Kristen Doute revealed how Jax Taylor and Stassi Schroeder‘s tumultuous relationship nearly caused a continuity error in season 1 of Vanderpump Rules.
“There are a couple of scenes in this [season 1] episode that are from the [backdoor pilot] because truth be told, Stassi and Jax broke up the day before filming,” Kristen, 40, claimed while rewatching the Bravo series in a June episode of her “Sex, Love, and What Else Matters” podcast.
According to the former reality star, Jax, now 44, and Stassi’s “on and off” romance was originally explored in the backdoor pilot for Vanderpump Rules A.K.A. a season 3 episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills that introduce their dynamic to the audience. Jax and Stassi, now 35, meanwhile, had called it quits behind the scenes.
As a result, Bravo allegedly used archive footage from the 2013 episode to reintroduce Jax and Stassi as a couple when Vanderpump Rules was picked up to series.
“Everything that you saw [like] the big breakup at The Grove was also a real breakup. But they were on and off so the very first day of production they were like, ‘What the f—k do you mean you broke up?’ And Jax of course wanted to be with her and Stassi [wasn’t interested],” Kristen continued. “So, in order to do this introduction, they had this footage from months prior so they used that.”
Kristen also pointed out that viewers could see that other scenes were filmed months apart, adding, “You can totally see [in the group scene during the first episode] how Jax has long hair and Tom [Sandoval] has long hair. [And they didn’t in earlier moments].”
Jax and Stassi’s rocky connection was a major story line in season 1 of Vanderpump Rules. The pair subsequently called it quits — and after years of not talking, they became friends when Stassi returned for season 4 following a brief exit.
The Next Level Basic author has since found love with husband Beau Clark, with whom she shares 2-year-old daughter Hartford and is currently expecting their second child. Jax, for his part, tied the knot with wife Brittany Cartwright in June 2019 and they expanded their family with son Cruz two years later.
After Jax and Brittany, 34, missed Stassi’s Italian nuptials with Beau, 43, in May 2022, the foursome individually confirmed that they were on the outs again. Stassi was the first one to hint at the issues shortly after her second wedding ceremony with Beau.
“To our faces, they are telling us that they are coming, but behind our back, the dude is texting Beau’s best friend that they’re not,” the former Bravo personality said on her “The Good the Bad The Baby” podcast in May 2022. “Good friends don’t do that. They don’t talk s—t about your wedding behind your back or pretend that they’re coming and give a list of reasons why they’re not coming to other people. Friends don’t do that to each other.”
In response, Brittany clarified how miscommunication led to a rift. “We had actual reasons why we couldn’t go that were not talked about. Like, Cruz’s passport didn’t come in, my mom had a death in the family and had to go home,” she explained on the “Betches Moms” podcast in June 2022, shutting down claims that she and her husband waited until “the last minute” to cancel. “That was not the case. It was that I was literally trying to be there, up until the very last minute.”
Stassi has since offered a rare update about where she stands with her former costars. “I do miss them at times. They hurt me — they really did. It feels like I can’t trust them anymore,” Stassi, who left the series in 2020, shared on “The Toast” podcast. “I am over it, but it doesn’t mean I have to go be besties with these people again.”
She added: “I gave them the opportunity to back out and they didn’t. Then as I was getting on the plane, I got a text from Brittany. That feels way more hurtful. I think that was a huge part of why it hurt even more. I had to cut family members and so many people I would have loved to have there. So, they took up two spaces.”
