Stassi Schroeder is finally speaking about the controversies that led to her ‘Vanderpump Rules’ firing. She sat down for a candid interview with Tamron Hall on Sept. 17.
The time has finally come: Stassi Schroeder, 32, sat down for her first interview since being fired from Vanderpump Rules on the September 17 episode of the Tamron Hall Show. Three months after Bravo made the life-changing decision, Stassi spoke about events surrounding her firing — which include, “racially insensitive comments,” as well as an incident with Faith Stowers, a Black former cast member of VPR, whom she falsely reported to the police in 2018.
Before Stassi explained what happened during the 2018 incident, Tamron reiterated the “generic details” that both Stassi and Kristen Doute, who was also involved in the calling the police on Faith, had knowledge of at the time. “This story comes out in a tabloid, and this individual a suspect was described as in fairly generic terms — the suspect was a Black female, who weighed approximately 120 pounds, believed to be around 5’6,” Tamron said, noting, “That could be anyone, that could be me, that could be a number of my staffers. You saw a grainy photo — why did you think that that was Faith Stowers, or did you really?”
Stassi replied, “It wasn’t just the photo. Kristen and I had received texts from multiple people about this,” which led Tamron to press about who sent the reality stars information regarding the Faith.
“The bottom line is, people that Kristen knew, who were texting her and said there’s this girl who has stolen from us and we think it’s this person in the article and she’s saying she’s on your television show [VPR] and her name is Faith,” Stassi recalled. “And when you’re on a show like Vanderpump Rules, your existence on that show is kind of dependent on sticking your nose in other people’s conflict, or creating conflict that might be woven into a storyline. — This is completely my fault because I was absolutely wrong, but it wasn’t just a photo that we saw,” she said. “There were other reasons why we thought that.” Later on, Stassi added that at the time, “I legitimately thought we were solving crime and I was completely completely wrong.”
Stassi, who is currently pregnant with her first child, continued, “I’m someone who messed up quite a few times. I am the reason why I am in this situation. And, I think a lot of people wanted me to focus on this ‘cancel culture’ and whether I was a victim or not and it’s not how I feel at all.”
She went on to admit that being labeled as a “racist” has been “absolutely the hardest part” of the controversy. “Just going out to the grocery store or a restaurant and wondering if that’s what people think and throughout this whole thing, I’ve recognized that I never felt like I was a racist,” she said, explaining, “I don’t have hate in my heart. But, I have recognized that I wasn’t anti-racist, I wasn’t. That’s something I’ve been learning throughout all of this.”
Faith Stowers opened up about how she felt after her former co-stars, Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute, falsey reported her to the police in this Instagram Live session from June of 2020.
As for why she waited three months to explain herself, Stassi admitted that she spent the past 90 days educating herself about Black history. “I’ve spent the last three months, yes, working with a teacher about everything and there’s so much that I didn’t know,” she said, explaining, “I didn’t understand that just because something wasn’t about race for me, that doesn’t mean it’s not about race for the other person, because I’m bring my experience of a white privileged woman to this situation and she’s bringing her experience as a Black woman into this situation, and because it’s about race for her, it is about race and that’s something that I’ve realized.”
Stassi, along with her co-star Kristen Doute, were let go from Vanderpump Rules in June of 2020, after it came to the public’s attention that the Bravo stars once reported Faith to the police for a crime she did not commit in 2018. “There was this article on Daily Mail where there was an African American lady. It was a weird photo, so she looked very light-skinned and had these different, weird tattoos. They showcased her, and I guess this woman was robbing people. And they called the cops and said it was me,” Faith recalled in an Instagram Live session amid the Black Lives Matter movement in June, a few days before Stassi and Kristen were fired.
Faith also recalled the drama she faced over her affair with co-star Jax Taylor (who was dating his future wife, Brittany Cartwright), which aired in Season 6 of Vanderpump Rules. “They wanted to attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. I was wrong, I was this,” Faith said, but didn’t name specific names. Faith accused these unnamed co-stars of “calling [her] names” and “saying [her] hair was nappy.”
Two days after the Instagram Live session, Stassi took to Instagram with a public apology. She first apologized for “racially insensitive comments” from her past, and then addressed Faith directly: “I also want to address my former castmate, Faith Stowers. My emotions over something that happened between our friends outweighed my logic, and there is no excuse for that. I did not recognize then the serious ramifications that could have transpired because of my actions. What I did to Faith was wrong. I apologize and I do not expect forgiveness.” However, Faith EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife that Stassi nor Kristen did not personally reach out to her before putting out their public statements, saying, “I would’ve heard what they had to say because everybody deserves forgiveness.”
Stassi had been eager to break her silence beyond social media posts in the wake of the controversy, we learned. “She’s really looking forward to her Tamron Hall interview being put out there because she wants to publicly address the incident that got her fired from [Vanderpump Rules],” a source close to the Next Level Basic author EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife.
“Stassi has taken this time to learn and grow from the situation, and she is in a different place in her life,” the insider continued. “She’s so excited to become a mother and is looking forward to the next chapter.” Part of this new chapter will be her first baby with fiancé Beau Clark, 40, whom Stassi announced shortly after she was fired.