Kristen Doute is feeling betrayed by her former bestie Jo Wenberg!
Let us rewind for a moment for those who don’t recall that name! Fans learned about Jo when Tom Schwartz called her his roommate during several episodes in Season 10 — though rumors swirled around that they were an item. We later found out that they did, in fact, hook up. And she did not have a glowing review from the other castmates! As Schwartz’s ex-wife Katie Maloney told viewers:
“Jo was literally Kristen Doute’s crazy friend. If you’re Kristen Doute’s crazy friend, that says a lot about you.”
Yikes! When Scandoval erupted earlier this year, Jo was somewhat in the middle of the whole mess. The 41-year-old reality star knew about the affair between Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss long before the news broke. And amid the secret, he had been involved with Jo. Kristen’s friendship with her also came to an end around that time. On the Viall Files podcast, she revealed the hairstylist hung out with Rachel, Schwartz, and Sandoval last summer a lot. So the former television personality believed Jo and Schwartz would double date with Sandoval and Rachel. Oof…
Related: Scheana Shay Now DENIES Kissing Tom Schwartz! What?!
And then, in the aftermath of the scandal, Jo scored a spot on Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules. Inneresting timing! And we’re not the only ones suspicious. Kristen now believes Jo only befriended her to get on the show!
During her Sex, Love, and What Else Matters podcast Sunday, Kristen opened up about the end of her friendship with Jo. She claimed they were very close for a long time — practically each other’s “ride-or-die.” The Bravolebrity said:
“For you listeners out there that don’t know, Jo was one of my best friends. When I say best friend, I don’t mean that lightly. This girl was my everyday ride-or-die, [and] we literally hung out all the time. Like, six days a week.”
However, things drastically changed when Jo began hooking up with Schwartz. Kristen recalled:
“We stopped talking right around the time she started talking to Tom [Schwartz].”
Her boyfriend, Luke Broderick, backed her version of events, explaining:
“The first time I came to L.A. to see Kristen, Jo was the very first person I met. We went to get lunch and she was talking about moving out of her place [in July 2022]. I didn’t see her again until we crossed paths at TomTom basically the same night Scandoval happened [in March].”
He remembered Kristen saying a lot about how Jo was purposefully not talking to her anymore. And she, understandably, had been very upset about it:
“Kristen was telling me, ‘She’s not responding and she’s ghosting me.’”
But Kristen has a theory about why Jo suddenly cut off communication with her! The podcast host claimed she was being “used” by Jo to get on the show. When the hairdresser got what she wanted after befriending the right people, AKA Schwartz, she ditched Kristen since she wasn’t useful to her agenda anymore. Kristen said:
“There was a text here and there, but she seriously just ghosted me. And then I started finding out that she was hanging out with Schwartz and she was staying with him. Our friendship has been over ever since. Not because I broke off our friendship but because she broke off the friendship with me and started lying to me. Now all of a sudden she’s on the TV show that canned me.”
She continued:
“Friends of mine that are still close to Jo and I have said the exact same thing. Was I being used this whole entire time? Was this like a master plan to be on the show?”
Ouch! If that is true, talk about a s****y friend!
Jo hasn’t reacted to Kristen’s claims. But she sure has some explaining to do! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen/Bravo/YouTube, Jo Wenberg/Instagram]