says she and Randall met up in New York City and went on their first official date.
“I let him hit it first night and the rest is just history,” she says. “Honestly, I knew I was gonna be with him forever when we had first done the deed, and then I got into the bath and I was broken out at that time -- I had the worst weave in the world -- and I get out of the tub, fresh-faced, and he was like, 'You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen.' And to me that meant, like -- ‘cause clearly, I was not, physically, the most beautiful person he has ever seen! -- but I was like, 'OK. I feel like I can be myself with this person.' I had never felt that before.”
“I always felt like I had to be 'on' 24/7, and he just lets my crazy fly,” Lala adds. “He just deals with me like a champion. He reminds me -- and this sounds so weird, ‘cause I don't want to be that girl that's like, 'He reminds me of my dad,' but he does. My dad treated my mom like a queen and I just found that quality, ‘cause I just adored my dad so much.” “And now we're engaged,” she gushes.
Randall popped the question to Lala in September, after getting permission from her father before his death in April.
“Randall had called him and asked for my hand and my dad was like, 'I wouldn't have it any other way,’” Lala shares. “I didn't know the exact conversation they had until Ran proposed to me, and he told me the conversation. And it was just like, the best feeling in the world to know that my dad before he passed away he could give his stamp of approval.”
Lala says the magical moment -- which featured a Mexican sky lit with fireworks -- won’t be aired on TV. In fact, Randall didn’t film at all for the current season of Vanderpump Rules.
“I still enjoy that little bit of privacy that we have, as much as I'm so liberated by the fact that I can talk about him and our relationship,” she says. “I can talk about the proposal, but the way that it is in my memory is, like, you could never document it and make it feel the way that it actually felt.”
And don’t expect that to change. Lala says she has no plans to film her and Randall’s wedding, either.
“I think he's just a behind-the-scenes type of person,” Lala remarks. “Our show can get very real, and I just don't know that he's about that. I think he likes to keep certain things behind closed doors.”
The reality star has yet to start planning her big day with Randall. In fact, she’s not even interested in having the wedding until 2020.
“I feel like there's that stage of, like, you have a boyfriend, when are you getting married?” she notes. “The proposal … and then it's, like, when are there kids? I just want to enjoy for a minute.”
Speaking of kids, Randall shares two daughters with his ex, which means Lala is a soon-to-be stepmom.
“I get that role of, like, you can feel safe with me, but also we can have, like, the best time ever 'cause I'm not your parent, you know?” she says of her new role as the “fun” adult. “Randall and [his ex] do such a great job of raising them, so I let them handle that part and then I'm like, 'Here, have some lip gloss. Wanna do fake nails? We can do fake nails!'”
As for expanding the family, Lala says that’s on the to-do list.
“He's set on one, I'm set on two,” she reveals. “So, two it will be, because Lala gets what she wants ... I would like to get married in 2020, and then at least a year of being married, and then let's get it poppin’, daddy!”
Vanderpump Rules airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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