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Stassi Schroeder revealed her Vanderpump Rules salary and reflected on her time on the series, as well as her firing, during an interview on Thursday.
As she also shared where she stands with her former Pump Rules co-stars, spoke of having Katie Maloney, 40, and Ariana Madix, 41, join her on her new show, House of Stassi, and reacted to Jax Taylor‘s romance with publicist Lori Krebs, Stassi, 38, explained why she turned down a role on The Valley, offered an update on her marriage to Beau Clark, 46, and detailed what she made on Pump Rules.
“I think the first season was $3,500, and then you got half that because of taxes, so I think I got around $1,000, and that was it. And the second season was just a little jump from that,” Stassi revealed during a July 30 interview with Variety. “The third season was the first time I got a check that I was proud of, and I think it was $23,000 or something like that. It made me feel something. And then it jumped up eventually.”
Looking back on her firing, which came after she reported her Black co-star, Faith Stowers, for a crime she didn’t commit, Stassi said that as hard as it was, she is “thankful” it happened.
“I wouldn’t be here with you right now and I’m better for all of it,” she revealed. “I took that all very seriously, I learned from it in the places I needed to learn, I made peace with the things that I thought were unfair and I moved forward for the sake of my daughter [Hartford, 5].”
During her time on the show, Stassi said she and Katie played a role in the dynamic of “[making] the girls look psychotic” and “[covering] for the boys” because they didn’t want to kill off the show by speaking out. She was then asked if Lisa Vanderpump, 65, had a blind spot for bad male behavior.
“I think that every person has a blind spot for things and people like who they like and don’t like who they don’t like, and that’s her. It’s just like everybody else,” she reasoned.
She also mentioned that she “assaulted Kristen” on the show.
“That’s a scene that I hope my children [including son Messer, 2] won’t see — although I know they will. That’s an embarrassing … That’s not ideal,” she admitted.
As Stassi moved on from Pump Rules with House of Stassi, she chose to include Katie because they’d “been friends for so long.”
“It honestly felt like destiny. Ninety-eight percent of our friendship has been on Vanderpump Rules, from makeups to breakups, so it felt full circle for us to start this new era of our friendship on TV again,” she explained.
As for Ariana, Stassi said she wanted to film at their sandwich shop, Something About Her.
Although Scheana Shay, 41, was not featured on her show, she was discussed, as Stassi joked, “Scheana will 100% show up at my funeral — and make it about her.”
“I wanted to get that taken out. She keeps catching strays from me, so I feel badly about that,” Stassi confessed.
As for Jessi Draper, 34, accusing Scheana of trying to get on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Stassi said she hoped Scheana would “[laugh] at it.”
Stassi also offered an update on where she stands with Kristen, saying, “When I see her, we are polite and OK … I wish her the best. With most of my ex-cast members, that was something I had to step away from. You never really grow if you’re just surrounded by the same people.”
After denying that the ladies of Pump Rules used cocaine, Stassi said Jax, who has since gone to rehab and admitted to drug use, “didn’t do that in front of us.”
Also of Jax, Stassi said it was “fully” insane that he is dating his publicist.
“She’s always been shady, and everyone’s always felt weird about her … it’s wild. I really feel for [Jax’s estranged wife, Brittany Cartwright, 37],” she stated.
While Stassi has maintained certain relationships with her former Pump Rules co-stars, she turned down The Valley when producers asked her to join.
“There was a giant push, and everyone thought I was crazy for saying no to that. They were like, ‘You’re fired! Why aren’t you saying yes to this?’ And I said, ‘Because I believe in something greater,'” she explained. “I felt that I had the opportunity to really change myself. I wouldn’t grow if I had stayed doing things like that.”
Moving on to Beau, whose life as a stay-at-home dad has taken center stage on House of Stassi, Stassi said that she wanted to showcase the rarely seen dynamic. However, while she said she was proud of the life they created, Beau has expressed feeling emasculated.
“Before filming, I said to him, ‘If we’re going to do this, we have to be honest. If you’re feeling something or thinking something, then say it to me. We have to discuss these things.’ And filming started, and he took that very seriously, and I was like, ‘Whoa! OK … I didn’t know this stuff,'” she admitted.
After noting that she was “hard on [Beau]” during filming, Stassi said they “pivoted.”
“He’s been auditioning more, and he also started golfing, working on his art, and doing things that matter to him because the show also became a job. We’ve been really open with each other about what makes us happy, and it feels like we’re in a really good place right now,” she confirmed.
Also during the interview, Stassi spoke of her friendship with Kyle Cooke, 43, saying that while he was a “nice guy,” he was a “horrible husband” to Amanda Batula, 35, as she looked back on their time filming Summer House together.
“Producers wanted us to make out so badly,” she recalled. “We were alone in the hot tub with cameras all around us, and it felt very much like, OK, is this what it feels like on The Bachelor?”
House of Stassi season one is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+.