Kristen Doute seemingly has one of the best years of her life, and The Valley Season 2 cameras will capture it all.
The former Vanderpump Rules star is engaged and expecting her first child with fellow co-star Luke Broderick. With so many positive things happening in her life, some are calling it, “The Year of Kristen.”
“Yes, I think it is the year for me [and] for us. It’s been a really good and very gracious and generous 2025 and 2024. Two great years!” Doute tells Deadline.
Doute is one of the OG stars of Vanderpump Rules and has lived the ups and downs of her life in front of cameras.
“I started filming Vanderpump in my 20s, and I’m in my 40s now,” she says. “So it has been a journey, for sure. I’m so excited to be filming, and I feel like I finally really come grown into myself. I just felt like I was kind of a kid back then.”
Returning to reality TV with The Valley last year, Doute also brought along her boyfriend, who was completely new to reality TV.
Coming into his second season, Broderick told us that he is “determined to have fun,” adding, “Watch and see – I have a lot of fun. My personality gets a chance to really show up, because they’re all these huge personalities around, and I wasn’t ready to fight for my position in season one [and] this year, I didn’t have to.”
The trailer for the new season of The Valley shows Broderick proposing to Doute who teases what viewers can expect for Season 2.
“It’s gonna be crazy, I think for both of us, [but] for me, especially being pregnant right now, watching our fertility struggles, because that’s a big part of the season … that was a heavier part of the summer for me, for sure,” Doute teased. “I’m really excited to watch our engagement, but I still need to see it, because it was like I was very shocked [and] very surprised.”
Doute said that her on-camera proposal was a complete surprise for her telling us she really had “no clue,” adding, “It makes me happy, because I hate being surprised, but he really pulled it off, so I love that for both of us. But also, how did he get one past Detective Doute? I will never understand! When I look back at all of the little things that I could have [used to] figure it out, and I just never did. I was shocked, as you can even see in the trailer – I mean, I drop an F bomb, which is not exactly the moment I wanted to have, but I’m so shocked to see him down on one knee. I didn’t think it was really happening.”
‘The Valley’ Season 2: (l-r) Janet Caperna, Jason Caperna, Jesse Lalla, Jax Taylor, Danny Booko, Luke Broderick, Nia Booko, Kristen Doute, Jasmine Goode Self, Michelle Lally, Zack Wickham, Brittany Cartwright
Koury Angelo / Bravo
Filming a reality show comes with expected drama, and one of the co-stars Doute clashed with was Janet Caperna. Despite trying to talk things out, it seems that their friendship has not improved.
“Right now, like today, I am so focused on my health, my well-being, my stress-free bubble that Luke and I get to live in,” Doute says. “I’m not really concerned with anybody or mending fences with anyone right now, even at the reunion. I’m going to be very pregnant at the reunion and Janet and I will have to hash some things out, so I’m kind of just waiting to see what she has to say, and then I’ll figure out how I’ll receive it.”
Broderick notes that “mending friendships is very low on the priority list at our current state in life, and so it may happen down the road, but it is not even on the board at the moment.”
Doute revealed that she hasn’t started planning her wedding yet but hopes to have a destination wedding. However, Lala Kent is one former Vanderpump Rules co-star who people can expect not to attend.
“Lala and I are not in the greatest of places, I will say, like I just had a conversation with her recently about mommy stuff, and she’s been helpful in reaching out,” she says. “Haven’t talked to Katie [Maloney] in a minute. So much love for her. I ran into Stassi [Schroeder] like a week ago for the first time in about a year, and she was sweet as can be, and everyone’s just been really gracious about the pregnancy and wanting to lend a helping hand, so I’m really appreciative of that.”
Being pregnant has not softened Doute and teases she will still be as opinionated as she has always been.
“Absolutely, I can’t help myself,” she said about continue to being messy. “I was just talking to Luke and a friend, but saying that a girlfriend of mine, one of my best friends, not adjacent to the valley, told me the other day that third trimester Kristen is very, very feisty, and I didn’t see it until she said it, and I was like, ‘You know what? You’re kind of right.’ So I think that feistiness will play out at the reunion for sure.”
One thing for sure is that Doute feels vindicated after The Valley Season 1 played out and she was accused of being a liar.
“Yeah, absolutely. I said that I wasn’t lying. I was telling the truth,” she says. “I didn’t necessarily handle everything the right way. I definitely word vomited certain things. I could have handled a lot of it in a better fashion, but I wasn’t making anything up. Everyone that was around me was lying, and that was clear, because when you’re on camera, it’s on camera, and I think certain people forget about that. I definitely felt some vindication. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, [and] also filming a show like this is [to] just to be exactly who I am and say what I mean and say how I feel and what I think, and [while] not everyone’s gonna like it, but at least I’m true to myself.”
On Vanderpump Rules, which is ending an era and starting a new one with a whole new cast, Doute says, “I could not be happier not filming Vanderpump Rules. Vanderpump Rules, for me, was like the most toxic boyfriend, and if they hadn’t broken up with me, I probably would have never left.”
The Valley Season 2 premieres on Tuesday, April 15, at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
