The Untold Truth Of Stassi Schroeder

Stassi Schroeder is the quintessential reality show television personality. The outspoken Vanderpump Rules star is a three-dimensional, real-life TV character who is loved and hated but never ignored ... on Twitter. She is a star born of the social media age who found fame for being a waitress at Sur, the restaurant owned by former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump (Hey, at least her big break wasn't a sex tape, although she does have one of those too). Admittedly, Schroeder has no distinguishable standout quality other than her "basic-ness." However, she's made the unlikely transition from reality TV villain to pop culture spokesperson for all those who love Bachelor marathons, day-drinking, and ranch dressing. 

"I realized that I can contribute to the world," Schroeder told Los Angeles Magazine. "I might not be curing cancer or doing major sh**, but at least I can help someone feel good about themselves and just embrace their basic b**ch tendencies and have a laugh." Schroeder is that rare reality TV star who has turned her 15 minutes of fame into a lucrative second act with a New York Times best-selling book, a hit podcast, and even a live tour – that's more "xtra" than basic if you ask us. But what do we really know about the #PumpRules ruler whose real name is Nastassia Bianca Schroeder? Here's the untold truth of Stassi Schroeder. 

Stassi Schroeder embraces the millennial label "basic b***h, which dictionary.com defines as "a term used to condescendingly refer to women who have predictable or unoriginal style, interests, or behavior." She not only wears it like a badge of honor but has taken it to the next level. "I've just realized that like everything I do is basic, but it's kind of like next level or it's like basic 2.0," she told Page Six. 

Schroeder has smartly co-opted the negative stereotype, building her surging brand around embracing guilty pleasures such as pumpkin-spice lattes, Saw movie marathons, and selfie sticks. Her bestseller, Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic B**** Handbook, is a testament to reclaiming who you're afraid to be. "If you're basic and you have basic tendencies, that is your authentic self," Schroeder told The New York Times. "You don't need to hide that." In an interview with W magazine, she proudly (and seriously) proclaimed that she was the "George Washington of Basic B***h Nation," who would be joined on the Mount Rushmore of Basic B****es by model Chrissy Teigen, comedian Amy Schumer, and former The Hills star-turned lifestyle guru Lauren Conrad. "These are four very different basics, but we're all basic," Schroeder said.

You can count Stassi Schroeder among the Game of Thrones diehards who weren't happy with how the HBO series' final season flamed out. "Ugh! I just — I feel like there were so many missed opportunities," she confessed to The Cut. This is the same GoT super fan who once posted an Instagram picture claiming that an action-packed episode caused a psoriasis flare-up. "Even if I'm not thrilled with how things went, I still think it's the best show ever," she said. "But I just was so frustrated that, like, there was so much time spent on all of the battle scenes."

Although Schroeder has lit into her Vanderpump castmates, she has never burnt down a city like her "ride or die" girl, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clark.) However, she does admit to identifying with the Mother of Dragons, who took a dark turn in Season 8. "People have their moments," Schroeder told The Cut. "She could have been on her period, she could have been having a bad day. People have their moments, and we need to forgive them when they have their moments. Because everyone f**ks up every now and then. It's just her f**k up was, like ... major." Schroeder said she was disappointed in her "girl crush," but could relate to her pain. "All I could think about when I saw her go mental was like, Oh no. This is like me when I'm dealing with the dark passenger!"

While most fans know Stassi Schroeder from Vanderpump Rules, the Bravo show is actually her third reality TV project. The New Orleans native got her first taste of unscripted television on CBS' The Amazing Race, when her father unwillingly signed up her family. "I didn't have a chance to think about if it was something I wanted to do," she told Entertainment Tonight. Although her family finished a disappointing seventh out of ten teams, a reality TV star was born when Schroeder realized she was "kind of good" at living life in front of the camera.  

The same producers cast the then-17 year old on Queen Bees, a teen show about "seven mean girls facing the ultimate challenge: being nice." She referred to the short-lived series on the N (aka Teen Nick) as "that embarrassing other show," telling ET that the project felt less than authentic. "Most of the girls in there were not, like, actual mean girls," she confessed. "But they filmed us 24/7 and we lived in a house for a month and had therapy every day, so we convinced ourselves that we were bad people that needed therapy." She describes having "nightmares" about the "scary" experience, calling it "the biggest mindf**k" of her life. That's a bold statement coming from someone who dated notorious bad boy Jax Taylor. 

The only activity Stassi Schroeder and her BFF's Kristen Doute and Katie Maloney-Schwartz (aka the "Witches of WeHo") seem to enjoy more than throwing drinks at their exes, is throwing back drinks. The spirituous "Bravolebrities" took a page out of Lisa Vanderpump's branding portfolio by collaborating with Nocking Point Wines to concoct their own exclusive Pinot Grigio, entitled (what else), "Basic Witch Potion No.1." Schroeder took to Instagram to pop off about the release: "It's OFFICIAL. Our @witchesofweho "Potion #1" Pinot Grigio is availzies now!" She added that the wine's special ingredients are the "tears" of their exes," in case you're wondering what James Kennedy's bodily fluids taste like. 

According to Glamour, the trio didn't just slap its name on this brew. "I don't know if people know or realize that we — Katie, Stassi, and I — had full creative control," Doute revealed. "Not only over using the wine and the wine's taste, but the actual label. We created that completely from scratch on our own." The party gals, who are often seen imbibing on camera, insist that their intoxicating wine is not just a branding opportunity. "I think people are often very surprised by how good it is," said Maloney-Schwartz, who added that this business venture is quite personal because they "don't drink "sh**ty wine." "Well, we used to," quipped Schroeder.

Stassi Schroeder's "off the dome" opinions make her a fan favorite on Vanderpump Rules, but it almost got her hit podcast, Straight up with Stassi, canceled. People reported that advertisers pulled out of her Radio.com show after the outspoken Bravo personality shared some hot takes about the #MeToo movement. In an episode titled "Are We on a Male Witch Hunt?" Schroeder supposedly suggested that female assault victims were somewhat complicit by willingly going to hotel rooms. "No one can me make me suck someone's d**k," she said.

Simple Contacts, Framebridge, and Rent the Runway quickly distanced themselves from Schroeder by pulling their on-air ads. Rent The Runway tweeted: "We're shocked by @stassi's comments re the #metoo campaign. It goes against everything RTR (Rent the Runway) stands for as a company and has publicly advocated." Schroeder went into damage control, releasing an apology on Twitter that said she had "crossed a line." In a later interview with Us Weekly, the loose-lipped reality TV personality admitted that she didn't intend to hurt anyone but still has "mixed feelings" about deleting the episode because her statement was taken out of context. "I feel like I made one sentence about it," she said. "It was one statement. So it became all about that. But I don't want to bring more attention to it, I realize that I was misinformed and there's a lot I don't know. So I think it's best that I didn't re-release it."

Stassi Schroeder is not only the founding mother of National OOTD Day (June 30), which stands for "outfit of the day," but the Vanderpump Rules star is now a bona fide fashion designer too who is steadily growing her net worth. The former fashion blogger collaborated with e-commerce site JustFab to launch the Outfit of the Day x JustFab Collection. "My style has definitely evolved for the better since my wanna-be goth days on the 'Amazing Race,'" Stassi told Page Six. "I would describe my style as classic; I want to be able to look back on photos years from now and still be proud of my outfits." According to Page Six, the collection, which was "handpicked by Stassi," has two very on-brand sections: "Next Level Basic" (of course) and "#OOTN (Outfit of the Night)." Vanderpump's resident fashionista — known for her brutal honesty — describes her collection as "either something I would wear or wouldn't judge someone else for wearing."

The capsule collection is an extension of Schroeder's holiday, which she started in 2018 to encourage others to develop their own personal style. "I believe that style is artistic and that expressing yourself with your outfit directly affects your inner self-confidence," she wrote on Instagram to announce the holiday. While Slate compared holiday "buying" as "the millennial version of naming a star," the founder of National Day Calendar believes Schroeder's occasion is a day worth celebrating because everyone can "put an outfit on" and participate.  

Shortly after her family was eliminated on The Amazing Race, their home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In an interview with TV Guide, Stassi recalled the family's harrowing escape on the morning the Category 5 hurricane hit. The natural disaster destroyed almost everything they owned, but all was not lost. The reality TV gods were apparently watching over the Schroeder clan because according to CBS News, some of the families the Schroeders competed against on The Amazing Race: Family Edition offered to help their former reality TV competition rivals. 

"They stayed with us and, actually, we speak every day," former Amazing Race competitor Renee Rogers told CBS News in 2005. "Their house is down to the studs. They have nothing left ... They have their race bags they came to our home with and the clothes on their backs." Patriarch Denny Rogers said other Amazing Race teams have been "tremendous" by donating to the hard-hit Schroeder's. "It's a family beyond the race," Renee said.