An unexpected crossover! Actress Gillian Jacobs is a big fan of Vanderpump Rules — and it all started because of Laura-Leigh.
“You know who I actually met long before the show was Laura-Leigh,” the Community alum, 40, revealed during the Wednesday, April 12, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “I went to Juilliard, Laura-Leigh went to Juilliard. I was about two years out of college and one of the teachers called me and said, ‘We have this student who really wants to do indie films. Will you talk to her?’”
Jacobs recalled having “a very nice coffee” with the former reality star before she appeared on the hit Bravo series. “That’s actually why I started watching the show,” the Fear Street star added. “My boyfriend had Bravo on, I walked past him and I was like, ‘What is Laura-Leigh doing on?!’ So, I’m a day one.”
The Girls alum noted that she did not keep in touch with Laura-Leigh but referred to her as “very lovely.”
Viewers were introduced to the aspiring actress when Vanderpump Rules premiered in 2013. During the first season, Laura-Leigh found herself in a love triangle with Jax Taylor amid his off and on romance with Stassi Schroeder.
Taylor, 43, ultimately ended his relationship with Laura-Leigh after attending an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting with her. Ahead of their onscreen split, Laura-Leigh candidly discussed her history with drugs before getting sober.
“I started drinking when I was 12 and then got into meth really heavily,” she said during an episode of Vanderpump Rules. “I was robbing my family’s houses, selling all of our stuff to pawn shops. It was really, really bad. I do everything as hard as I can do it, as fast as I can do it, and yet I’m still convinced that I can have a glass of wine.”
Taylor, who has since tied the knot with Brittany Cartwright, said he was “shocked” about his then-girlfriend’s past, adding in a confessional, “I knew some of the things she’s done, but I was in shock. I didn’t realize it was to that extent.”
In the season 1 finale, Laura-Leigh told Lisa Vanderpump she was quitting her job at SUR because she booked a role alongside Jennifer Aniston in We’re the Millers. “It doesn’t feel like it’s real,” she told her former boss about the “great” and “hilarious” part in the 2013 film. “I used to watch [Jennifer Aniston’s] E! True Hollywood Story at home, like on my couch in Arkansas, and be like, ‘I can do that.’”
The former waitress has since appeared in The Client List, Blue Bloods, Under the Silver Lake and multiple short films.
Katie Maloney recently recalled her attempt to get in contact with Laura-Leigh, telling Andy Cohen on WWHL in March, “I have reached out in [the] recent past! She left me on [read].”
The “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast host, 36, said she didn’t think her former costar was interested in returning to the show.
