Kristen Doute is breaking her silence and addressing her Vanderpump Rules firing after former co-star Faith Stowers called her and Stassi Schroeder out for their past racist remarks. Doute took to Instagram and shared a lengthy post where she addressed the controversial topic.
“I’ve been taking some time to really process what I’ve been seeing, feeling and learning. And I need to address something specifically that happened a few years ago with my former castmate, Faith Stowers,” Doute wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday, June 7. “Although, my actions were not racially driven, I am now completely aware of how my privilege blinded me from the reality of law enforcement’s treatment of the black community, and how dangerous my actions could have been to her.”
She added: “It was never my intention to add to the injustice and imbalance. I’m ashamed, embarrassed, and incredibly sorry. I will do better. I have to do better.”
Stassi Schroeder and Doute came under fire last month after former SURver Faith Stowers revealed they falsely accused her of committing a crime 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,” Stowers recalled via Instagram Live. “It was just funny, because they thought it was me because it was a black woman with a weave. So they just assumed it would be me, and they called the cops on me.”
Both Schroeder and Doute released public apologies to Stowers on Sunday, June 7.
“What I did to Faith was wrong. I apologize and I do not expect forgiveness,” the Next Level Basic author, who also lost several brand deals and was dropped by her PR company, wrote via Instagram. “I am also sorry to anyone else that feels disappointed in me. I am going to continue to look closer at myself and my actions – to take the time to listen, to learn, and to take accountability for my own privilege.”
Meanwhile, Doute wrote that her “actions were not racially driven,” but she “now completely aware of how my privilege blinded me from the reality of law enforcement’s treatment of the black community, and how dangerous my actions could have been to her.”
Last month, Stowers explained why she believed Schroeder and Doute reached out to her and why she doesn't believe their public apology is sincere.
“After a lot of pressure from their supporters and ‘Vanderpump’ supporters, they decided to DM me. And when I say they, I don’t mean Stassi. I mean Kristen Doute, and I believe her name is Jackie Schimmel, who runs ‘Bitch Bible’ podcast [where Schroeder bragged about calling the police on Stowers],” she told Page Six. “They reached out through DMs. But like I said, that was after people were just like, ‘No. You guys can’t do a statement. You guys gotta reach out personally’ and that’s when they did. For me it’s a step, but I feel like, what I said, it’s not going to take one or two days. The things that they were doing, they’re going to have to take time for themselves and grow. And so as far as Stassi goes, no. She never reached out to me personally. I believe Kristen and Stassi’s statements came out like within minutes of each other —seconds — and they were really uniform. So I think I should be thanking their publicist or their team because it was very similar.”
“I’ve hurt people before and I’ve tried to apologize to them,” she continued. “Some people did not receive me, but I think that the people that did, they know me, they know I’m very sincere and I would try to get on a phone call with them. I would try to speak to them in person and let them know, ‘Listen. I’m sorry for what I did to you. I apologize for what I did to you and how I made you feel and if you don’t mind, please tell me what you had to go through so I know how I hurt you.’ And that what this all is about. Even a movement is people educating themselves on what we had to really go through as black people. Only then can you understand why this fight needs to happen because it’s out there, what we have to go through and I don’t think Kristen and Stassi even know what I went through.”
Still, Stowers said that she “forgave them two years ago” when the comments were first made.
“I already forgave, forgiven them because as a Christian, that’s what I’m taught to do,” she explained. “My parents taught me to forgive people. But as far as knowing the difference for forgiving somebody and giving them time to grow, that’s two different things. I know for a fact they need to grow on their own. So I forgive you, but you have to do the work to show the world and everyone else that you’re ready to be the face of anything. So, yeah, I wish them luck on their journey with that.”
Stowers’ rep Alphonso Reed told the publication, “As of right now I feel my client has not seen much education on Stassi’s or Kristen’s part, or anything to help what’s happening to black lives. What has happened to Faith can not be fixed by a simple phone call, words are not enough. It’s bigger than them. Faith’s people are being murdered at an alarming rate and my client could have been right along side them, with a viral hashtag due to the false allegations put forth by both Stassi and Kristen.”
In a separate interview, Stowers shared more details about the topic. “As far as reaching out to me personally — Kristen did a public statement with Stassi [as mentioned above] — then after being pressured to privately apologize to me from all of the amazing supporters out there, she [Kristen] did. She directly apologized to me through a [Instagram] DM. So, it’s just unfortunate that she did that after being pressured,” Faith told HollywoodLife.
As far as Stassi, “She never reached out to me personally at all, which is unfortunate,” Faith said, explaining, “I just feel had I reached out to them prior to all of this like a year ago and said, ‘Hey, what you guys did really hurt me and put me in a dark space, I had to go see a freaking therapist. This was really bad, can we talk about it?’ — I don’t think that they would’ve wanted to talk to me,” she admitted.
“But, I hope they see this as a lesson going forward and they can do the educational research that they need to do in order for this to never happen again, ever,” Faith said. “Hopefully this has never happened to anyone else! Maybe I’m just the only one that came forward, I don’t know.” She added, “I know that if I hurt somebody I would always try to reach out and apologize personally.”
Photo Credit: Shutterstock, Startraksphoto.com
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