Lisa Vanderpump’s passions in real life make for good reality TV. She showcases her growing empire of restaurants and bars on Vanderpump Rules. So far on Season 9 of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, it’s Lisa’s passion for four-legged bitches that is putting the two-legged ones in a tizzy.
The season began with Kyle Richards and Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave stopping by Vanderpump Dogs for a quick chat with Lisa. The visit took a dramatic turn when John Sessa, the executive director of the rescue center, asked Kyle, “Does this dog look familiar?” This question kicked off #puppygate. Dorit Kemsley adopted Lucy before re-homing her to an unnamed third party. This person dumped Lucy in a shelter. Ultimately, the dog ended up back to Vanderpump Dogs. Lisa’s co-stars think she orchestrated the scene to punish Dorit in the court of public opinion while appearing to remain above the fray. This has caused a major rift between Lisa and the Beverly Hills Housewives.
John Sessa came to Lisa’s defense in an interview with TooFab. He took full responsibility for #puppygate and attempted to exonerate Lisa. First, he said that Lisa and Ken asked him to waive a $5,000 penalty against Dorit and PK Kemsley for violating the adoption contract.
He claimed that they wanted him to do this “because of Dorit’s status on the show and their relationship with her.” The request lead to a major argument with Ken. John alleged, “And I said, ‘F–k you. I’m not protecting your friends. I’m protecting the foundation. I don’t have loyalty to Dorit. I have loyalty to my foundation, and I have loyalty to my dogs.'”
“This is what upsets me,” John continued. “Everyone thinks Lisa planted this.” John says it isn’t true, and he has the receipts to prove it. “I even have the text message from Lisa–and again, no one knows this–Lisa said, ’Shut this down,’ at 9:45, and we were filming at 10. And honestly, I’m not going to because how am I supposed to be an executive director, doctor of international business for a foundation that is international—we’re in six countries—and I’m supposed to say, ‘Oh, when something bad happens and it involves a celebrity, we just push that under the rug.’ It doesn’t work that way.” Umm, usually it does, unless a camera crew is on your tail.
RELATED: Lisa Vanderpump Might Have A New Vanderpump Dogs Show In The Works; Are Her Co-Stars Unhappy About It?
Then, John shared, “We always fight about her defending Dorit because Dorit has done several things. She’s not only done things to me, but she’s done things to Lisa, who I care about, and now she’s done something to a dog that I hand-reared.”
John declared, “And I have to say, Lisa was very torn. She was torn between her friends, and she was torn between me. I’m the mentor to all these young, budding philanthropists, saying, ‘We have to be so strict with these things.’ So how am I going to take my responsibility down and say, ‘No, it’s Dorit from Real Housewives, so we have to ignore all of our procedures.'”
In regard to Teddi, John said, “Contrary to what Teddi has said in her blogs and everything that she’s doing right now, she’s saying that Lisa had planned that all of this would go down at the rescue center on the first day of filming. But that’s not true, [according to] the timeline. And I have emails. If you want receipts, Lisa Rinna, I can give you receipts.”
RELATED: Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave Believes Lisa Vanderpump Used Her As A Pawn
John was referring to Lisa Rinna’s conversation with Kyle and Teddi in the Bahamas where Lipsa told her co-stars that she thought LVP had orchestrated the whole thing. It was an accusation she then repeated to LVP, saying, “He’s your employee. This wouldn’t get out there if you didn’t want it out there. This is bullshit going to Teddi, bringing Kyle in. This sounds like a f—ing setup.”
John wasn’t done schooling the ladies of RHOBH. He said, “Here’s something that no one else knows. This is the second dog that Dorit had returned to us, or rather, given up.”
John added, “Similar to what she said the second time around. I’m not sure what happened. I did see there was a photo with bite marks on PK’s nose. So the first dog, we take back.”
RELATED: Kyle Richards Thinks Lisa Vanderpump Orchestrated Dog Drama With Dorit Kemsley
Previews for the upcoming episode indicate that #puppygate is still gathering steam and is threatening to become the Munchhausen Syndrome story of the 2019 season.
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT JOHN SESSA’S VERSION OF EVENTS? ARE YOU TIRED OF THIS DOG STORYLINE OR IS IT STILL ENTERTAINING?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
