Stassi Schroeder revealed what House of Stassi criticism hurt her the most.
“There were some things that I saw when the show aired,” Schroeder, 38, told Us at the Women in Film Honors event on Thursday, November 5. “I was really taken aback by the opinions about me as a mom. That hurt.”
Schroeder recalled going through “a mini depression” over the comments she saw on social media following the season 1 premiere in July, adding, “I feel like I’m pretty good at handling negativity online. You can diagnose my personality and say all the things.”
The only boundary Schroeder has created for herself was with her kids.
“Being a mother is the most important thing in my life,” the reality star, who shares Hartford, 5, and Messer, 2, with husband Beau Clark, noted. “It’s the thing I care about the most. It is the thing that I worry that I’m good enough the most. So that was really hard.”
House of Stassi, which is streaming now on Hulu, offered a candid glimpse at Schroeder’s life after Vanderpump Rules as she attempted to balance her personal and professional duties while Clark navigated his role as a stay-at-home dad.
“[Dealing with the reactions] took a really long time. It took just word vomiting to everyone that would listen how I was feeling,” she told Us. “Then one day I woke up and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m good. I’ve walked through that pain. I’ve walked through that sadness and I know who I am as a mother. My husband knows who I am. My kids know who I am. Everyone, all my loved ones.'”
She continued: “Just because people on the internet are saying that doesn’t mean it’s true. But it took a lot of just word vomiting it to people to just release it and then I really did wake up one day and I felt better. It just took time.”
Schroeder also recalled having to deal with concern from others about her marriage.
“When we did watch it back — and we just saw everyone talking about it — it’s like every time someone came up to us and was like, ‘We love House of Stassi,’ we’re like, ‘We’re not getting a divorce. We’re good,'” Schroeder said. “That’s, like, all we can say back to people because we’re just assuming that that’s what people have seen.”
Clark had some regrets about what played out in the eight-episode season as well.
“It made him aware of just one comment that he could make that turned into something else. He’s like, ‘I never meant it to be that.’ And then I also learned about myself, like, ‘Oh, wow, you don’t have to have that insane reaction to your husband saying something,'” she continued. “You can try to sit and listen and understand before you start seeing red and going straight to anger. We both learned a lot about how we deal with each other just by living that and watching it back.”
House of Stassi is streaming now on Hulu.
