What ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Alums Lala Kent and Katie Maloney Have Said About Their Fractured Friendship

The only thing former Vanderpump Rules costars Lala Kent and Katie Maloney can agree on is that their friendship is over.

Dedicated Bravo fans are likely familiar with Lala and Katie’s various relationship ups and downs documented on the hit reality show. After Lala joined the series in season 4, her and Katie immediately got off on the wrong foot. It took several seasons for the pair to agree to a fresh start regarding their relationship.

By the time Tom Sandoval’s affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss made headlines in 2023, Katie and Lala were thick as thieves. Season 11 of the hit Bravo series started off on a high as most of the cast members were getting along. But by the end of the same season, there were multiple cast member rifts— including the broken friendship between Lala and Katie.

The issues started early for the costars —Lala later revealed she had a falling out with Katie before production kicked off on season 11.

“Right before the reunion of season 10, Katie had gone on a podcast saying, ‘The vibes were off with us,’” Lala shared on her “Give Them Lala” podcast in March 2024. “Something had happened and … we just never came back to where we were.”

Lala didn’t want to give specifics, adding, “It may be talked about [at] some point in time, I don’t know, I’m not going to talk about it today. But I feel like after that happened, we looked at each other differently and we distanced ourselves.”

Katie and Lala briefly worked out their issues, but after a tumultuous conclusion to season 11 Katie admitted she couldn’t see a future friendship with Lala as a friend. Lala, for her part, confirmed she felt the same way.

“We can go over this all the livelong day, it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done,” Lala said on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast in December 2024. “We may be able to rebuild at some point or we may never see each other again. Who the f— knows, right? But I do want her to be happy in her life. She deserves that.”

Lala subsequently confirmed that “neither” of them “reached out to each other” since the season 11 reunion of Vanderpump Rules. Keep scrolling to see what both Lala and Katie have said about their ongoing fractured friendship:

Offscreen Issues

During a January 2023 episode of her “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast, Katie admitted that her friendship with Lala was struggling, adding, “Vibes are definitely off.”

Lala replied on her own podcast one year later by confirming an offscreen falling out. “So many people asked about [Katie]. So of course, I was like, ‘Why are people asking this?’ Well, now I know that someone asked Katie this on her podcast, and she said, ‘The vibes are definitely off.’ So I guess the vibes are definitely off,” she said in March 2024 about the rift that formed before the season 10 reunion in 2023.

At the time, Lala noted that she and Katie are “at a different place now.”

“There was just never a resolution,” Lala explained. “It was one thing after the other that we just could not quite conquer and see eye to eye. As the season goes on though, you’ll see that we soften up with each other.”

Not on the Mend

Lala exclusively told Us Weekly before season 11 aired in 2024 that she had a “rocky” season with Katie.

“We have a rocky season, and it was extremely hard and sad. Especially because we were just ride-or-die season 10. That made me sad, but we’re good,” she noted. “[I enjoy having] friendships where we can have ups and downs and then find common ground. I don’t want to always agree, I want to be able to evolve with you. I want you to teach me something about myself.”

Rumors of a feud started in April 2024 when Lala unfollowed Katie and Ariana.

“I found out about that through a post on Instagram,” Katie told Us. “Lala and I over a year ago had went through some stuff and I thought we repaired [it]. Then, this past season you see on the show, we kind of got into some spats. We were like, ‘I feel like we were not seeing eye to eye on a lot of things.’ And I am not entirely sure. I don’t really know what to say about it.”

Airing Out Their Issues

As season 11 continued to air, Lala admitted that Ariana played a part in her divide with Katie.

“I think we were at odds because from my point of view, she was not very honest this season. I don’t recognize that Katie [because] the reason why she and I really freaking connect is because we are no bulls—,” Lala explained on the Vanderpump Rules After Show in May 2024. “You may not like what comes out of our mouths, it may be harsh or aggressive, but this is what it is.”

Lala even quoted what Katie allegedly told her about her issues with Ariana.

“She was getting annoyed like, ‘I’m the only one doing things for this sandwich show. Where is she? She’s always late on her half of the rent. She’s dropping the ball,’” Lala claimed. “She was very worried about rocking the boat after she invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into this restaurant and her business partner is Ariana. I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same way. I probably would. She had opinions. You can have opinions and still have Ariana’s back.”

Firing Back

Katie ultimately set the record straight on her private conversation with Lala.

“I’m someone who has suffered from imposter syndrome for as long as I have known myself. Hence why I was apprehensive about opening the sandwich shop on my own,” she wrote via Instagram Stories in May 2024. “So when Ariana was going through not only a world of hurt but also getting some amazing opportunities, that changed a lot of things during a pivotal time. I was extremely sensitive to what she was going through but also very supportive.”

Katie denied Lala’s comments about Ariana abandoning her, adding, “I was dealing with immense insecurity about what I could take on and simply didn’t want to put that on her. I had an emotional response that didn’t feel appropriate bringing to her front door so I went to where I felt safe. Or where I thought I felt safe.”

While Katie and Ariana were able to work out their issues, the same couldn’t be said for Katie and Lala. “To know me is to know I value trust, loyalty and integrity,” Katie concluded.

Questioning Their Friendship

In addition to questioning Katie, Lala also took digs at her friendship with Ariana, saying on a June 2024 episode of the “Two Ts in a Pod” podcast, “Trauma bonds run deep. I’ve had trauma bonds before and they are thick, but neither of you better get over the trauma. Because once you start healing, [that] bond is over.”

Cutting Ties

Katie called out Lala’s attempt to resurface old drama on screen — specifically her miscommunication with Ariana — during the season 11 reunion of Vanderpump Rules. She later elaborated on why she didn’t see herself getting to a good place with Lala again.

“I felt like obviously she had been harboring certain feelings and thinking certain things that I didn’t know she had felt. And so she was saving them for the reunion, which I didn’t feel like was super authentic,” Katie said on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast in July 2024. “To sit there and be called an inauthentic person or fake. But meanwhile, I’m sitting next to somebody who I thought I knew and knew very well and was open and honest with me but had been feeling a certain way about me for a very long time. That was shocking.”

Katie questioned Lala’s behavior when cameras were rolling.

“Once you violate my trust like that, it’s very hard to come back from. Trust is the most important thing to me. And when you try to manipulate me with that and use it against me and say we talked about these things,” she continued. “Those weren’t the kind of conversations that were meant for the camera. Not everything is. … I’m allowed to have some kind of privacy and talk about emotions with people. I do with my mom, I do with other friends.”

During the podcast appearance, Katie was asked whether she thought Lala revealed their private conversations because she was getting too much backlash from the public, to which she quipped, “Would you say [she was] living in the comment section?” (The response was a reference to Lala’s reunion claims that their costars — such as James Kennedy and Scheana Shay — were behaving based on how they thought Bravo fans wanted them to.)

Waving Goodbye

After season 11 came to an end, Lala reflected on the close bond she had with Katie.

“They all have a really special place in my heart. I had a really fun time with Ariana when I first was on the show. Katie, my friendship with her [during] season 10, I thought that that friendship was really on point,” she noted on her podcast. “When I think back, I’m like, ‘Wow, even though it was a hard time in my life, that friendship really got me through a tough time in my life.’”

Lala clarified she was still “very fond” of Katie and her other costars, despite their falling outs.

“Katie and I were very close. I don’t think now we have anything in common and that’s OK,” Lala claimed. “I don’t even know what we would talk about 1735968375. We’re just in such different places and I think that friendship was meant to be the way it was for the time being.”

Later in the episode, Lala argued that her connection with Katie “ran its course,” adding, “I think that that’s totally OK. I have nothing but fond memories of that friendship. I have nothing but fond memories of the friendship I had with Ariana and Doute. But people change and move on.”

She concluded: “There’s not a lot to talk about anymore — and we’re just in different stages of life. So no matter why we fell off, I don’t really give a s—. What I do know is the time that we had together, I really enjoyed. And I wish them all the best.”

Different Points of View

Bravo initially hit pause on filming season 12 of Vanderpump Rules due to ongoing tension between the cast. The decision eventually was reversed and filming resumed, but with an entirely new cast.Lala subsequently offered an update on where she stands with Katie now that the cameras have moved on from the OG cast for good.

“It was the strangest season that I’ve ever been a part of. It was all very sad. And Katie and I have two very different viewpoints on what happened and the demise of our friendship,” Lala said on the December 2024 episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “She sees it one way, and I don’t like that I was painted to be someone who pockets information and brings it out at a convenient time. Because that’s not what happened.”