Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent recalled one of the hardest scenes she had to shoot after her split from ex-fiancé Randall Emmett — and why it never aired.
“I remember going into an interview and I was just so defeated but had to be, like, a soldier,” Lala, 34, revealed during the Monday, September 30, bonus episode of her “Give Them Lala” podcast, referring to a season 9 confessional.
Lala remembered the producers knowing “what was going on” between her and Randall, 53, when they had to shoot the interview portion of the season. (Us Weekly confirmed in November 2021 that Lala and Randall split after she “liked” a meme in October 2021 about Randall allegedly cheating on her.)
“I will forever love production for this because, production said, ‘Do you remember the scene of you and that guy at James [Kennedy] and Raquel [Leviss]’s engagement party?’” Lala told her listeners. “’You guys have a moment, you and that guy, about your wedding being canceled. Take what we know out of it, can you relive that and talk about that in real time?’” (James, 32, and Raquel, who goes by her birth name Rachel, split in December 2021.)
Lala recalled being shook by the prompt because her breakup was so raw. “I broke down. I said, ‘I physically cannot get myself to talk about that. I cannot take myself to a place of feeling how I thought I felt about him,’” she explained.
The reality star, who shares daughter Ocean, 3, with her ex-fiancé, revealed that the producers “didn’t make me do it.” Lala noted that “they cut out the whole scene” because she was “sobbing” just thinking about it.
“I was like, ‘I know what you want me to do and normally I can do it, [but] I can’t do it,’” Lala shared. “I was just broken.” She concluded, “I will forever be thankful that they were like, ‘Great, let’s not f—ing do it then.’”
Lala began seeing Randall at the start of season 5, but she kept the relationship off camera for two years. The pair went public in 2018 and later announced their engagement. After postponing their April 2020 wedding due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lala and Randall welcomed their daughter, Ocean, in 2021.
Months after giving birth, Lala raised eyebrows when she deleted all her photos with the director from social media in October 2021. Us confirmed the following month that Lala had called off their engagement.
After photos surfaced of Randall with two women at a hotel in Nashville, Lala addressed the cheating allegations on her podcast. “I had my head in the sand for a really long time, but I’m grateful no matter what. What’s five years and some change versus what I would’ve been in,” she said in November 2021. “The second that I felt unsafe — I said this in therapy — I said, ‘The second I get a pit in my stomach, it’ll be a different conversation.’ I got that pit and I got the f— out. No questions asked. Buh-bye.”
Since their split, Lala has taken control of her life and expanded her family without a man by her side. She welcomed her second daughter, Sosa, in September after using a sperm donor and intrauterine insemination (IUI).
Looking back at her time on VPR, which is currently on pause, Lala said she does “regret” having Randall on the show. “Because it reminds people that I went there. I’m a little embarrassed,” Lala said on Monday. “I’m like, how did this happen? And it really doesn’t feel good when my mom goes, ‘What were you thinking?’”
Outside of the embarrassment of her dating choices, Lala is happy she’s been an open book on the Bravo series. “I feel like I’m showing my life and it’s very much real. The parts of my life that are more private are not shown [but] I’ve shown pretty much everything,” she said. “I’ve had to confront my demons. … I got sober on the show. I lost my dad on the show.”
