Vanderpump Rules fans love the show for the dramatic relationships between the cast members. The show follows the lives and drama of the employees of SUR, one of the LA-based restaurants owned by Lisa Vanderpump, who gained popularity during her time on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Anyone who has worked in a restaurant knows it’s hard to always get along with all of the other employees, but the staff at SUR take it to another level.
For starters, the Bravo fandom was shook when they found out that Tom Sandoval was cheating on Ariana Madix with her best friend, Rachel Leviss. The affair was dubbed “Scandoval,” and was among several cheating and affair allegations in the show. In addition, throughout the years the show has aired physical fights, many arguments, and many drunk nights that make for quality reality TV viewing. Vanderpump Rules is messy, but that’s why we love it. Who wants to watch a show full of people who behave well all the time? Not us, that’s for sure.
Among the bad behavior exhibited by the cast members during dramatic moments are several cases of gaslighting. In case you don’t know, “gaslighting” is a term that refers to when someone is treating another person badly, and then tries to manipulate the other person into thinking it is actually their fault. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest instances of gaslighting on Pump Rules.
Sandoval Twisting The Narrative in His Relationship with Ariana
Fans realized that Tom had been gaslighting Ariana in their on-screen arguments after they found out about Scandoval. Viewers surmised that Tom was gaslighting Ariana after he had already started cheating on her with Rachel Leviss. Fans thought he was doing this so that people would think they were having problems, and therefore not blame him as much for cheating on Ariana.
For example, this TikTok video posted by user realityops shows Tom accusing Ariana of insulting his intelligence and thinking he was an “idiot,” seemingly out of the blue, while they were discussing potentially trying to get pregnant. Both the poster of the TikTok video and fans in the comments thought Tom spun the conversation like that in order to “set up” the breakup between him and Ariana to try to take the heat off him when people discovered he had been cheating. Yikes!
The Way Lala Talks to Rachel
Lala Kent wasn’t a fan of Rachel’s even before it came out that she had an affair with Tom Sandoval. Lala savagely called Rachel a “bambi-eyed b****,” and then released an eyeshadow palette in her makeup line called “Bambi-Eyed Bitch” after the episode aired. Although this is not an example of gaslighting, there were several instances on the show where Lala gaslit Rachel.
For example, before people found out about Scandoval Rachel kissed the other Tom, Tom Schwartz. Lala confronted Rachel about her kiss with Schwartz, since at the time of the kiss with Rachel, he was in the middle of his divorce from Katie Maloney.
When Lala confronted Rachel, she said she thought that Rachel’s sense of self-worth came entirely from validation from men, which Lala said was “sad.” The “Give Them Lala” author also said to Rachel’s face that she thought Rachel was about to have a mental breakdown and would “need some support.” Lala didn’t have proof of this and it hasn’t been proven, so we think that is pretty gaslighty.
Tom Schwartz Gaslighting Katie
Schwartz was generally thought of as a nice guy at first because of his fun-loving and jolly demeanor. However, that facade started to fade when he was mean to Katie when they would married. When Katie would react, Schwartz would act like he didn’t do anything. Then of course there was the time in Season 8, which came out in 2020, when some of the Vanderpump men hired fake cops to come to a party and pretend to arrest Sandoval.
Katie was shocked, and said that hiring a fake cop wasn’t cool and made light of police brutality. Katie was right, but instead of trying to understand his wife’s perspective, Schwartz accused Katie of being a party pooper, which then emboldened the other men to blame her for ruining the party as well.
Schwartz even went so far as to announce to the group that he had not been having intimate relations with his wife, due to her “party pooper” attitude. That comment was not only gaslighting Katie, but also gross because he was sharing private details of their married life with other people without Katie’s consent. Yuck.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS ONE OF THE WORST MOMENTS OF GASLIGHTING ON VANDERPUMP RULES?
