It’s been 5 months since Billie Lee quit ‘Vanderpump Rules’. The SUR host left the show after she experienced ‘bullying’ while on the job. Now, she tells HollywoodLife that she’s happier than ever and admits that Lisa Vanderpump has been very supportive.
Billie Lee has moved on from Vanderpump Rules and she has no regrets quitting the hit Bravo show. “I’m in the right place [now],” the former reality star told HollywoodLife after she revealed that “bullying” from unnamed members of the show led to her experiencing suicidal thoughts. “It feels right, [now] and I got family from that [show], so it’s good,” she said, noting that she doesn’t miss the drama one bit. We caught up with Billie while at the “Fancy AF Cocktail” book launch celebrating Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix in West Hollywood on December 10.
Since she announced her exit from the show back in July, Billie admitted that she’s gotten support from Vanderpump Rules‘ very own, Lisa Vanderpump. LVP also quit her show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in June over cast drama after helping launch the franchise in 2010. — A decision by Lisa that Billie said she “of course” supports. “I’ll always love her. She‘ll always be my fairy godmother no matter what,” Billie gushed.
“[We’ve talked] a couple times,” Billie said of Lisa, adding that she hasn’t seen the Bravo OG since Halloween. The two were both at Tom Tom on October 31, the restaurant Lisa co-owns with Vanderpump Rules stars Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz. “It was so packed. We saw each other and hugged and that was it,” she said.
When asked if there was a definitive moment that made her throw in the towel with Vanderpump Rules, Billie explained that there were numerous instances that helped her make her decision to walk away from the show.
“There was probably like five [moments] and I just didn’t feel good anymore. I felt like I wasn’t welcome, like it was a challenge and I felt like I was back in high school and all the suicidal thoughts came back,” she explained, comparing the show to darker times in her past. “I just didn’t feel worthy and no jobs should cost someone their life or cost someone to have that kind of negative thought,” Billie continued, explaining, “I just needed to walk away and work on myself and work on building the love relationship with myself and loving and accepting myself. Cause sometimes we fall out of love with ourselves and especially with our environment being so toxic. So I needed to get in a better situation. And now I’m like, I have amazing mentors and producing partners and I’m producing more projects than I ever imagined and I get to focus on my community and not drama at a restaurant.”
Billie would not name any cast member in particular who caused her to have a bad experience on the show, and noted that it was “just the lack of acceptance.” The transgender activist, added, “I mean, some people were just so ignorant even their compliments were micro aggression.
Now, she’s happier than ever.
“I’m happy. I’m good. I hope that they like I wish they would be more open and accepting to people of color and LGBTQ,” Billie admitted. “I just feel like with all the new cast members, I wish somebody was gay. They’re in the heart of West Hollywood,” she said, questioning, “Why aren’t we like covering people that are gay? — That should be more of the focus I believe, because that’s what real life is.”
Billie is now working on projects that she hopes “are going to be good for my community and bring awareness to the trans community, and educate and inspire people.”
While Billie certainly considers some of her former costars as “family,” including Tom [Sandoval] and Ariana, she admits that she won’t be watching this current season 8 of Vanderpump Rules.
However, it’s not because there’s bad blood still lingering. Instead, “I never watched reality television before I joined,” she admitted, adding that she doesn’t think she’ll start now.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
