Doing better than ever. Lisa Vanderpump is in a great place ever since she decided to leave The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval told Us Weekly exclusively.
“She’s definitely been through a lot in the last year or so with lots of family members and also feeling probably like she maybe had friendships that also don’t exist anymore,” Ariana, 34, said while promoting her new book with Madix, Fancy AF Cocktails. “On our show — or at least this summer — she was so giving of herself and so open and so willing to kind of put herself out there with us more with our cast more. I think that people are going to really enjoy.”
Sandoval, 36, added that Vanderpump, 59, felt “so much more present” ever since leaving the reality show.
“You’ve got to understand, Lisa fricking hated filming Housewives. She f–king hated it. I’d be having a conversation with her, and I could see in her head that she’s stressed,” the TomTom co-owner told Us. “She’s like, ‘I have to go film Housewives after this, and it’s really making me miserable.’ … When you’re stressed out about something you can’t really care about anything. It can overtake you.”
The restaurant owner was an original castmember on RHOBH, appearing on its debut in 2010. However, due to drama in the show and in her personal life, she decided to exit the show ahead of season 10. In fact, she also skipped the season 9 reunion.
“I made the decision to leave. It was a very difficult year for me, personally and professionally. I had wonderful things happen this year, opening up and TomTom and the cocktail garden in Vegas,” the Dancing With the Stars alum told Us in June. “The Housewives, it’s just, it’s emotionally too difficult to deal with.”
Earlier this month, she also revealed to Us that the network has already asked her to come back. “Bravo even said to me, ‘What about in the future?’ I’m like, This is now. And that’s then,” Vanderpump said on December 3. “I’m really in a different place in my life now.”
From more from Ariana and Tom, watch the exclusive video above.
Vanderpump Rules returns on Bravo Tuesday, January 7, at 9 p.m. ET.
