The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star opens up to ET about her falling out with her co-stars.
Lisa Vanderpump seems more than happy with her decision to walk away from her friend group. Well, her so-called friend group on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
"I stopped filming halfway through the season," Lisa tells ET’s Keltie Knight. "When you are a woman of integrity, and you’re a woman that works really hard and is very compassionate, and is very principally minded, and they keep coming at you and ganging up on you, I don’t know…"
Lisa opted out of group events with her cast after they accused her of leaking a story about co-star Dorit Kemsley to the tabloids. The story -- aka "puppygate" -- involved a dog, Lucy Lucy Apple Juice, which Dorit adopted from Lisa’s Vanderpump Dogs center; the dog eventually wound up back at the center after being dropped off at a shelter. That gossip went around the group of women on the show, thanks to Teddi Mellencamp, who conspired with Vanderpump Dogs employees to spread the word. Teddi alleges that Lisa masterminded the whole thing, but Lisa has denied any involvement -- including the sharing of the story with the press.
"I didn’t integrate with the other women after they constantly called me a liar," Lisa shares.
The whole thing came to a head when Kyle Richards showed up at Lisa’s Beverly Hills mansion to confront her over the group’s suspicions about the story leak. The explosive argument, first teased in the season premiere, finally plays out in full on Tuesday night’s episode. Per Kyle, it’s the last time she and Lisa spoke.
"You came here to call me a liar!" Lisa shouts at Kyle in the scene, before she and her husband, Ken Todd, kick her out of their house.
"I felt that once somebody says, I swear on my children's life, as you saw [in the fight], I would never question that, I just wouldn’t," Lisa explains. "So, for me, unless the dynamic changed radically, I don’t want people in my life that question me."
That’s why, Lisa says, reconciliation with her co-stars is unlikely. The next chance for her to face them all together will be the all-cast reunion, which won’t film for months. Lisa has played coy about whether she’ll show up to the taping.
"I was searching for happiness at that time in my life, and I certainly didn’t find it with them," she adds, referencing her state of mind after her brother’s unexpected death in May 2018. "But you know what? I thank the audience for really, really supporting me."
ET spoke with Lisa after the grand opening of her Vanderpump Cocktail Garden inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where she got to experience that fan support firsthand.
"I was out there giving all the people waiting shots and cookies, because the fans' support is everything,” she says. "They watch you for years, they feel like they know you and these people, some of them, they were there all day. So, to all of them, I really, really thank them, because you couldn’t do it without them. You really couldn’t."
And Lisa’s fans don’t have to worry -- just because she pulled out of filming with her co-stars doesn’t mean she stopped being a Housewife. The restaurateur continued to film for the Bravo show, documenting her charitable and work endeavors, including the opening of the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in Las Vegas. It appeared that RHOBH cameras were on hand for the grand opening over the weekend; the only cast member in attendance other than Lisa was Camille Grammer.
Tune in to ET on Tuesday night to see an exclusive tour of the space with Lisa and her designer, Nick Alain, who also designed her latest Los Angeles eatery, TomTom. Click here for your local listings.
"I think it’s very unusual for two people to work together, like Nick and I do, where we actually agree on everything," Lisa explains to ET.
"We do!" Nick agrees. "You start it, and I finish it, or vice versa. It’s incredible. Ken and Lisa have just been amazing. I consider them masters in what they do."
"He’s the genius!" Lisa interjects.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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