13 Biggest Bombshells From Lala Kent’s New Book About ‘Vanderpump Rules,’ Randall Emmett and More

Credit: David Buchan/Shutterstock

13 Biggest Bombshells From Lala Kent’s New Book About 'Vanderpump Rules,' Randall Emmett and More

If you want Lala, look no further. Lala Kent dished about her childhood, rise to fame (she auditioned to play Kaitlin Cooper on The O.C.!), biggest meltdowns on Vanderpump Rules and her relationship with now-fiancé Randall Emmett in her new book, Give Them Lala. “I wrote it because I thought people would be that interested in my life story. I feel like since I signed on to Vanderpump, there was like a microscope on me that I was not used to,” the 30-year-old told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of her memoir’s release on Tuesday, May 4. “And I kept feeling like I needed to explain certain things. And then the whole thing with Randall came about and I felt like I was just walking into rooms with a Scarlet letter on me and just this heaviness of me needing to explain how it happened or why I am the way I am. And even though these things had happened a long time ago, I was still carrying them with me up until recently.” Kent added that writing the book was “a release” for her. “I'm going to sit down and I'm going to tell the story of how it really happened and it's going to be entertaining for a lot of people,” she explained. “And I hope that some people read it and walk away with maybe just feeling a little bit better about not being perfect or making mistakes and saying, ‘That's OK though because now I'm a better person for those things that I did in my past.'" [jwplayer aIY63f9F-l3ahXupL] Bravo fans met the Utah native when she joined the cast of Vanderpump Rules during season 4 of the show, which filmed during the summer of 2015. She was single at the time, entering what she referred to as her “ho phase.” In the first chapter, she explained, “Reality TV plus slut-shaming plus alcohol turned young, sensitive, insecure Lauren Burningham into a badder, madder version of herself — Lala Kent.” While Vanderpump Rules fans will get some answers about her actions (including whether it was really about the pasta), Kent is also vulnerable about her battle with alcoholism, struggles with Emmett and having an abortion in her early 20s. “My publisher even said, like, ‘Are you really wanting to write about this? Because you may not get the feedback that you think you might get,’” she told Us. “And I was OK with that because it happened. And it's not something that I am proud of, but again, it happened and there are women and girls that are dealing with that and facing that choice every single day. So, if I can make it a little, I don't even want to say easier, but if I can make them feel a little bit more at peace with it, then I'm happy. Even if it's just one girl.” Scroll through for the biggest takeaways from Give Them Lala:

Credit: David Buchan/Shutterstock

13 Biggest Bombshells From Lala Kent’s New Book About 'Vanderpump Rules,' Randall Emmett and More

If you want Lala, look no further. Lala Kent dished about her childhood, rise to fame (she auditioned to play Kaitlin Cooper on The O.C.!), biggest meltdowns on Vanderpump Rules and her relationship with now-fiancé Randall Emmett in her new book, Give Them Lala. “I wrote it because I thought people would be that interested in my life story. I feel like since I signed on to Vanderpump, there was like a microscope on me that I was not used to,” the 30-year-old told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of her memoir’s release on Tuesday, May 4. “And I kept feeling like I needed to explain certain things. And then the whole thing with Randall came about and I felt like I was just walking into rooms with a Scarlet letter on me and just this heaviness of me needing to explain how it happened or why I am the way I am. And even though these things had happened a long time ago, I was still carrying them with me up until recently.” Kent added that writing the book was “a release” for her. “I'm going to sit down and I'm going to tell the story of how it really happened and it's going to be entertaining for a lot of people,” she explained. “And I hope that some people read it and walk away with maybe just feeling a little bit better about not being perfect or making mistakes and saying, ‘That's OK though because now I'm a better person for those things that I did in my past.'" [jwplayer aIY63f9F-l3ahXupL] Bravo fans met the Utah native when she joined the cast of Vanderpump Rules during season 4 of the show, which filmed during the summer of 2015. She was single at the time, entering what she referred to as her “ho phase.” In the first chapter, she explained, “Reality TV plus slut-shaming plus alcohol turned young, sensitive, insecure Lauren Burningham into a badder, madder version of herself — Lala Kent.” While Vanderpump Rules fans will get some answers about her actions (including whether it was really about the pasta), Kent is also vulnerable about her battle with alcoholism, struggles with Emmett and having an abortion in her early 20s. “My publisher even said, like, ‘Are you really wanting to write about this? Because you may not get the feedback that you think you might get,’” she told Us. “And I was OK with that because it happened. And it's not something that I am proud of, but again, it happened and there are women and girls that are dealing with that and facing that choice every single day. So, if I can make it a little, I don't even want to say easier, but if I can make them feel a little bit more at peace with it, then I'm happy. Even if it's just one girl.” Scroll through for the biggest takeaways from Give Them Lala:

Credit: YouTube

On Her ‘Ho Phase’ During Season 4 of ‘Vanderpump Rules’

“Had I been given the choice, I never would have chosen to go through this time on camera. Some days it felt like the whole world was calling me names they would probably never have called a man in my same position,” Kent wrote about her “ho phase,” which she referred to as “life-changing” while also acknowledging the impact it had on her mental health. (Following the end of her three-year rocky romance with former football player Carter Hoffman, she swore off getting emotionally attached to men.) 

Credit: YouTube

The Early Days of SUR

In addition to randomly being in Las Vegas the same weekend that Jax Taylor and Stassi Schroeder met two years before Vanderpump Rules was picked up by Bravo, Kent briefly worked at SUR when she was 23. After she “made a group of ‘somebodies’ wait at the bar for their table,” she quit after she was scolded by her manager, Diana. It would be two more years before she returned to SUR.

“Right before joining Vanderpump, a rich, super-famous actor who shall remain unnamed had invited me alongside a bunch of other hot chicks to vacation on his yacht in Italy,” Kent wrote, recalling lying to Lisa Vanderpump about going to Italy for a “high-fashion modeling job” to get out of work. Fans of the Bravo series may recall Scheana Shay and Katie Maloney confronting Kent about the situation during season 4. “Scheana really tried to give me a tough time, which must have been a lot of work for her, because she can be very sweet, and when she tries to bully people, it’s uncomfortable to watch,” she wrote.

Kent noted that “the meaner” that her costars were to her, the “wilder” she became, citing taking her top off during the cast trip to Hawaii as an example. “Stassi, Kristen, and Katie became the worst mean-girl trio ever, and it was three against one at all times. Thank the Lord for alcohol, the only thing that helped me through each day with those girls,” she wrote, noting that she was “hammered” throughout her whole first season.

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That Infamous ‘WWHL’ Appearance

Kent and James Kennedy made headlines during their first appearances on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen during season 4 of Vanderpump Rules after they continuously cursed and got too drunk. “I wrote a heartfelt note to [Andy Cohen and Lisa] both,” she wrote. “Lisa immediately forgave me … but Andy was still very upset, and I wasn’t sure he’d ever warm back up to me.”

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Having an Abortion

Kent got candid about losing her virginity — to high school boyfriend Johnny — and shared a lot of NSFW details about blowjobs and her sex life in the book. She also recalled her decision to have an abortion after she found out she was pregnant with Carter’s baby when she was 22 years old. “I couldn’t even bring myself to say the word. I’d always felt weird saying it,” she wrote about being at Planned Parenthood in Utah with her mother. "I’d had no sedation or anesthesia, and was fully aware of what was happening. Tears streamed down my face from the pain.”

Kent revealed that she didn’t tell Carter before her procedure because he didn’t pick up the phone after she repeatedly called him and she found out that same day that her grandmother had died. While she wrote that her mom told her to take the abortion “to [her] grave,” she shared the story in the book because “I am a woman, and this is my body. No one will ever tell me what to do with it.”

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Meeting Randall Emmett

In December 2015, Emmett’s assistant met Kent while she was working at SUR (season 4 of Vanderpump Rules was currently airing) and asked whether she had a manager. She informed him that the contact information could be found via her Instagram bio and the following day, her manager called and revealed Emmett wanted her to audition for The Row.

“I was shook by how attracted I was to him because he was so different from the guys I had dated in the past,” she wrote. “There was something about him that felt intriguing."

As Kent wondered whether Emmett had feelings for her too, he gifted her an army-green Chanel bag and Christian Louboutin booties alongside the latest version of The Row script. “It had always been all words and no actions with other men I had spent time with. I now know that gifts are Randall’s way of showing he loves you and cares for you,” she wrote. “Randall was showing me that he liked me, without having to say the words.”

The twosome went on their first official date several months after they met when Kent was in New York City for her second appearance on WWHL. “Yes, I let Randall hit it on the first date, although if you break it down, that first date had been several months, several hundred text conversations and a lot of bottled up feelings in the making,” she wrote.

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The Range Rover

Kent addressed the “inaccurate conclusion about the dynamic” between her and Randall after she revealed on Vanderpump Rules that he offered her a Range Rover the night after they slept together for the first time. “Maybe you’ve heard of the 5 Love Languages? … Being Santa Claus is the sixth love language, which Randall invited,” she wrote, recalling him casually asking if she wanted a new car and her accepting (thinking he was kidding at first).

While she wrote that gifts are “actually very low on the totem pole,” citing words of affirmation and touch as her love language, Kent is “never going to turn down a Chanel bag. … People who criticize you for accepting a Chanel bag probably are not getting very many Chanel bags sent to them.”

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Why She Didn’t Go Public With Randall

Kent didn’t meet Emmett’s daughters London and Rylee, whom he shares with now ex-wife Ambyr Childers, until a year and a half into their relationship. “I was ‘Daddy’s friend’ for a while. I would only come around for an hour or two when he had his kids over,” she wrote, noting that Emmett and Childers were separated and still going through their divorce. 

While she understood his decision to take things slow when it came to his daughters, Kent revealed she and Emmett would get “heated” about him wanting to keep their relationship under wraps until his divorce was finalized. "[Katie] mentioned that I had just gotten a new tattoo on my arm of R.E. and this actor’s wife spilled the tea. ‘Yeah, she’s with Randall Emmett. My husband just got a movie with him, and Lala was there for, like, three weeks straight. Oh, and by the way, he’s married.'”

Unaware that Maloney knew about Emmett, Kent planned to pretend she was dating an athlete who lived in Long Beach because she knew his mother. Instead, when she arrived to chat with producers ahead of season 5, the showrunner already knew about Emmett. She tried to pretend her tattoo was for her grandparents — Robert and Elyse — but he informed her that Emmett was set to be a season 5 talking point.

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Behind-the-Scenes of ‘Vanderpump Rules’

“The producers sit us all down individually for a long meeting before each season starts shooting and ask us what’s been going on in our lives and what we’ve heard about other cast members’ lives, searching for real-life drama that can be massaged into good TV,” she wrote, noting that even the couples on Vanderpump Rules meet with the producers separately. “No topic is off-limits. I love the producers, but they’re also our enemies because it’s their job to make us all about real issues we don’t want to talk about.”

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The 'Summer Bodies' Remark

Kent noted that she would “drink all day, and through the night, the partying would continue” during season 5 of Vanderpump Rules, adding that she would “wake up, pop my Advil with my coffee, have a couple of vodka sodas and then head to SUR and go toes with whatever bitch was coming for me that day.”

While Kent initially felt like she “got” Maloney after she saw her face drop when she made a comment about the cast not working on their “summer bodies” during a heated confrontation in the premiere, she called body-shaming Katie her “biggest regret.” She wrote, “I knew how to attack someone’s weak spots, so I called her a no-sex-having Teletubby and then I told her I was going to f—k her man. I look back and I struggle to recognize myself as that person.”

Credit: Bravo

The Season 5 Breakdown

Fans may recall Kent ditching a group trip to Sonoma during season 5 of Vanderpump Rules. In the book, she recalled escaping to Utah and blaming Emmett for her castmates calling her a “home-wrecking whore” who had to hide her relationship. One month into her stay, the Bravo showrunner called Kent’s mother and said if she didn’t come back and formally quit her job at SUR on camera, they would be forced to serve her legal papers. “‘It looks like she disappeared into thin air,’ he explained. Although I understood, the mere thought of stepping foot in SUR again game me epic anxiety,” she wrote.

After getting the courage from her parents to return, Kent quit her job at SUR and had no plans to return to the show or even attend the season 5 reunion. She later realized producers were right and she “wanted to have the opportunity to say my piece and have the last word.”

Kent cited Maloney's apology for slut-shaming her as the “moment that changed the whole game" for her to return. 

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It’s Not About the Pasta

During season 6 of Vanderpump Rules, Kent and Kennedy had an infamous falling out over her “eating” his girlfriend Raquel Leviss’ pasta. “What the viewers didn’t see was the producers, looking at me expectantly, wondering if I would bring up that season’s mega gossip with James — namely, that he and his best friend Logan Noh had hooked up, as the rumors suggested. I didn’t care whether he had or hadn’t, so instead of saying, 'James, did you and Logan hook up?’ I said, ‘We ate all (Raquel’s) pasta and she didn’t give us permission,’” she wrote. “Don’t ask me why. It just seemed like a lighter thing to talk about over brunch.”

Kent wrote that she would have been better off asking Kennedy about Noh because the drunk DJ took her “casually eating his girlfriend’s pasta” as a “form of bullying.”

She concluded: "It was about James sabotaging our friendship because that’s what we alcoholics do. James and I became best friends at the best times of our lives, getting wasted every day, starring on TV.”

Credit: YouTube

Her Season 7 Blow-up

During season 7 of Vanderpump Rules, Kent said she was staying sober after spiraling following the loss of her father three weeks prior to filming began. In her book, she admitted that she was “sneaking drinks” at Mexican restaurant Tortilla Republic before she infamously called Leviss a “Bambi-eyed bitch” and told Billie Lee to “get the f—k out of my face, ho!” 

She also admitted that she was secretly drinking throughout the season, having a glass of champagne before she left to film, stopping at the store to put Veuve in her coffee cup and “slam margaritas” by herself while filming at SUR. “By the time I got home every night, I’d be so f—ked up I sometimes worried I might drown in the bathtub,” she wrote. “I used alcohol as a crutch during filming, or when things got hard in my life. If I needed to take a break, I could. It was that easy, or so I thought.”

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The Breaking Point

While she got to a better place after the show wrapped filming — getting engaged to Emmett in September 2018 and getting sober — Kent spiraled again when the season started airing. She noted that the drunker she got, the more she took things out on Emmett. “At least once a week, mad dram would go down between us. I’m taking relationship-ending, call-the-cops kind of drama,” she wrote, calling one incident in Atlanta when she threw his wallet off the balcony of their hotel and drenched his luggage in the bathtub before throwing it over too. During another incident, she put her toothbrush “in [her] asshole for a minute” before letting him brush his teeth.

Kent recalled Emmett planning to call off their engagement via a letter after she was drunk for several days straight during a family trip to Disney World. On the day he planned to give her the letter, however, Kent admitted to him (and herself) that she is an alcoholic and got help. While the producer offered to give her the note on her one-year sobriety birthday, she declined.

"Vanderpump Rules remains the greatest, most life-changing opportunity I have ever been given. But what reality TV does is expose you to the realities of yourself,” she wrote. “If I hadn’t gone through Vanderpump bootcamp and seen myself laid bare, I might never have had the opportunity to rise above it and work toward becoming a better person.”