The cast of "Vanderpump Rules" can create drama with just about anything, from spaghetti to midriff-baring wedding dresses. This season's show is "Finding My Friends." In a recent episode, Scheana Shay discovered while using the app that her partner Katie Maloney had hooked up with a friend of her ex-husband - but it wasn't the one being pranked Maloney, but Shay.
“I don’t think it’s weird,” Shay said of her love for “Finding My Friends.” "Honestly, I don't check the app very often. I deleted [a lot of people] and now probably only follow 35."
Shay is no stranger to embarrassing moments. The misadventures she's experienced over the past 11 seasons, while quite embarrassing, are highly relatable and are one of the many gifts she brings to the show. (Who can forget her bragging that her ex-boyfriend Rob Valletta "hung a TV on the wall in less than 7 minutes?") But even the perfect sport has limits. "In Season 8, there was an editor who said on the podcast that her favorite thing to do was find my most embarrassing moments and use them to make me look bad," she recalled. "I just wish you could see more of my authentic moments and less of my cringe-worthy moments. It should be a balance."
This year, Season 11 focuses on a more "real" side of Shay, namely a new OCD diagnosis that leads to her dabbling in sobriety. "I didn't smoke a lot of [marijuana], but I quit it completely. I didn't drink alcohol for six weeks, and I've been doing [eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)] therapy for the past eight months," she said. Adding that she also briefly took Zoloft. “I feel mentally stronger now.”
"If I'm my truest self and you don't like me, then you don't like me. But at least I'm true to myself."
Stronger than ever and more willing to embrace her inner cringe queen. “I just have to stay true to myself and not worry about what the audience is going to say,” she said. "If I'm my truest self and you don't like me, then you don't like me. But at least I'm being true to myself."
Below, she reflects on Dancing with the Stars , her friendship with Ariana Maddix, and whether she plans to expand her family.
Baby fever has taken over Vander's world, whether it's Lala Kent getting pregnant again or Stassi Schroeder giving birth to her second child. Do you long to give Xia Yue a sibling?
No, I am not. If I did this, I would have to find a surrogate mother because I had HELLP syndrome postpartum. Summer also has two half-siblings that I hope we can reconnect with, and (my husband) Brock is currently doing everything he can to make up for that. So hopefully Summer can meet them before she's too old.
What would you say to Summer if she wanted to participate in a reality show in the future?
I will support anything my daughter wants to do. I just want her to know that she can talk to me anytime and I always want to keep an open line of communication. If she had ever said "I don't want to follow Vanderpump Rules anymore," I would have supported that. She is almost three years old and very loud. She tells you what she wants.
Was there ever a season that you really thought about never coming back to?
When Rob and I started dating, he wanted nothing to do with the show. I was like, "Well, I'm going to quit." And he said, "You're not going to quit the show for me." Thank God. In later seasons, it was always, "Do I want to keep working on Sur? Do I want to go back and act?" And then we had a pandemic and I had a baby and I was like, "Will I come back?" ?" But ultimately, as I've thought about many times, this show is home to me. This is something I started with in the first scene of the first episode, whatever the last scene is, I want [to be a part of it]. I really hope this isn't season 11.
Do you feel like you've been unfairly edited?
In season nine, there was a lot of footage (but it wasn't aired) of my postpartum journey and my HELLP syndrome. I had only been home from the hospital three and a half days before the cameras showed up and I nearly died in childbirth. So it's really frustrating for me that the season has just started and I'm talking about my fire pit dinner and you didn't see this whole conversation I had an hour earlier about how horrible that experience was.
[My birth] was brought up at a party and hundreds, if not thousands, of women reached out to me. "Why aren't you talking about this this season? Do you know how many women this could help?" I'm like, "I've been talking about this all season." I think whoever the host was at the time felt like telling a woman about her The health story is neither interesting nor important.
What is your favorite episode or season of the series?
Even though I know what goes on behind the scenes, my favorite is Season 10 - having my daughter on the show and having our wedding in Mexico. In hindsight, the least popular has to be season six. How many times have I said "Rob" and it makes me cringe . There were moments in Season 4 where I didn’t know what [my ex-husband’s] addiction was or the extent of it. That's hard to look back on because I felt very uneducated and it was very embarrassing for me. So that was a big season of learning that ultimately made me a better person.
People on social media happily ask "Is Scheana okay?" when anything happens, whether it's an earthquake or Ariana booking another job. I guess it's frustrating, especially since you've been vocal about how proud you are of Ariana.
To be honest, all I could do was laugh. Audiences love to pit us against each other, which is really frustrating. It's annoying that people are talking about me when this is her moment. I'm just so happy for her.
Is Dancing with the Stars still your dream?
not now. I mean, it's something I've always wanted to do, but I thought it would work better last year. This year, your daughter is fully booked and busy.
I know you obviously can't talk about the reunion, but can you describe it in three words?
Never seen it before.
How could it be crazier than last year's reunion?
Something happened that had never happened before. You've never seen this, at least not at a Vanderpump Rules party. This has never been seen before!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity .
