During a chat with Tamron Hall last week, Stassi Schroeder spoke out publicly for the first time about her firing from "Vanderpump Rules." Soon after, a report from Us Weekly claimed that the reality TV star felt ambushed by the journalist.
Tamron is now speaking out about that "fair and open conversation," while also expressing one regret.
"The other day I was told that there was a report that Stassi felt 'unprepared' and that it was 'awkward.' Even that I had gone rogue — whatever that means," Tamron said on her eponymous talk show on Sept. 22. "Let me just be open because I'm expecting everybody who's participating in this show today, I want them to be open, so I have to do the same. It's why I wanted this show to be honest with you."
"So I'm going to take you behind the scenes of TV," she continued. "Now, I don't tell people the specific questions I'm going to ask them. How they answer, that's up to them. But the topic and everything that we discussed, Stassi knew. She knew the subject matter. She knew what I was going to ask her. Not the questions."
Tamron said that Stassi's team called on the eve of the interview and asked her not to bring up the former Bravo star's past comments about the #MeToo movement, which she called a "witch hunt." Stassi also criticized women for coming forward.
Tamron now regrets that she agreed to shy away from that line of questioning.
"It hit me to my gut that I didn't ask her," Tamron said. "But again, I want to be honest with you. Given that she was five months pregnant, the issue of race was hard enough for her and for me and it was a lot to unpack, including that Nazi comment, so I said we were not going to go down that road but we would have this difficult conversation that we all should have to provide a better platform for our children."
Stassi was one of four "Vanderpump Rules" cast members notoriously fired in June for past racist actions. For months, she remained silent on the matter. Hence, her chat with Tamron was widely promoted.
"Stassi felt totally unprepared for the interview," a source told Us Weekly. "She wasn't in a good mood afterward and felt like she was put on the spot. She has built her brand on being candid and funny, and she feels afraid to make any wrong comments or jokes and having them come across negatively, which, in turn, made the interview awkward."
"She doesn't want to make a wrong move or say anything that can be taken out of context because she really has been taking time to work on herself," the source said. "She felt somewhat caught off guard in how the interview went down because she really has been doing her best to learn, educate herself and be the best version of herself that she can be."
A second source added, "Producers laid the segments out for Stassi and her team, and everything was all set. And then, to everyone's surprise, Tamron went rogue and took the interview in a completely different direction."