On her podcast on Monday, Lala Kent addressed rumors that she was jealous of Ariana Madix.
The 33-year-old Vanderpump Rules star revealed how Tom Sandoval, 41, reminded her of her ex-fiance, Randall Emmett, 53, among other things, while also accusing Ariana, 38, of making filming difficult, responding to claims that she was a “production puppet,” and describing why she unfollowed Ariana and Katie Maloney, 37, on Instagram.
“When my situation happened with my ex, I was so blindsided that just putting one foot in front of the other, simply waking up was a huge win for me. There are times that people have said, ‘It must’ve been so difficult to go through what you’re going through in public.’ And honestly, I didn’t even realize that I was going through it in public because it wasn’t a breakup that I was going through. I was going into a battle for Ocean,” Lala shared on the June 3 episode of Give Them Lala. “I truly won’t wish that upon anybody. That time in my life was nothing short of torture, mental torture.”
Looking back on her split from Randall, who she accused of cheating, Lala said she developed strength as she focused on protecting her child, three-year-old Ocean, as people suggested she was getting “karma.”
Years later, Ariana was rallied around by the audience after Sandoval was caught cheating with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29.
“I was overjoyed to see the audience come together in support of Ariana after everything that transpired. Did I regret not getting that? Yes. That would have been incredibly pleasant. However, I didn’t. And I’m all right. If you’re wondering if I’m envious of Ariana, I think she’s really talented. Seeing her on Broadway was enjoyable. She deserves to be there, in my opinion. She has excelled in that role, and I continue to support that. I also maintain that she made this year’s filming of a television show—parts of which I’ve been working on for eight years, and some for eleven—extremely challenging,” Lala said.
Despite acknowledging that the filming was “funky” after “Scandoval,” Lala stated she doesn’t hold anything against Ariana and that she kept showcasing her genuine life, even in awkward situations.
“Just like Lisa Vanderpump had drilled me in her kitchen about my situation, did I enjoy that? Not at all but I knew we were filming a show and I knew there were people out there in the audience who were going to wonder these things. So with Ariana, when filming a television show, I asked her the things I felt the audience may want to know,” she stated. “I, in no way, shape, or form was trying to move her along in a process. I was not upset about the opportunities she was getting. I was not mad that she got so much love. All of those things, I was thrilled for her about. [But] filming a show with her this year was very, very hard.”
In addition to feeling that Ariana wasn’t authentic with the cameras, she also felt that she was painted in a good light, despite not being a “girl’s girl.”
“Ariana has not always been this perfect girls girl. She did not acknowledge me at all when I had a party to celebrate the longevity of the Give Them Lala brand. She has openly stood there while Tom Sandoval, her then-boyfriend, had belittled people like me, people like [Stassi Schroeder]. And she also watched [Charli Burnett] laugh at me when was basically saying that I basically wasn’t a good enough gold digger,” she recalled. “Where are the flashbacks? Y’all do flashbacks of me in my not proud moments that I’ve apologized for all the time.”
While Lala has been accused of pressing Ariana at the request of production, she denied being a puppet.
“I went in and I was authentic in things that didn’t make sense to me. I asked questions. If I felt it, I said it,” she explained. “I will always have an opinion, it’s what allows me to go in and make TV and I’m happy the audience has an opinion because they are what makes it so we can have a successful show. Without us both having an opinion, there’s no show to be discussed. I have never been anyone’s puppet. The audience knows me. They know that I can change up quick. I ask questions if things don’t make sense. I can go from slicing you with my words to being putty in your hand. It’s the way that I’ve been since I was a young kid.”
“I enjoy [reality TV]. I’ve never been anybody’s puppet and I certainly wasn’t this season,” she added.
As for claims of exposing a private conversation she had with Katie, Lala denied that the discussion was private.
“These were things that she had said to production and the phone call I was referring to, production was on the phone,” she revealed. “She has been part of this show since its conception. She knows the drill. That conversation I brought up had to do with production and she knows that.”
While Lala unfollowed both Ariana and Katie after wrapping production on Pump Rules season 11, she confirmed she has not yet written off a future friendship with either.
“I think time does very crazy things. When I think about time, I always for some reason go back to my dad. It was like, one day I had a dad and in a matter of seconds, I didn’t. And then I spiraled for a really long time and then time passed and I have healed — a lot. Something you felt like you can never come back from, you suddenly come back from. That’s what time does,” she reasoned. “So I’m not gonna say that I would never be friends with them again. What I do know is this season was very tough for me. I felt like there were moments where I was having people come at things that had nothing to do with the show. It got dark. And there are things that I do sometimes to bring me back to the light and if one of those things happens to be unfollowing people who don’t really make me feel good in the moment, I’m gonna do that … I just wanted to feel good for a moment. This season I was really being obliterated. It was very loud and I’m used to having seasons where I’m not people’s favorite but the amount of hate that I was getting this season that had nothing to do with what was being shown on TV, it was a lot and it really hurt my feelings. So if I needed to delete social media and unfriend a few people on Instagram to keep me where the light is, especially being pregnant, then that’s what I’m gonna do.”
Regarding her describing both Sandoval and Randall as “dangerous,” Lala said she was simply relating what went down between Ariana and Sandoval to her own situation.
“There were things about the cheating part of my situation with my ex that really triggered me when it came to Tom Sandoval. To say that Tom Sandoval and my ex are the same person, no. The way that they moved with creeping around on myself and Ariana, there were many things that were running parallel,” she shared. “There are things and reasons for my hard lines. There are reasons for me entering a custody battle and I’m just going to leave it there.”
Also on the podcast, Lala was asked about potential hypocrisy by a fan who reminded her that she had told Katie that she didn’t need to understand her life but felt the need to understand Ariana’s.
“Ariana was right in talking about her boundaries and saying that I didn’t need to understand them,” Lala admitted. “She was absolutely correct. You’re allowed to set boundaries. It doesn’t matter if I don’t understand them. It’s her life. I was simply answering the question that Andy asked me and filming a TV show.”
