Stassi Schroeder Says Her Vanderpump Rules Firing Wasn’t “Cancel Culture”

There's been a lot of change on Bravo's hit series Vanderpump Rules this year, and one star is finally speaking out about it. Stassi Schroeder addressed her Vanderpump Rules firing for the first time in a new interview on The Tamron Hall Show. She was fired by Bravo in June alongside longtime co-star Kristen Doute after their former co-star Faith Stowers spoke out about how they reported her to the police for a crime she didn't commit.

Speaking out about the ordeal months later, Schroeder — who is expecting her first child with fiancé Beau Clark – explained that she didn't respond to the news of her firing right away because she wanted to take the time to truly learn and understand the repercussions of her actions. "People expected me to just understand everything immediately and things like that take time," she told Hall, as per PEOPLE. "I’m someone who messed up quite a few times. I am the reason why I am in this situation." Schroeder went on, seemingly eager to take responsibility for her actions. "I think a lot of people wanted me to focus on cancel culture and whether I was a victim or not but it’s not how I feel at all."

She admitted that the toughest part of the ordeal was going to "a restaurant and the grocery store" and wondering if people around her viewed her as a racist due to the incident. "I’ve never felt like I was racist, I don’t have hate in my heart," she said. "But I recognize that I wasn’t anti-racist. That’s something I’ve been learning throughout all of this."

For the past few months, Schroeder told Hall, she has been educating herself about racial justice matters and working with a diversity coach. "I didn’t understand that just because something wasn’t about race for me, doesn’t mean it’s not about race for the other person," she said. "I have spent my life as a privileged person. It is my fault, I have to say this, that I had not educated myself before. It’s my fault that I didn’t know better." She also expressed regret for other past comments, including her critique of #OscarsSoWhite and her "Nazi Chic" photo caption from 2018. "I was a Karen who basically said, 'What About All Lives Matter?'" she said.

During the interview, she also explained why she called the cops on Stowers, claiming that she and Doute had more evidence than the Daily Mail photo, and were urged to report her by others. "The bottom line is there were people that Kristen knew who were texting her,” she explained. "I was completely wrong, but it wasn’t just a photo that we saw." She also raced the decision back to the heightened drama of the series itself. "When you’re on a show like Vanderpump Rules, your existence on that show is kind of dependent on sticking your nose in other people’s conflict or creating conflict," she said.

The former reality star is more than ready to leave all the theatrics behind, telling Hall she probably wouldn't go back to Vanderpump Rules if she had the chance: "Getting drunk and starting conflict and misbehaving on a reality show just isn't my journey anymore."