Faith Stowers, a former cast member of Vanderpump Rules, has filed a lawsuit against Bravo and its parent company, NBCUniversal, over alleged discriminatory behavior, retaliation, hostile work environment harassment and other claims she alleges she faced during her time on the hit reality series.
ET has reached out to Bravo for comment.
According to the lawsuit, filed on Friday and obtained by ET, Stowers claims Lisa Vanderpump — a former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star whose restaurants are the settings of Rules — recruited her for the show after allegedly expressing “a desire to add more ‘color’ to the cast.” Stowers appeared on the fourth season, which aired between 2015 and 2016. She later appeared on season 6, which aired between 2017 and 2018.
The lawsuit addresses racial slurs Stowers allegedly faced from castmates, including Lala Kent and Brittany Cartwright, that were also purportedly filmed. The slurs cited include Kent allegedly joking that she was “blacker” than Stowers and Cartwright making fun of Stowers’ hair, calling it “nappy.”
Stowers claims that after she disclosed romantic feelings for Kent to an unnamed producer, producers allegedly “pressured” her and Kent to ‘get intimate’ and touch each other sensually on camera” while staying in the same room with one bed during a Hawaii cast trip.
Stowers points to another incident with Kent, in which Kent allegedly brandished a knife at Stowers and threatened to cut her. “Stowers feared Kent would stab, slice, or disfigure her,” the lawsuit states. However, Stowers claims executive producer Bill Langworthy discouraged her from involving law enforcement or speaking to media about the alleged incident after she reported it to NBC and Evolution, the production company for Vanderpump Rules and a third defendant in the suit.
“Langworthy downplayed the incident’s significance and strongly implied to Stowers that speaking out would come with severe career ramifications,” the suit alleges. “The next day, Vanderpump met with Stowers, informing her in no uncertain terms that she would be terminated if she could not find a way to ‘get along’ with Kent.” Stowers states she ultimately did not disclose the incident to police or the media.
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In 2018, Stowers alleges NBC reprimanded her and threatened legal action after learning about her intention to speak out. However, after it was revealed castmate Jax Taylor had cheated on Cartwright with Stowers, Stowers claims Bravo told her she had “‘earned her way back’ on the show.” Per the lawsuit, Stowers was designated as an unpaid volunteer in her season 6 contract. Stowers alleges NBC and Evolution “threatened to savage her reputation and destroy her career” when her agent informed them Stowers would not take part on those terms.
In regard to her defamation claim, Stowers points to Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder falsely accusing her of going AWOL from the Army; Doute’s claim that she robbed Taylor’s house on the night they were together; and Doute and Schroeder calling the police and accusing Stowers of being an unidentified woman who was drugging and robbing men in Los Angeles. “The only similarities between Stowers and the assailant were their gender and skin color,” the lawsuit states.
“NBC and Evolution tightly control any disclosures made about other cast members and could have shut this down at any time,” Stowers charges. “They chose not to do so, ratifying these virulently racist words and deeds.”
After Stowers spoke out in 2020 about the treatment she faced from Doute and Schroeder, it was confirmed that neither of them would be returning to Vanderpump Rules. Later that year, Taylor and Cartwright announced their exits. Doute, Cartwright and Taylor currently appear on the new Bravo spinoff series, The Valley. “I think everyone deserves second or even third or fourth chances if you are growing, learning, proving through your actions as a person,” Doute recently told ET at the show’s premiere party. “Even Jax learned, you know, he deserves another few chances if we are going to see a change.”
“For years,” the lawsuit states, “Stowers refrained from taking legal action against NBC and Evolution because she was misled by the terms of her contracts into believing that she had waived her right to do so and released the responsible parties from liability.”
Stowers is seeking compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees and a trial by jury on all issues so triable, among other relief.
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