Entertainment

'Vanderpump's Stassi & Katie Have A Lot Of History

by Alaina Urquhart-White

Reality television doesn't exactly seem to be a breeding ground for healthy relationships, and Vanderpump Rules has certainly seen some deteriorate recently. Cast members who were once best friends are now mortal enemies. One of the most shocking friendship meltdowns was definitely between Stassi Schroeder and Katie Maloney on Vanderpump Rules . Those two seemed like they would never leave each other's side. Unfortunately, their bond never recovered after Stassi bailed on most of her friends at SUR. This season, Stassi is back and her former BFF doesn't seem to be rushing to hug it out. Of course, the season was filmed months ago, so we can check in to find out if Stassi and Katie are friends again.

Unfortunately, it still doesn't look like they are back to being buds. These two have a lot of complicated history, and they haven't appeared in any Instagram photos together in a very long time. It's become obvious that Stassi really irrevocably hurt Katie when she left so abruptly. Luckily, Katie seems to have spun her pain into positive changes in her own life, as viewers have seen a completely different side of her lately. Once Stassi's lackey, Katie has evolved into an independent, strong-willed woman who doesn't let people walk over her anymore. The change has only been positive, as now she's happily engaged, has a job she loves, and is surrounded by friends who care about her. She certainly does not seem eager to mess with that status by adding her former friend back into the mix.

According to Katie's Bravo blog, the recent return of her ex BFF was something that threw her for a loop. Katie describes being "left abandoned, confused, and quite frankly heartbroken," by Stassi's ending of their friendship. When referring to Stassi's sudden return, Katie said on her blog, "So, when she just so freely wandered back around, I immediately put my walls up." When Kristen seemed to take Stassi back with open arms, it most likely complicated things even further, since Katie and Kristen have recently been burying the hatchet on their own past friendship transgressions.

While Stassi may be trying to make nice in small ways (like texting Katie about her engagement), I don't think that she and Katie are meant to be best friends again. Stassi was always the alpha in their relationship and could seem controlling. I can't be the only viewer who always wished that Katie would have stood up for herself more often.

However, Katie did mention in her blog that seeing Lisa Vanderpump and Stassi's tense meeting on last week's episode was a bit uncomfortable. Lisa basically tore Stassi a new one for calling her an "old woman" and badmouthing her restaurant. Lisa was especially angry because she had done a lot for Stassi that she felt had gone unappreciated. When asked about what she thought of Lisa and Stassi's meeting, Katie wrote:

I struggled a bit watching this. On one hand I am just beginning to witness Stassi really claiming and taking responsibility for her actions and it's too hard for me to sum up how I feel about this. I have never seen Stassi really swallow pride and address these sorts of things with anyone. I really see her going there and overextend herself.

With that comment, Katie is at least acknowledging Stassi's attempts to apologize for her past actions and rebuild her friendships. It would probably still take a lot of work for these two to scrape together the remains of their friendship, but it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. Now that Stassi is back, it will be interesting to see what happens throughout the rest of Vanderpump Rules Season 4, and whether these former friends will find a way to move on from their past. And if not, there's always the reunion.