Vanderpump Rules Star Lala Kent on Life After Randall Emmett (2023)

After her engagement fell through, reality star Lala Kent drove through Benedict Canyon to seek solace from a sage.

It's been a month sinceThe Los Angeles Times published an investigation into her ex-boyfriend, film producer Randall Emmett claims he abused wives, assistants and business partners, which he has denied.

Now the cameras were back rolling on season 10 of Bravo's reality show Vanderpump Rules and the drama surrounding Kent was playing out on the screen. The show's producers told him that Lisa Vanderpump, the matriarch of the series, wanted to talk.

Kent arrived at Villa Rosa, Vanderpump's $11.9 million Beverly Hills home, where swans, miniature horses and rescue dogs roam the grounds. Shortly after sitting down in the sun-drenched white marble kitchen, Vanderpump began asking him how much he knew about Emmett's alleged misbehavior.

"If you're completely honest, you must have known something was up," Vanderpump said in a scene that aired later on the show. "You're smarter than that." I don't think you wanted to see it.

That wasn't what Kent wanted to hear as his personal life collapsed in a sea of ​​scandal.

The 32-year-old former model is the polarizing star of one of television's hottest shows. Over the past seven seasons, millions of Bravo viewers have heard the details of Kent's life: the drunken rants, the insults directed at cast members and the public declarations of love for Emmett, followed by the humiliating accusations of infidelity, becoming the subject of a Times investigation and a 90-minute documentary broadcast on Hulu.

Vanderpump's direct questioning of Kent last July contrasted with this spring's declarations of love for another "Vanderpump Rules" star, Ariana Madix. In March, Madix discovered that her partner of nine years, Tom Sandoval, had been dating one of Madix's closest friends, co-star Raquel Leviss, for seven months.

Der „Scandoval“how fans felt it rocked the Bravo universe. The network rushed to continue filming during the offseason to ease tensions, a decision that paid off as more than 3 million viewers watched the final episodes.

Madixshe's garnered an army of support from viewers and castmates, who have brought flowers, wine and healing crystals to the Valley Village home she and Sandoval still restlessly share. The 37-year-old landed a role in a Lifetime movie and a spot on the upcoming season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars. Bloomingdale's and Bic razors signed her to endorsement deals.

But Kent and his story of betrayal have not garnered similar popularity.

"Maybe she should have known better than to let some fucking guy fuck her," Sandoval ranted on the show.

Tom Sandoval and Lala Kent

(Casey Durkin / Bravo)

(Video) Lala Kent on 'Vanderpump Rules' and life after Randall Emmett

Racquel Gates, a professor of film and media studies at Columbia University, suggested that disturbing cultural tropes might explain why viewers prefer Madix but are skeptical of Kent.

"Women have to be 'perfect' victims to get any kind of sympathy," Gates said.

With his sharp tongue and bragging about taking no prisoners, Kent falls short of that standard. Since she came to "Vanderpump Rules" in 2015, Kent has been known as a "thug diva," said her childhood friend Madison Riley. Kent has referred to herself as "Michael Vick's attack dog" and has called her co-stars such choice names as "Bambi-eyed," "Screaming Chihuahua," and "The epitome of a fucking loser."

She was a cast member on the show, which began as a spin-off of Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in season 4. She was hired as a hostess at SUR, Vanderpump's trendy West Hollywood restaurant whose staff was the subject of the series. In her first week of work, Kent tried to take time off work to travel abroad with a wealthy man. She soon met another apparently wealthy man, Emmett, and later bragged to a fellow cast member that "after the first night we fucked, I got a car the next day" (it was a white Range Rover).

"This is one of the many shocking things Lala said on the show," Emmett said in a statement.

The then 44-year-old producer was still married to the actor.Ambyr Children. Kent, then 25, has always insisted that Emmett told him he and his wife were separated, but Emmett said in the statement: "Lala was very aware of my situation with Ambyr."

The situation created the impression that Kent was a gold miner who robbed people.

"When you see a beautiful young girl and an older man who isn't as fit, people assume the worst," said Scheana Shay, Kent's closest co-star on Vanderpump Rules.

Lala Kent (left) and Randall Emmett arrive at the 34th Film Independent Spirit Awards 2019.

(Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

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Vanderpump said that some fans disapproved of Kent due to the circumstances of the relationship. "At first it was a secret because Randall was in this marriage and they were separated, it was all a bit complicated," Vanderpump said in an interview.

"She had some low moments that she struggled with, I wouldn't say it's a public humiliation because I think she won," Vanderpump said of the breakup. "Of course she was the victim."

Kent acknowledges that not everyone believes they've wronged her.

"If I heard that story, I wouldn't believe it," he admitted in an interview with The Times. "I get it. I know optics. I know how the outside world sees me."

Last month she sat in her West Hollywood office surrounded by her growing product lines. For a long time he sold makeup, skin care products, a book and baby clothes under his brand #GiveThemLala, but this spring he started selling branded products."Schick is a Darrell"a catchphrase that went viral after Kent went on an online tirade demanding that Leviss send all legal documents to his lawyer, Darrell Miller.

Kent has been working to build his business: He wore a black hoodie emblazoned with the words "Send it to Darrell" in the season finale as he navigated a contentious custody battle over his two-year-old daughter, Ocean, whom Share with Emmett. . He too has tried to forge a new identity. in the course of the disastrous affair with the producer.

He is the subject of a new documentary to be released this week by ABC News Studios and L.A. News. Times Studios."The Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing, and Vanderpump".The film explores Emmett's downfall in Hollywood through interviews with his former assistants and colleagues in the film industry.criticize his use of Bruce Willis when the star was in the early stages of dementia.

THE. Times Studios and ABC News Studios present The Randall Scandal, premiering on Hulu on May 22.

Emmett had previously said that he was unaware of Willis's declining health.

In his statement, Emmett said he refused to be a part of the documentary, calling it "nothing more than a vengeful hit song, a biased article revival, and a cheap attempt to capitalize on the current Vanderpump Rules fever." In a statement, newspaper spokeswoman Hillary Manning said: "The Los Angeles Times stands by its coverage of Randall Emmett.")

Kent denied Emmett's claims.

"If there wasn't anything to write about and if there wasn't a story to tell... there wouldn't be a documentary," Kent said. "I can't pick up the phone and tell the LA Times to write an article. I don't have that kind of power."

Driven by Scandoval, the decade-long Bravo show has found a new cultural relevance. The main characters, who started out as servers in SUR when they were in their 20s, are now approaching middle age and have drifted apart. Without the group serving up goat cheese balls and pumptinis at SUR, it often seemed the producers had trouble finding reasons for the cast to socialize.

Cast of "Vanderpump Rules".

(Nicole Weingart / Bravo)

But the recent drama has changed that.

"This season of 'Vanderpump Rules' feels like the ultimate reward for the viewers who have been with us since day 1," said Gates, an avowed fan of the show. "Right now is so exciting in terms of reality TV, a form of media that's always made so much fun of. This show has made headlines."

****

Kent never saw himself as a reality star.

Growing up in an affluent suburb of Salt Lake City, Lauren Elyse Burningham was a father-girl who devoured episodes of "Friends" and "Seinfeld" and had big dreams of becoming a famous actress. (Kent is the first name of her late father).

Critics have taken advantage of her upper-middle-class upbringing, accusing her of being a foul-mouthed con man posing as a street thug. She is sometimes pejoratively referred to as "Lauren from Utah" on the Internet.

Kent doesn't care about the nickname. "This is the girl I am when the cameras are off," she said.

It was her younger brother Easton who first named her Lala. He was little then and couldn't pronounce Lauren.

"Lala became my armor," Kent said. "I realized that if she doesn't come in with some kind of protective shield, this world is going to eat me alive."

Longtime friends and associates say Lala's facade prevents those outside her inner circle from seeing her vulnerable side.

"He takes security very seriously. It's always been that way," said Riley, his childhood friend. "She wants a safe home...all she does is create that sanctuary for herself."

When he arrived in Los Angeles nearly a decade ago, Kent worked as a fit model. She tried on clothes for brands that showed her body in images where her head was cut off. In her spare time, she spent time at SUR, the Vanderpump-owned restaurant in West Hollywood where Riley and her sister worked.

Vanderpump took notice of her and offered her a job hosting, which came with a spot on the reality show.

"From the moment we saw Lala, we knew she was one of the best," said Alex Baskin, the executive producer who developed Vanderpump Rules. After the producers first sent him a performance statement to sign in 2015, he said Kent emailed the lawyer back: "Hey girl, I'm checking it out."

"It was rough around the edges," Baskin said.

At the restaurant's hostess stand, Emmett Kent introduced himself for the first time, he said.

"This guy comes up to me and says, 'My boss is a movie producer and he'd really like to put you in a movie,'" Kent said. She gave him her Instagram username and went back to sit at the tables. Emmett denied sending her assistant to do the presentation.

Emmett called the next day, Kent said. She looked him up and was impressed that she had worked with big movie stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sylvester Stallone. Emmett made the kind of movies his dad rented from Redbox every weekend in Utah: "Random action movies with Bruce Willis that no one ever heard of," she said.

Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent puts the finishing touches on her makeup in her office before recording an episode of her podcast in April.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

He felt like the stars were aligning. When she first auditioned in Los Angeles, the casting directors had insisted that she increase her social media following. She had made Vanderpump Rules in the hope that reality TV could boost her numbers, and now a movie producer wanted to work with her.

“This man recognizes me from the show and wants to put me in a movie even though he didn't see my talent at all,” Kent said. "It must be because my name is well known. I am someone."

She stopped, her lip quivering.

"Looking back, of course, I would say to myself: 'Run away,'" she said, crying. "I wish I could go back and protect this version of myself. I was Randall Emmett's main prey."

Emmett said, "Honestly, looking back, I see myself as Lala Kent's main catch. I was completely exploited and exploited by the show's storylines."

Kent didn't have a manager yet, so he asked a representative who worked with some of the "Vanderpump" cast members to help moderate the meeting. Soon after, the two headed to Emmett's office on Wilshire Boulevard to discuss Kent's casting in The Row, a slasher film about a group of sisters who are being hunted by a mysterious killer.

The discussion went so well that the trio later dined together at Mr. Chow's house to discuss more details. Emmett asked for Kent's address so he could send him a new version of the script.

Suddenly expensive gifts arrived at his house. A Chanel bag. Christian Louboutin boots. No notes were ever attached to the deliveries, just a warning text from Emmett alerting Kent that an Uber driver was outside and had something for them. She loved lavish gifts, luxuries she couldn't have afforded on her own back then living in a $900-a-month condo on Miracle Mile. And Emmett also sent other personalized gifts: a tick full of Tito's vodka, her favorite drink, or a box of Tamiflu when she found out she was sick.

"I lived with my parents until I was 23, so I never went to the doctor or got a prescription." She said. "And here was this person who took care of me."

"Throughout our relationship, I have financially supported Lala and her family," Emmett said of the gifts.

No one suspected that he could ignore the warning signs until Emmett invited Kent on a trip to New York in February 2016.

"There's no way you're going with him," her mother told her, advising her daughter to separate her personal and business lives. But when an appearance on Bravo TV coincided with Emmett's visit to town, Kent called him.

Randall Emmett (left) and Lala Kent arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "The Irishman" in 2019.

(Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

In New York, Kent is surprised by his attraction to Emmett; He wasn't her typical type of her and he was two decades older than her. But he had a charming confidence and playful energy that was always focused on having fun. So when she dined at the Tao, she put her hand on his leg to show her interest. She was also drunk, she said, and had an abusive relationship with alcohol at the time; She said that she has been sober since 2018.

The following night the two slept together. She felt surprisingly comfortable in the hotel room, even as she removed her makeup.

"He was like, 'Wow, you really are the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life,'" she said. "I felt like he was seeing me and not the person on TV. I was like, 'Wow, we're soul mates.' I'm going to be with someone who has their own thing. I'm on a TV show. Potentially, we could become a power couple.'"

Over the next few months, the couple traveled extensively by private jet. He gave her a promise ring and began paying her $2,400 a month rent for an apartment in the complex where the stars of MTV's The Hills once lived.

The affair caused problems for Vanderpump's producers, as Emmett initially refused to appear on camera.

"Those were tense times," Baskin said. "We need the contestants to be completely open about their lives, and it wouldn't be fair to have different rules for different contestants on the show."

Emmet said"I didn't want to appear on the show„,“and she only did it "to be a good partner and supportive of Kent" so that she could continue to be a key character on the series.

It was a difficult time.

"He was lost from the beginning," Vanderpump said. “She became really difficult to work with, too unreliable. She wouldn't show up.

Vanderpump said she had begun to question whether Kent was right for a reality show.

"I sat her down and said, 'You're not going to run away.' "You've got to change that," Vanderpump said. "I've always believed in Lala."

Despite professing her love for Emmett on screen, Kent said that her relationship with Emmett was starting to crack. There were his frequent business trips and fights. She said that he was constantly on her cell phone.

Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent poses for a portrait in her office.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

"When you're in the public eye, you really want to make it work," Riley said.

After moving into his Holmby Hills estate on Mulholland Drive, a 4,276-square-foot home currently on the market for $4.75 million, down $1.5 million from a year ago.Kent worried about her fiancé's finances. When a sewer line needed to be replaced, she said she asked him to pay the $18,000 bill.

"I thought he was acting like he had more money than he really did," he said.

Emmett disputed the cost of the pipeline repair, stating that it was $5,800. However, he acknowledged that Kent paid the bill "as a surprise, thank you for everything I've done for her financially."

However, when she became pregnant with Ocean, their relationship continued to deteriorate, according to Kent. She went into labor in March 2021. At the hospital, she was put in an IV and she passed out; When she came to, she said that Emmett told her that she looked like "part of an exorcism". He was so uncomfortable, Kent said, that she arranged for her mother, Lisa Burningham, to immediately fly from Utah to Los Angeles to take her place. She then rented a hospital suite where she slept after her assistant provided her with Fireball, NyQuil, and bedding.

At 6:45 a.m., Kent was ready to deliver Ocean. Burningham told the Times that he woke up Emmett, who witnessed the birth, and then left the hospital at 8 a.m. He only returned to the hospital when Kent was released the next day, he said.

Emmett questions that account: "The birth of Ocean was one of the most wonderful moments of my life and I was there every second."

Tensions remained high at home in Mulholland. After days of worrying about breastfeeding, Kent snapped.

"Watch your language. I'm still the same person you knew when I was 25," she told him, Ocean still on her chest.

Moments later, she said, Emmett found her and apologized.

"Wow," she said when he told her. "That was so hot."

Emmett denied that comment. "I would never find language this offensive 'hot,'" he said.

"To this day, I look at myself and think, 'How the hell did you stay?'" Kent said. "I want to shake off."

In October 2021, Kent learned that their relationship was over. While Emmett was filming a movie in Alabama, one of her friends brought pictures circulating on the Internet to her attention. The photos showed Emmett in Nashville with two young women.

Kent, who was at home in Los Angeles with his young daughter, was devastated. Emmett hurried back, Kent grabbed the phone from him and they argued when he tried to snatch it from him. Emmett has denied that there was a physical altercation.

Raquel Leviss, left, Scheana Shay, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Lisa Vanderpump, Tom Schwartz, Lala Kent, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney.

(Tommy Garcia / Bravo)

Even Vanderpump admitted to being intrigued by Emmett, he said, noting that he received him at Villa Rosa after his split from Kent.

"He sat in my house, cried in my living room and told me how much he loved Lala," she said. "I think Lala romanticized her relationship with Randall and he obviously led her down the wrong path. ... I sat there and bought it, and I'm pretty smart."

Emmett denies abusing Kent, saying he is discouraged that "she chose to take this poisonous path of anger and hate by looking down on the father of her child."

"During our relationship, I treated Lala like a queen. I've been incredibly generous to her both emotionally and financially," Emmett said. “Like any couple, we had wonderful moments and others not so good. Looking back, I think it's safe to say we both regret it."

Kent continues to reflect on how the relationship has affected his self-esteem. She no longer seeks acting roles because she doesn't think the industry will take her seriously as an actress. During her time with Emmett, she appeared in six of his movies and shared screen time with movie stars like Willis and Al Pacino. At that moment, she felt that she deserved the roles.

"Now it's like, 'You were right.' 'I just slept with the right man,' she said. 'It'll be a minute before I come back and say, 'Did he have talent?' Right now, working with these legends has been amazing. But now he feels dirty.

Watching "Vanderpump Rules" is also stimulating for them. Why was he asked about the missing red flags, and not about Madix?

"My heart breaks for Ariana and I love that everyone is gathered around her," she said. "But then I think about the people who said they expected me to donate some of my Send it to Darrell business money for their legal fees. I'm just under a million dollars in a custody battle."

For the past 18 months, Kent has tried to limit the time Ocean spends with his father. He has also grown closer to a former enemy, Emmett's ex-wife Childers, who also went to court to reconsider the terms of her custody agreement with Emmett over their two daughters.

Kent's custody battle inspired her to use her celebrity to advocate for others who are fighting the system to protect their children. She is involved with One Mom's Battle, a group that helps parents resolve custody battles.recently joined them in a protest rally outside a Los Angeles County courthouse.

"There are so many things that are broken, and I have to be a voice for that," she said.

People close to Kent say they have watched her grow up after sobering up, dealing with the loss of her father, becoming a mother, abandoning Emmett and fighting the custody battle.

"We saw her become this badass 'Lauren from Utah' who moved here because she thought she was smarter than she was and acted like she was tougher than she was," Baskin said. "She's developed a sense of responsibility, and that's pretty strong."

The public has seen that Kent was the one who kept raising the question of whether Sandoval was cheating, long before "Scandoval" became a buzzword.

"It served as a justification for her," Baskin said.

Kent hopes to participate in season 11 of the show, which just got the green light from Bravo. But she's also focused on life after "Vanderpump," recording a weekly podcast and signing with the CAA energy agency.

"I think the thing that makes me the happiest is finally coming to terms with myself," Kent said. "I've lived in this fog of questioning for a long time: How did I become someone I don't know? What happened to the girl who is from Utah? I feel free."