As a Pump Rules historian it’s impossible to forget the day that Lala Kent entered the SURVers circle, rapping about Range Rovers and BJs. Most of the girls didn’t take kindly to rumors of her mysterious relationship with a sexy, powerful, married Hollywood producer (lol that kind of turned out to be true), but Ariana quickly formed a real friendship with Lauren from Utah from day one. The two became close over the years, even close enough to get rated R in the back seat while Sandoval drove that one time. But it seems this year the two can’t get past one pesky matter: Tom Sandoval. In that Ariana never wants him to speak to her again, but Lala doesn’t think cutting him off cold turkey is healthy (or more importantly ratings-worthy since the entire plot of Vanderpump Rules is based on cheating). Since word of the reunion season 11 leaked, fans have been hearing of Ariana and Lala’s major blow-up, which Lala basically confirmed during her anti-Ariana press tour this spring. So are Ariana and Lala still friends or nah? Here’s what we know.
What happened after season 11 aired?
At the reunion, internet rumors swirled that Lala and Ariana got into an epic friendship-ending fight where Ariana read Lala to filth. On an appearance on The Talk, Lala said only one of those things was true leading fans to believe that she and Ariana are in fact no longer friends. Lala has since done approximately one billion podcast episodes and interviews where she has talked about the show and where she stands with her other castmates. Long story short: it is not good. She’s thrown out so many critical (and thirsty) opinions about Ariana that it feels pretty hard to come back from now. Lala has also made a few petty moves that did make me giggle, like unfollowing Ariana (and Katie) on Instagram, but only because she needed to even out her follower count. Sure, Lauren.
Are Ariana and Lala friends now?
They haven’t re-followed each other on socials or been seen together since the reunion, so the answer seems to be no. During Ariana and Katie’s recent joint WWHL appearance, both ladies seemed to be very distant from Lala, making it obvious as Andy asked questions that they hadn’t spoken to her in some time regardless of all the speaking Lala had been doing about them. One thing they did confirm is that they both agree Lala profited the most from Scandoval, second to Ariana, which wasn’t too friendly. Lala recently acknowledged fans’ perception of her poor treatment of her former friend when hosting a tearful Amazon live about the backlash from the season and all of her commentary since. The branded tears do seem closer to revealing the “soft Lala” the star claimed would debut during season 11 (me watching Lala scream that Ariana isn’t God: is the soft Lala in the room with us now?). But there’s been no news of a friendship reconciliation and between Lala’s pregnancy and Ariana’s booked and busy schedule, it seems unlikely to happen any time soon.
What happened between Ariana and Lala at the reunion?
After Ariana got the one thing from Tom Sandoval that she never thought she was going to get, even if she didn’t want it anymore (an apology that didn’t end with a but) it turned out she still had bigger fish to fry. Lala didn’t have an apology for Ariana, in fact, she doubled down on calling her Beyoncé/God. Lala’s biggest “frustration” with the season was Ariana’s ability to walk away in alignment with her boundaries while Lala felt she never even got half the sympathy Ariana did for her own cheating scandal. Even though Lala acknowledged the exact reason why her friends and fans were less shocked and sympathetic that Randall did what he did to her (it’s hard to be surprised a man who cheated on his first wife would cheat on his mistress after she became the second) Lala still believes she was forced to take the brunt of everyone’s opinions even though she didn’t deserve it because of her child and in turn Ariana should have been treated just as harshly if that was anyone’s honest feelings. Overall, Lala was happy to leave her friendship with Ariana “in the ER” at the end of the reunion because she’s sick of an alleged double standard that she feels serves Ariana. For Lala, being the only one to speak her truth about Ariana was bigger than the friendship even if no one else agreed her truth was their own.
