From feud to friendship! Kristen Doute and Ariana Madix smoothed over their bumpy past after years of bad blood on Bravo.
The former Vanderpump Rules costars were at odds throughout the early seasons of the show, which premiered in 2013, after Doute suspected then-boyfriend Tom Sandoval of cheating on her with Madix before their breakup. The Missouri native moved on with Madix in 2014 — which didn’t sit well with Doute.
The exes continued working together at Lisa Vanderpump‘s restaurant SUR, but Doute was often quick to stoke drama. During season 3, she connected with a woman who claimed she hooked up with Sandoval in Miami while he was still dating Madix and helped bring her to SUR. At the time, the Fancy AF Cocktails authors walked out of the restaurant but were brought back by their boss.
“I almost wish I didn’t [leave]. The reason why we left is because we felt like production was pulling this whole thing. We were, like, ‘Oh, so random people just show up now,’” Madix exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2021. “I do regret, I guess, just not fully calling out the whole real story, like, on camera and staying there.”
With the confrontation firmly in the past, Madix shared an update on where she stood with Doute. “We’ve been great since we [decided to be friends],” she explained.
The path to friendship wasn’t easy, with the pair bickering about their dating lives, sketch comedy and more on the hit reality series. In her 2020 book, He’s Making You Crazy, Doute revealed that she had forgiven her ex and Madix for their past mistakes.
“I made a choice to let everything go, because whether or not I thought those rumors about an illicit rendezvous or two behind my back had been true or not, it didn’t matter anymore,” she wrote. “A girl can’t actually steal someone’s boyfriend. He made a free-willed choice to leave me, and a free-willed choice to be with her. I needed to let them be happy.”
Us confirmed in March 2023 that Sandoval and Madix had split after nearly 10 years together after his affair with costar Raquel Leviss. While she was no longer part of the Pump Rules cast — Doute was axed from the series in 2020 along with OG star Stassi Schroeder and two more costars — the Bravo alum was vocal about supporting Madix through the scandal.
“I don’t know why I feel like I need to make this clear, but there’s so many people right now wondering if this is making me happy,” she told fans in an Instagram Story video as the controversy made headlines. “And you guys, Ariana and I’ve been really good friends for many, many years now. So, I am team Ariana — all day, every day. That’s what’s up.”
Both Sandoval and Leviss issued public apologies for their illicit relationship, but Madix did not immediately address the situation. During a March 2023 episode of her podcast, Doute gave an update on how her pal was coping.
“She’s not doing well. She’s numb and she’s sad and she doesn’t want to hear about anything anymore,” she said on “Sex, Love and What Else Matters” at the time. “She’s like, ‘What does it matter? I don’t want to hear any more rumors.’ We were telling her some more rumors that were coming up yesterday and she’s like, ‘What does it matter? I just don’t need to know anymore. It’s just going to make me feel worse.’”
Doute went on to claim that Madix apologized to her for being “toxic” in the past when it came to their drama with Sandoval. “For her to apologize to me? Because she didn’t listen to me or because of the way their relationship started?” she said. “No. That’s why I took to social media almost immediately because I was so tired of people saying, ‘Oh, my God, this is Ariana’s karma.’”
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Scroll down for an in-depth look at Doute and Madix’s rocky history: