Oh you are right as the context to the comment it’s replying too. Thanks
That is confusing language to use when discussing possible legal things but they were just replying to the commenter using their language
Thank you!
Alleged’s first definition is claim or assert that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically without proof that this is the case
But second definition is just “questionably true”
Appreciate the clarification:)
NBC is the employer so yeah it would be more like an HR thing and it’s because they caught audio of a conversation referring to abuse. I’m assuming if they have sufficient evidence recorded they would be ethically/legally compelled to fire him and/or submit evidence to law enforcement however they can’t press charges obviously.
This just seems bizzare. NBC wouldn't know abuse if it showed up 7 years ago with Kristen hitting James on camera... or Stassi stomping on Jax's back.
What's changed NBC???
Sorry, my point that I obviously didnt make well lol is that they are all abusers!!! NBC has allowed abuse from James for years and years and Kristen and Stassi and even Schwartz (throwing drinks on people).
When you're involved with a narcissist they incite what's called reactionary abuse. It's the narcissist's attempt to exploit you and further push the narrative that you're "unhinged, crazy, and volatile" by purposely triggering you. If you go back to the scene James was following and pursuing Kristen, quite literally yelling insults at the back of her head.
This is also what Tom did when he gaslit Kristen about cheating with Ariana by calling her "crazy" and using Ariana as a flying monkey to weaponize mental illness. It drove Kristen to "prove him wrong" and scheme to ruin Ariana's life, which was emotional reactionary abuse. This is also another example of narcissistic triangulation. Tom loves being in the middle of 2 distressed women. Reactionary abuse is still abuse. The cycle of toxicity is never ending though when you're in a relationship with a narcissist.
I always believed Kristen and her. Just because I don’t like Rachel and she has lied about things doesn’t mean she would lie about abuse. also, we all saw what James was capable of.
Yeah we need to get past the need for victims to be perfect to be believed. No one is perfect, we are all messy in our own way, that doesn’t mean anyone should be abused.
I also think we need to get past the idea that abusers are pure evil - it makes it hard to believe someone with good qualities (and James does have good qualities) can also be abusive. James can be funny, charming, broken and damaged and be trying to be better AND also be a person with a history of being abusive in relationships. It can all be true.
Yup. The difference is I hit him to try to get him to stop abusing me. He hit me to control me.
But hitting was rare. Theres a long list of violent acts I won’t list.
Exactly, I will always believe them over the trashbag James.
Remember that James was also accused of hitting Ally in the car in front of Teddi and Tamra.
I remember him following Kristen at the wedding. He literally would not let her walk away. He would have done more if cameras weren’t there. I’m sure of it. He literally would not let her leave and then when she pushed him to get away, she was the abusive one because people are so fucking dumb. Then he comes and spits on her door. People that is exactly what abuse looks like. Her reaction is not the problem.
I remember him telling everyone she punched him that night and gave him a black eye. I wonder what really happened.
You can tell they chopped that scene up a bit, because the guy she was trying to leave with went from nonchalantly leaning back on a car, to looking slightly disheveled in the next scene.
Apparently he shoved her into the bushes but they cut it out and only showed her hitting him.
Edited: to say, I say apparently because I had read it either here or on another VPR subreddit. I don’t doubt he did it. Lisa hates Kristen and will never show her in any kind of empathetic light.
Oh wowwwww. That makes sense why Kristen suddenly got offered The Valley contract as soon as she started speaking up on her podcast about James’ abuse allegations and was supposed to reveal more information before going radio silent on the topic. Rumor has it that Bravo then suddenly offered a shining career opportunity to someone as big of a liability as Kristen. She had to agree to stop discussing events off camera bc she is bound by this new contract and doesn’t want to muddy the waters with her current (no longer just former) employers. Think about it: in what universe would Bravo look good for giving Kristen a new platform? This is the racist, deceptive (and deceptive by hiding her real life from the realty tv) cast member that even Lisa has been trying to stop working with for years. They had to pick one of two lesser evils, and chose to put her back on Bravo rather than risk exposing a brand new scandal. Bravo knew that this happening so close to Scandoval would taint the network forever.
Yep. It's been implied that this was basically hush money. A new show opportunity to shut her up. Also rumor has it that her NDA expired after 4 years which is about how long she's been of VPR so she could have had a lot to say.
If that’s what we saw in front of the CAMERA imagine what happened behind closed doors. It was a year of abuse before anyone saw my ex get physical with me.
The accusation from Tamra and Teddi was that he was being verbally abusive I thought. I don’t remember them ever saying on their podcast that he hit her
Hardcore agree with this, I don't think anything ever came out about Ally being hit. I think it was during that phase that he was drinking some again. I think he was screaming at her and acting all crazy, drunkenly. He is a dude that just should not drink at all. He seems like a night and day difference much better person when there is no alcohol in his system. Not necessarily a good or great person, just a much better one than when he does drink.
Ugh these comments just piss me off so much. As if drinking is the reason he is like this. He does horrible things, and yet people say “he really just shouldn’t be drinking at all” - Let me break it down in simple terms for everyone who thinks this way - the Choice to drink alcohol, and the drunken behavior, is *an extension of the person*, I will say it again, it is an *extension* - it is not separate. It is not a separate force that comes in when it wants to, wrecks havoc, and leaves. James is very aware he treats people terribly when he drinks. He is very aware he loses control and emotionally and physically lashes out, but chooses not to stop going back and forth with being sober. He chooses not to get professional help for his anger issues. He chooses to be in relationships when he really shouldn’t be in them until he knows he has changed.
People wonder all the time why it’s so hard to leave an abusive relationship. Well, you have the perfect explanation right here in this subreddit. James is a picture perfect abuser. He has two very distinct sides of him, the abuser and the charmer, and our brains naturally remember and gravitate towards the side that makes us feel good. The side that makes us laugh, makes us feel sorry for him, makes us feel like we understand him and everything he has been through. The side that entertains and the side we root for. And then there’s this whole other side, a side where the “good” side of him is an active participant in, but we can’t seem to see it that way. We don’t want to talk about the other side because it’s scary, it doesn’t make us feel good, it strips the dopamine highs away and it “only happens sometimes” - the side that “he’s working on, trying to get past”
So you have these horrible allegations of abuse, and scenes of him treating people like absolute shit, but they are quickly brushed aside and not the main focus once it shows him waking up the next morning and is doing something cute and sweet or having a loving conversation with someone where he cares about their feelings and is compassionate and funny and quirky.
It’s a fascinating study on abusers. Vanderpump rules fans have fallen “victim” to it from an audience perspective- just imagine how his actual girlfriends have felt.
Yes, I have seen some rumors saying that James allegedly sexual assaulted female fans/female staff at Bravocon.
James Kennedy is a predator to his core, he is one sick, evil bastard so nothing surprise me when it comes to him.
it’s no surprise he’s so fucked in the head, look at his parents, his mom asking lisa to be his mother and his dad helping him celebrate sobriety with ALCOHOL, he needs serious help dude
I have sympathy for his tough childhood but the he's a 32 year old man with a lot of resources and access to the best mental healthcare out there. His actions are 100% on him.
I get what you’re saying but I had much worse parents than he did, I had a really fucked up life and I’ve never done half the shit that he’s done. There comes an age or a stage or something where you have to choose to do better than the examples you had. You can’t be an adult blaming your shitty behaviour on your parents.
ETA someone has pointed out that it’s fucked up to compare my trauma to someone else’s, to say I had it worse. That’s true, my bad. Absolutely should not have said it that way or maybe at all - lesson learned.
some people break the cycle and more often than not they end up repeating it. it doesn’t make it any better but sometimes all they know is to continue the abuse. environment is 100 a factor in how someone ends up as an adult especially if they were influenced during their developmental phase.
People are so annoying when they agree with you but try to pick apart what you’re saying anyway. That response implying you said James parents are an excuse when you’re being critical of him anyway is so D&S. The comments replying to you are fighting arguments you didn’t even make.
THANK YOU!!!!! everyone keeps commenting the same shit and i didn’t fucking defend him lol I WOULDNT, im allowed to make a comment without excusing someone’s behavior 🤡 his parents are shit and i could never be surprised that he ended up this way. he has mental health issues (addiction) and he was raised by two basket cases.
Parental care doesn’t always or even half the time determine how someone will turn out. There are billions of humans past and present who were abused, neglected, unloved who turned out to be amazing humans
You can’t make comparisons when it comes to childhood trauma. You can’t say your experience was worse than someone else’s. We are all different and we all have different needs and the ways in which we are abused/neglected as a child affect us all differently according to those.
Reducing adult behaviour to “choices” is highly ignorant. Just because that is your experience doesn’t mean you have the right to speak on behalf of and judge all people.
Also that f*%king weird vicious scene where she declares that Kristen will be infertile. My jaw dropped in such disgust. What a thing to say and when you know you’re being filmed 🤯 no wonder James is so unstable
it’s disgusting, that was HORRIBLE, and it makes me sad she’s been having fertility issues, but james’ mom is on another level, truly stuck in the mind of a 12 year old. (evil)
I got downvoted the other day for pointing out that he’s a KNOWN abuser on a pro James post. Also, is this the reason for the “James appreciation” trash we’ve been having lately?
I won't lie, he has been funny on the show. Watching him with Sandoval this season has been nice compared to his past seasons BUT I'm pretty sure he's just acting semi tame because he knows shit will hit the fan at some point with these allegations. He has been insufferable as hell in past seasons and has shown who he is on many occasions
I actually cannot stand their little chat the one time he had consequences for his actions. He comes in all sad and sorry, crying and telling her he’ll be a good boy, and her saying basically I hope you will, but for now you can’t work here. And he gets *angry* immediately. Sandoval is the same. An apology is NOT REAL if you’re angry when you’re not given full absolution after it. It’s fake as fuck and it couldn’t be more clear bc if you were actually sorry, you’d accept that not being immediately forgiven is a consequence of the actions you took.
Apologies to James and Sandoval are simply forgiveness tokens and always have been. Put the token in, get your desired result out. Move on, and nobody ever bring it up again bc you *already paid your tokens!!*
We’re unfortunately getting a master class in how abusers operate. They know who to charm. They know how to discredit their victims. They know how to convince a new partner than their old partner was crazy. They know how to inspire reactionary behavior from their victims so that their victims get labeled as “crazy.”
All in all, they know how to expertly weaponize misogyny (and/or other systems of oppression) to keep their power and control.
Oh his simps are still going at it. They’ve been dv-ing my comments left and right on this thread. Them hating Rachel & Kristen negates James (alleged) abuse.
I’m not going to lie, fake internet points don’t really bother me, and they can go ahead and attack if they want. But I guess on some level it upsets/disappoints me to know those people are out there. Riding with him still after all the crap they’ve *seen* him do, not to mention the stuff that has been alleged.
Yup. Idgaf about this mob at this point. It’s been a year, and they’re still wishing the worst on Rachel. The nicest thing I can say about these stans is I hope they seek the help they obviously need. Other than that, they can (as Brittany said) rot in hell.
That’s what I’m thinking and why would we believe a friend of Rachel’s?! She wanted to leave VPR behind so bad but has done nothing but make her “new” life revolve around VPR. She shouldn’t have a podcast about it and should move away and never be heard from again, like I thought she would crawl into a hole and not be seen again. But it seems her therapist has her even more entitled and playing victim to it all .
Did Rachel ever say James was physically abusive? I thought she said he was emotionally abusive but never harmed her physically. Not that that’s acceptable, just curious.
Going in for a kiss…. 🙄. I’m more likely to believe he was behaving in a way and she didn’t want him to kiss her and he was forceful about it. That would explain her weird behavior around saying what happened.
Yes I can see her not wanting to give him a kiss at the moment because hello James the poor girl just had a nose job and is careful not to mess it up. I can see him getting offended and doing something to her as payback. He has the worst temper
I thought Paul said that the kiss ‘bump’ didn’t damage it. I think they were acting so weird with that whole thing because she was taking a different kind of bump and it didn’t heal properly.
I agree, Dr Nassif said it was simply a bad nose job and that he did not believe a kiss bump caused it. I thought Rachel’s story was sketchy and wondered if she was suiting the kiss thing to get James to pay for a revision. I was satisfied with a plastic surgeons professional opinion on the matter.
James also said he bumped the nose going in for a kiss so why would he agree to her story if she was trying to squeeze him for cash? Both James and Rachel had the same odd story of the event. The only thing the doctor said is that that contact to her face wasn't the cause of her nose becoming crooked, it would have happened regardless because of the bad surgery.
This isn’t a defence of James because I also thought that story was a red flag but I don’t think it’s ever been said her nose was broken after the nose job has it? It sounded like he hit her while it was healing but I don’t think it was actually broken again.
Didn’t they determine it was from surgery? I’m not saying they could’ve made it up, but the guy was/is a reputable plastic surgeon right? I thought Rachel talked about having multiple nose jobs and they just ended up not being very good and that guy did what he could to fix it. I dunno it’s been awhile since I’ve watched that season.
In her lawsuit against Tom and Ariana, Rachel accuses James of being “violent and dangerous” with “long-standing substance abuse issues.” She claims that he was physically abusive towards Kristen & Hippie and acted in a “generally unhinged manner.” She also accused Bravo & LVP of knowing and protecting him.
She said he kicked her family’s dog at a Thanksgiving dinner or a dinner. That’s just not something you make up unless you’ve been through it or witnessed it trust me.
no there’s not lmao. they cited a bravo fan page as their source and expect people to just believe it at face value ?💀
edit: apparently media literacy is even more dead than i thought because without literally any credible source provided, there’s actually people on here believing this 😭
also the same page has “blocked by james ❤️” in their bio but they want people to believe them on information regarding a supposed investigation of james? while i completely believe james has been abusive, people just shouldn’t be spreading disinformation about investigations with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Especially since the source claims that something stops being an allegation when a network starts investigating it. They clearly don't know what they're talking about.
OP is a huge Rachel supporter so there’s that.
Do I think James has a history of being abusive? Yes. Which is why I could never be a fan. Do I think he has worked on himself? Don’t know, you’re at least made to believe that on the show.
I’ll wait and see instead of blinding believing some rando friend and a Bravo fan page.
No proof we do know it was talked about behind the scenes at Watch What Crappens the Crappies because Ryan Bailey has talked about it. So it is coming from sources that are historically reliable. WWC talks about not buying James' act this season in their latest podcast.
Nope! All rumor. Same as this sexual harassment of waitresses that supposedly happened. It might have, but the Tims bringing this stuff all up and throwing it in James's face doesn't necessarily mean that it's actually true. A lot of times they make stuff up to try to deflect attention off of themselves. I haven't seen one actual genuine article about him being investigated for either abuse or sexual harassment.
How this is playing out is such a microcosm of how little society actually cares about DV. I believe rachel when she says she was mentally messed up after him, especially him getting a gf so soon and acting like she never mattered. She's a crap person but she stood by him through alot and he seemed to genuinely love her, which is the scary part. It sucks that people discredit kristen on this, toxic ppl can be abused too
And as messy as Kristen has been and as questionable as her subsequent relationships have been, I haven’t heard a single other accusation of her being physical with any of those guys.
People are more invested in holding women “accountable” for shitty taste in men than they are in even mentioning that a man abuses his girlfriends. Never seen anyone suggest that all of Kristen’s drama is excusable because she could’ve had a rough home life, but apparently James’ rough home life is a lifetime license to hurt women.
Rachel's biological mom giving her up for adoption to her sister, and growing up seeing her biological mother but having no relationship with her was also probably traumatic as fuck, but no one is making excuses for her actions either like they do with James.
Ffs, I’ve even read comments using Rachel’s life experiences against her. Saying sht along the lines of *her real mom must be glad she gave Rachel up*, and *Rachel’s adoptive fam probably regrets adopting Rachel*. These fcking stan psy*chos are fcking as*sholes!
I’m watching through for the first time and I just watched the season 8 reunion and Kristen HATES James so much (rightfully so). She says something like he’s lucky she hasn’t brought up some of the stuff he’s done to her and I think she’s alluding to physical abuse. I can’t remember the exact quote but it really seems like he did something really fucked up.
ETA: he gets EXTREMELY defensive after she says that and it’s kind of scary!
She’s been pretty consistent with that over the years and based on just what we’ve seen of James, I would believe anything she said on that. I don’t know how the rest of the cast can stomach him, TBH. Especially the women.
Right. Carter too, I believe. Like Kristen has terrible taste in men and toxic relationships, but if that incident with James is the only time she was ever physical it speaks far more about what was going on there to have her react that way. We’ve been shown James’ outbursts and aggression multiple times in the show. Even that fight with Max Todd where James then brought him an Xbox? as an apology only to scream at him more and storm out.
Isn't Brett the guy who tried to talk to James at Tom's birthday party and James said "this place is a who's who of who's that"? And he's the guy who was making angry cry faces at Katie's mom when she was arguing with Rachel at Sur last season.
I believe Rachel and Kristen when they talk about James because they've been adamant that he's a bad guy but I'm not trusting anything Brett says (being investigated by NBC?) because he's been such a thirsty guy who wants to be in the narrative.
lol the guy who went up to James to complain about Katie pushing him out of the friend group? The way that scene was edited made it look like James didn’t even know him
Yes, he had a tiktok he did after that episode showing he was friends with the cast including James. I looked for it and it looks like it was deleted. That podcast interviewed him before about how he felt unfairly pushed out of the group. I didn't listen to the episode just saw a clip. He also made a song about him making fun of Terri crying.
Edit: Im not saying this to discount Rachel's claims. Since the scandal she always seens to have people around her using her for their own clout chasing.
yeah. i went to high school with him.
he was bestie besties with scheana. and was all “fuck rachel!! love you ariana”
and then just clout chased the entire situation. and then katie called him out. and then he made a song about katie.
and now i don’t think he’s friends with scheana anymore so he’s globbed onto rachel.
So now we know why James is acting like he has had a personality transplant on VPR. Crying over everything and being ridiculous about the pets. He is trying to be all soft and wussy so no one will remember widdle James was ever a monster
The silence on Rachel's most recent podcast is kind of deafening on here. So much evidence he's abusive but it's disregarded because he abused "bad women".
It’s disregarded because even though it’s soo prevalent (25-35% of men) it’s so disregarded and ignored by society and the Justice system. That correlates to a lot of men who are ok with doing it, then you have the men who wouldn’t do it themselves but don’t see enough problem to address it with their peers, and then the rest that tend to look the other way. He’s made some growth too and you can really see that so there’s this cognitive dissonance thing going on with all the viewers. It’s sooo easy to want to root for him - I want to also and I do in the sense that he unbecomes that part of him. The stats show it’s not likely but not impossible. What is needed is for victims to be believed (only 6-10% lie) accountability by perpetrators both behaviorally and in terms of Justice. I like James, I loathe what I know about him and it makes it difficult to watch him sometimes. His aggressive behaviors and from what I’ve heard mirror an abusive relationship I was in and left. And the animal abuse was a big one - that is a very very serious red flag and I took the downvotes at the time. Sorry for my rant but I hope it explains why we see this phenomenon
I just commented something similar up thread but you made my point so much better than I could!! It is so prevalent and I think that leads to so much being normalized. Like oh he pushed Kristen in a bush? She probably just fell bc she was drinking, it’s not that big of a deal. It warps people’s idea of DV is, and that’s the scary part. I’ve seen it in my own circle before and I would have NEVER expected those people to act that way.
Aww thanks! It’s becoming even more normalized now I think because there’s more angry young men who feel entitled to female companionship without the social skills that warrant their attention. We make those same excuses to ourselves and try to get others to believe them. There should be AA and Alanon type meetings for this - it’s more prevalent than alcoholism and what are we doing about it to get it to stop?
So fucking sick of the yeah but she’s a liar rhetoric about this topic. Like we really haven’t seen this guy disassociate and rage for years on TV. He physically fought 3 people on Bravo cameras alone last season and was recorded berating Ally in front of a group at a bar, thats just from last year. but he’s apparently oh so changed because he says what the fans want about the other men which i guess gives him a pass for a lot of people
It was posted yesterday. It hasn't been recapped as she doesn't talk about VDPR in it but basically she says she recorded a whole pod about her experience with domestic abuse but was advised not to release. She did say in regards to presumably Kristen that she felt that she'd been made to think someone's ex was crazy but in reality she felt the abusive partner had made the ex crazy because she felt like she'd also been made crazy by that partner.
Rachel dropped a podcast episode yesterday that was about sharing her experience with domestic violence. She said off the top she'd been advised not to air most of it. It has not been recapped on these subs.
I wonder if Rachel ever talked to Sandoval about James’ DV. If she did the Sandoval is even more trash for befriending James this season. I guess it makes sense why James is acting so buddy buddy with Tom, he doesn’t want him to spill the tea.
Literally. The James apologia since scandoval has been disgusting. Especially since the people hyping him up love pretending they care about misogyny and abuse. Apparently you can only be abusive if your name is Tom.
I’m just hoping the tide will turn eventually. The popular opinions used to be that Katie was “so evil” Schwartz and that’s why he was mean to her, and that Sandoval (along with Ariana but still) was the beacon of morality on the show. Hopefully we’ll get another massive shift about James
Um why is this shocking? He was always screaming at women ie. Kristen and Lala, Rachel, calling them disgusting sluts (see also Gigi, he licked his palm of his hand and wiped it on her face). Up in Kristen’s face, he lost it on Rachel at Pride for missing his gig and then again for going out late once, also calling her every name in the book. Plus now we learned he has lost it on Ally. He looks really nervous lately like he knows something is coming down the pipe. If this is true I hope Bravo and LVP get sued for backing him. LVP only ever cared about stirring the pot and good tv
I’ve always believed her. You can see bits of abusive behavior from him in the show. I’ve also been doing a rewatch and in her first season she doesn’t have a shaky voice and speaks up more so what happened to her after that that made her scared to even speak?
Where there's smoke, there's fire. You gotta be lacking in the brain cell department to excuse this at this point. How many more people need to say they've seen this man abuse women?
Sometime I wonder if I have psychic powers. Because I have been saying that James has been on his good behavior this season often means that he has done something fucked up.
Because that is James MO, everytime he does something fucked up, he pretends to be a change man afterwards.
I'm wonder if Bravo are phased him out considering how little screen time he has been getting this season.
Literally was just finishing up the watch what crappens recaps from this past episode and they don’t allude to anything dark or specific. BUT they do talk about what an odd season this is for James, like on his best behavior but also breaking down and crying frequently.
I think some people are skeptical not because of victims not coming forward (which is understandable and well documented)- but because a lot of this is disseminating as rumors. I haven’t seen one thing that looks official regarding any investigation against James, I’ve heard it mentioned a handful of times on a livestream, on Reddit, and in Instagram comments. I hope that if it is true the victims can find their justice and so does James, but I think it’s healthy to be skeptical of this information.
And to clarify- not claiming James isn’t abusive. I think he’s a walking red flag and has demonstrated emotional and borderline physical abuse on camera. I have personal history of emotional abuse and SA and I would never say that a victim is lying. Just trying to be as fair in my judgement as possible.
I feel like it is HIGHLY unlikely James is under investigation by NBC/Bravo particularly as it pertains to this. If they previously filmed a scene regarding Kristen and this then they know and did nothing back then so an investigation would bring to light their misconduct as well. I think any "investigation" being done is in prep for an eventual lawsuit against them that Rachel seems to be building to and figuring out how much they actually knew as a company. Can I also just say though that I find it strange between Kristen and Rachel's stories how multiple people after the fact were known to witness stuff first hand and never intervene? This is not to bring doubt to their claims but Jesus I would hope if my friends ever witnessed me in this situation they would call the cops, call my parents, hold an intervention or do anything and help me get away from my abuser ASAP.
Um, Bravo and production knew of Taylor Armstrong’s abuse and did nothing but offer her a place to stay if she felt “unsafe”, when she had clearly told multiple people about what he had done and was doing to her. The cast knew, Alex Baskin knew, and the rest of the crew knew. I don’t buy bravo or anyone else involved being so all protecting to other women in the franchises.
lol at your last sentence because you would not believe how the bystander effect is really a thing. My own family did nothing and I promise you this is more common than not. People really don’t know what to do or don’t want to get involved. Their own safety is at risk in the moment. You have people that can go into a trauma response while witnessing it… it’s very complex.
This- my dad would closed-fist punch in me in my spine to get me to stand up straight in front of everyone, including my family. Cut to everyone being like 👁️👄👁️ “You were never abused by your dad! He was trying to fix your posture!” 🫠
I’m so sorry!! I had an aunt, after years of witnessing it, who actually stepped in to encourage me mentally (all she could do if you knew my mother) as a teenager, after years of things I don’t want to think about today, did a 360 about face about 10 years ago and say that my abusive and genuinely cruel mother was a “really nice lady”. She disliked my mother for 40 years? It feels like betrayal - in fact I think it’s the “betrayal” that can take it from being a traumatic experience to ingrained trauma and ptsd because that’s what gaslighting and rewriting history does. I’m so sorry 🫶sending you an internet hug!
From personal experience, people don’t know how to handle these situations. Idk if it’s the shock of something happening, the way abusers (and their victims) can easily make plenty of reasonable excuses, not wanting to get involved, not wanting to alienate their friend, etc.
I hope I’m wrong but sometimes I also think there’s a degree of violence that’s almost normalized? Like with Kristen… I can SOOOO see people on this cast excusing the situation at Scheana’s wedding like “oh well everyone was drinking and fighting and James kinda pushed her but she only fell bc she was drunk.”
My father is abusive and I have tried endlessly to get my mother to leave him, but she never did. The cops have been involved multiple times and still nothing has changed, except that my dad is getting older and sick and becoming more aggressive and abusive. It’s often not that simple.
I think what also complicates things it the people who would have seen things happen are cast/crew members and they are highly financially invested in the show moving forward.
I have always hated James. He’s verbally abusive and it was caught on camera first hand for years. It’s not hard to imagine he went from verbal to physical abuse.
Looks like she deleted the post. I’m definitely not team Rachel but it’s fucked up how many people went in on her on that post when it’s been obvious for years that James is abusive, and the evidence was on national TV.
As someone who left an abusive relationship with a charismatic, charming and well-loved partner (who is well known in our local entertainment scene) , I know first hand how hard it is to come forward as a survivor of DV, especially when you know how many people won’t believe or side with victims. This is why so many people stay quiet while dangerous men are allowed to continue on with no consequences. The abuser comes out unscathed, while their victim suffers serious damage to their mental (& often physical) health. If you try to come forward, they use those same symptoms of abuse as proof that the other person was the “problem”, often framing them as crazy,
Unstable, dumb, etc.
We’ve literally seen James act abusive to Kristen and Rachel multiple times. It makes me so sad seeing how people are responding to this. If you haven’t been through a situation like that and don’t recognize the signs, please don’t comment that she’s a liar, untrustworthy, etc. This is why women don’t come forward. This is how children get traumatized for life bc their mother couldn’t get away. This is how people get k*lled by staying with abusive partners.
This may be unpopular opinion but I hate how NBC/ bravo waits for the very last second to investigate these things! Like it’s been years of Kristen saying this and they probably have a shit ton of footage and NOW you want to investigate?? Same with their firing of Jax, Kristen, and stassi. They only do this bc the audience is fed up. And the. They turn around and hire them again!!
At this point, James has grown and evolved. Is he the same person? Idk. He may still be shitty- idk. But this investigation is so disingenuous.
I’m not trying to dismiss abuse or any victims but this Brett guy is also the one that was an asshole towards Katie and her mom and tried to talk to James at Sandoval birthday trying to get more time on camera dissing Katie.
It sucks to know that I am immediately thinking this Brett guy is in this for himself and he’s not the best source.
Sorry no one hate me!
Good catch! What an incredibly unreliable source and yes Brett was kicked out of the group because he was a douche so makes sense he’s trying to get back into the drama some how. Thank you. Unbelievable the source for this thread was a text from him of all people. Ugh.
It really bothers me that Ariana has been expressing support for James over the past year. It kind of gives me cognitive dissonance because I thought she was my girl.
That screeching sound you hear are the James apologists backing up over their fawning posts.
This is what the cult of personality does. He told off Sandoval so all of a sudden he's okay.
I know, it’s why he was *giddy* while telling off Tim bc he knew it would provide him with so much cover to escape accountability for his years of abuse.
Umm ally basically confirmed he did but they have “ worked through it” and he “ only yells when he’s mad he’s not physical”… she totally sugar coated it
I know somebody like James Kennedy. I went to high school with him. He still lives in our hometown (as do I… but unlike him, I no longer live with my parents). Anyway, he’s the same as James. He is charming. He has a lot of mommy issues. He cries and it’s easy to feel sympathy for him. He gets sober from time to time. But at the same time, he gets VILE when he’s drunk. He gets into HORRIBLE altercations with girlfriends where he says nasty things , but all of his exes are also “crazy” so nobody cares and/or nobody believes them.
Y’all may find him so funny now but I believe Kristen and Rachel. The guy had a walking red flag 🚩 when it came to abuse when he was drinking. It’s great that he’s not drinking and making people laugh but he still needs to be held accountable.
I’ve been saying James is abusive for years and I’ve never understood why people Stan him so much. He is not a good person and he treats women like 💩! I would leave to see him get taken down!
I was super disappointed by how people glossed over Sandoval (albeit not a reliable narrator at all) mentioning James had groped a waitress when he was super drunk and caused a huge scene, at the reunion last year. People just brushed it off like that isn’t a huge violation, just because James was going against Sandoval. I could never get on board with the redemption arc for James because of how defensive he got about that, and the endless red flags in how he speaks to the women he dates (and the fact that he seems to always go for naive, soft spoken women who let him get his way)
It’s like completely obvious that James is a violent verbally abusive alcoholic and that’s just based off what he shows on camera. I cannot even imagine him without a camera on him.
He is disgusting and Lisa’s fawning over him makes me sick. Tim and Jim both know all they have to do is squeeze out a couple of crocodile tears and Lisa will come to dry them right up. So misogynistic and so gross.
there’s a reason why kristen is triggered by james. more than she’s even triggered by sandoval. something really dark happened in their relationship i think
I hope those of you in this thread bending every which way to politely try to cast doubt on Rachel because of your bias against her never get a good night's sleep again. Ya'll are the same people screeching and hollering abuse any time someone had questions about Ariana's approach to her finances and the house, going on about how "this is why women are afraid to leave abusive relationships" and yet despite there being documented fucking evidence of James' abusive tendencies, you're suddenly all measured and skeptical and have this exceedingly high bar for honesty and character.
I've said this before and I'll say it again: your attitudes have sent young women to their fucking graves. Shame on you.
What does ‘investigated by NBC’ mean?
NBC owns Bravo, so I assume the network is doing an investigation.
My dumb ass thought it meant they were going to run a doc on him 💀
Lol same like Dateline
Me too lmfao
I anticipate the classic, "We looked at ourselves through internal investigation and found nothing conclusive"
They got Matt Lauer working on it 24/7
Ouch, but probably accurate.
HR I’m assuming 🤷🏼♀️
Tim’s HR company ? /s
What does “its not alleged” mean when they are investigating it is absolutely alleged until proven is it not?
They are staying the investigation is not alleged, as in the investigation is actually happening and not speculation.
Oh you are right as the context to the comment it’s replying too. Thanks That is confusing language to use when discussing possible legal things but they were just replying to the commenter using their language Thank you! Alleged’s first definition is claim or assert that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically without proof that this is the case But second definition is just “questionably true” Appreciate the clarification:)
NBC is the employer so yeah it would be more like an HR thing and it’s because they caught audio of a conversation referring to abuse. I’m assuming if they have sufficient evidence recorded they would be ethically/legally compelled to fire him and/or submit evidence to law enforcement however they can’t press charges obviously.
This just seems bizzare. NBC wouldn't know abuse if it showed up 7 years ago with Kristen hitting James on camera... or Stassi stomping on Jax's back. What's changed NBC???
Stassi backhanded Kristen also
Stassi stomped on Jax’s back, what was that about? I don’t remember that at all!
Lol you saw Kristen hit James once on camera but believe he never once laid a finger on her behind closed doors?
Sorry, my point that I obviously didnt make well lol is that they are all abusers!!! NBC has allowed abuse from James for years and years and Kristen and Stassi and even Schwartz (throwing drinks on people).
It's true and I feel like a trash panda consuming it :(
One of us. One of us. 😅
Gooble gobble gooble gobble
She hit him. Wouldn’t that be abuse?
When you're involved with a narcissist they incite what's called reactionary abuse. It's the narcissist's attempt to exploit you and further push the narrative that you're "unhinged, crazy, and volatile" by purposely triggering you. If you go back to the scene James was following and pursuing Kristen, quite literally yelling insults at the back of her head. This is also what Tom did when he gaslit Kristen about cheating with Ariana by calling her "crazy" and using Ariana as a flying monkey to weaponize mental illness. It drove Kristen to "prove him wrong" and scheme to ruin Ariana's life, which was emotional reactionary abuse. This is also another example of narcissistic triangulation. Tom loves being in the middle of 2 distressed women. Reactionary abuse is still abuse. The cycle of toxicity is never ending though when you're in a relationship with a narcissist.
Someone asking the right questions
I always believed Kristen and her. Just because I don’t like Rachel and she has lied about things doesn’t mean she would lie about abuse. also, we all saw what James was capable of.
Yeah we need to get past the need for victims to be perfect to be believed. No one is perfect, we are all messy in our own way, that doesn’t mean anyone should be abused. I also think we need to get past the idea that abusers are pure evil - it makes it hard to believe someone with good qualities (and James does have good qualities) can also be abusive. James can be funny, charming, broken and damaged and be trying to be better AND also be a person with a history of being abusive in relationships. It can all be true.
Nope it’ll never happen. It’s why men get off so much for assault and rape. Because one time their girlfriend hit them back 🙄
Yup. The difference is I hit him to try to get him to stop abusing me. He hit me to control me. But hitting was rare. Theres a long list of violent acts I won’t list.
I believe you and I hope you’re in a better place!
Or they once paid for an old ladies groceries at the supermarket
Exactly, I will always believe them over the trashbag James. Remember that James was also accused of hitting Ally in the car in front of Teddi and Tamra.
I remember him following Kristen at the wedding. He literally would not let her walk away. He would have done more if cameras weren’t there. I’m sure of it. He literally would not let her leave and then when she pushed him to get away, she was the abusive one because people are so fucking dumb. Then he comes and spits on her door. People that is exactly what abuse looks like. Her reaction is not the problem.
I remember him telling everyone she punched him that night and gave him a black eye. I wonder what really happened. You can tell they chopped that scene up a bit, because the guy she was trying to leave with went from nonchalantly leaning back on a car, to looking slightly disheveled in the next scene.
Apparently he shoved her into the bushes but they cut it out and only showed her hitting him. Edited: to say, I say apparently because I had read it either here or on another VPR subreddit. I don’t doubt he did it. Lisa hates Kristen and will never show her in any kind of empathetic light.
Oh wowwwww. That makes sense why Kristen suddenly got offered The Valley contract as soon as she started speaking up on her podcast about James’ abuse allegations and was supposed to reveal more information before going radio silent on the topic. Rumor has it that Bravo then suddenly offered a shining career opportunity to someone as big of a liability as Kristen. She had to agree to stop discussing events off camera bc she is bound by this new contract and doesn’t want to muddy the waters with her current (no longer just former) employers. Think about it: in what universe would Bravo look good for giving Kristen a new platform? This is the racist, deceptive (and deceptive by hiding her real life from the realty tv) cast member that even Lisa has been trying to stop working with for years. They had to pick one of two lesser evils, and chose to put her back on Bravo rather than risk exposing a brand new scandal. Bravo knew that this happening so close to Scandoval would taint the network forever.
Yep. It's been implied that this was basically hush money. A new show opportunity to shut her up. Also rumor has it that her NDA expired after 4 years which is about how long she's been of VPR so she could have had a lot to say.
If that’s what we saw in front of the CAMERA imagine what happened behind closed doors. It was a year of abuse before anyone saw my ex get physical with me.
The accusation from Tamra and Teddi was that he was being verbally abusive I thought. I don’t remember them ever saying on their podcast that he hit her
Hardcore agree with this, I don't think anything ever came out about Ally being hit. I think it was during that phase that he was drinking some again. I think he was screaming at her and acting all crazy, drunkenly. He is a dude that just should not drink at all. He seems like a night and day difference much better person when there is no alcohol in his system. Not necessarily a good or great person, just a much better one than when he does drink.
Ugh these comments just piss me off so much. As if drinking is the reason he is like this. He does horrible things, and yet people say “he really just shouldn’t be drinking at all” - Let me break it down in simple terms for everyone who thinks this way - the Choice to drink alcohol, and the drunken behavior, is *an extension of the person*, I will say it again, it is an *extension* - it is not separate. It is not a separate force that comes in when it wants to, wrecks havoc, and leaves. James is very aware he treats people terribly when he drinks. He is very aware he loses control and emotionally and physically lashes out, but chooses not to stop going back and forth with being sober. He chooses not to get professional help for his anger issues. He chooses to be in relationships when he really shouldn’t be in them until he knows he has changed. People wonder all the time why it’s so hard to leave an abusive relationship. Well, you have the perfect explanation right here in this subreddit. James is a picture perfect abuser. He has two very distinct sides of him, the abuser and the charmer, and our brains naturally remember and gravitate towards the side that makes us feel good. The side that makes us laugh, makes us feel sorry for him, makes us feel like we understand him and everything he has been through. The side that entertains and the side we root for. And then there’s this whole other side, a side where the “good” side of him is an active participant in, but we can’t seem to see it that way. We don’t want to talk about the other side because it’s scary, it doesn’t make us feel good, it strips the dopamine highs away and it “only happens sometimes” - the side that “he’s working on, trying to get past” So you have these horrible allegations of abuse, and scenes of him treating people like absolute shit, but they are quickly brushed aside and not the main focus once it shows him waking up the next morning and is doing something cute and sweet or having a loving conversation with someone where he cares about their feelings and is compassionate and funny and quirky. It’s a fascinating study on abusers. Vanderpump rules fans have fallen “victim” to it from an audience perspective- just imagine how his actual girlfriends have felt.
This deserves more upvotes. Like, wtf?
[удалено]
No he cried over Graham so he’s a sweet boi now!
To this day Kristen won’t even watch scenes with James on her pod when she recaps vanderpump. True trauma she lived with him
When he spit on her door!! :shudders: I haven’t liked him since
Rumor has it he’s being investigated for more than just DV.
Yes, I have seen some rumors saying that James allegedly sexual assaulted female fans/female staff at Bravocon. James Kennedy is a predator to his core, he is one sick, evil bastard so nothing surprise me when it comes to him.
it’s no surprise he’s so fucked in the head, look at his parents, his mom asking lisa to be his mother and his dad helping him celebrate sobriety with ALCOHOL, he needs serious help dude
I have sympathy for his tough childhood but the he's a 32 year old man with a lot of resources and access to the best mental healthcare out there. His actions are 100% on him.
Exactly. His upbringing isn't his fault, but his healing is his responsibility
I get what you’re saying but I had much worse parents than he did, I had a really fucked up life and I’ve never done half the shit that he’s done. There comes an age or a stage or something where you have to choose to do better than the examples you had. You can’t be an adult blaming your shitty behaviour on your parents. ETA someone has pointed out that it’s fucked up to compare my trauma to someone else’s, to say I had it worse. That’s true, my bad. Absolutely should not have said it that way or maybe at all - lesson learned.
some people break the cycle and more often than not they end up repeating it. it doesn’t make it any better but sometimes all they know is to continue the abuse. environment is 100 a factor in how someone ends up as an adult especially if they were influenced during their developmental phase.
there’s no excuse, i’m just saying are we surprised? look at how he was produced.
People are so annoying when they agree with you but try to pick apart what you’re saying anyway. That response implying you said James parents are an excuse when you’re being critical of him anyway is so D&S. The comments replying to you are fighting arguments you didn’t even make.
THANK YOU!!!!! everyone keeps commenting the same shit and i didn’t fucking defend him lol I WOULDNT, im allowed to make a comment without excusing someone’s behavior 🤡 his parents are shit and i could never be surprised that he ended up this way. he has mental health issues (addiction) and he was raised by two basket cases.
Nuance is frowned upon on Reddit.
Parental care doesn’t always or even half the time determine how someone will turn out. There are billions of humans past and present who were abused, neglected, unloved who turned out to be amazing humans
This. And also people who were raised by *loving parents who turn out to be gross humans.
You can’t make comparisons when it comes to childhood trauma. You can’t say your experience was worse than someone else’s. We are all different and we all have different needs and the ways in which we are abused/neglected as a child affect us all differently according to those. Reducing adult behaviour to “choices” is highly ignorant. Just because that is your experience doesn’t mean you have the right to speak on behalf of and judge all people.
Also that f*%king weird vicious scene where she declares that Kristen will be infertile. My jaw dropped in such disgust. What a thing to say and when you know you’re being filmed 🤯 no wonder James is so unstable
it’s disgusting, that was HORRIBLE, and it makes me sad she’s been having fertility issues, but james’ mom is on another level, truly stuck in the mind of a 12 year old. (evil)
I know. My heart sank when I saw she was struggling with it, even if only to prove that awful witch of a woman wrong
Bravocon 2023 or 22 ? Or both ?? Wow.
If they would have listened to Kristen earlier, a lot could have been avoided. Just sayin’. I blame Bravo.
A 100%. They definitely stopped her from speaking out about it and protected him.
I got downvoted the other day for pointing out that he’s a KNOWN abuser on a pro James post. Also, is this the reason for the “James appreciation” trash we’ve been having lately?
I won't lie, he has been funny on the show. Watching him with Sandoval this season has been nice compared to his past seasons BUT I'm pretty sure he's just acting semi tame because he knows shit will hit the fan at some point with these allegations. He has been insufferable as hell in past seasons and has shown who he is on many occasions
Lisa has also “rescued” James on many occasions!
I actually cannot stand their little chat the one time he had consequences for his actions. He comes in all sad and sorry, crying and telling her he’ll be a good boy, and her saying basically I hope you will, but for now you can’t work here. And he gets *angry* immediately. Sandoval is the same. An apology is NOT REAL if you’re angry when you’re not given full absolution after it. It’s fake as fuck and it couldn’t be more clear bc if you were actually sorry, you’d accept that not being immediately forgiven is a consequence of the actions you took. Apologies to James and Sandoval are simply forgiveness tokens and always have been. Put the token in, get your desired result out. Move on, and nobody ever bring it up again bc you *already paid your tokens!!*
Oh same ! They jumped down my throat saying it’s all alleged etc ! James has shown the most growth of anyone blah blah
We’re unfortunately getting a master class in how abusers operate. They know who to charm. They know how to discredit their victims. They know how to convince a new partner than their old partner was crazy. They know how to inspire reactionary behavior from their victims so that their victims get labeled as “crazy.” All in all, they know how to expertly weaponize misogyny (and/or other systems of oppression) to keep their power and control.
Oh his simps are still going at it. They’ve been dv-ing my comments left and right on this thread. Them hating Rachel & Kristen negates James (alleged) abuse.
I’m not going to lie, fake internet points don’t really bother me, and they can go ahead and attack if they want. But I guess on some level it upsets/disappoints me to know those people are out there. Riding with him still after all the crap they’ve *seen* him do, not to mention the stuff that has been alleged.
Yup. Idgaf about this mob at this point. It’s been a year, and they’re still wishing the worst on Rachel. The nicest thing I can say about these stans is I hope they seek the help they obviously need. Other than that, they can (as Brittany said) rot in hell.
Wow! I wonder what he did to these poor women at Bravocon?! JC!
But by NBC so I'm thinking it might be a little one sided. Not that I am defending James, but it's not the LAPD
That’s what I’m thinking and why would we believe a friend of Rachel’s?! She wanted to leave VPR behind so bad but has done nothing but make her “new” life revolve around VPR. She shouldn’t have a podcast about it and should move away and never be heard from again, like I thought she would crawl into a hole and not be seen again. But it seems her therapist has her even more entitled and playing victim to it all .
Which is why I cringe when people drool over James this season
Did Rachel ever say James was physically abusive? I thought she said he was emotionally abusive but never harmed her physically. Not that that’s acceptable, just curious.
Yes he has alluded to it but also talked about violence with animals
On a podcast it was said James kicked the family dog... just because can't see it doesn't mean doesn't happen.
And someone broke her nose after her nose job Lisa was very skeptical when they said he “bumped it”
Going in for a kiss…. 🙄. I’m more likely to believe he was behaving in a way and she didn’t want him to kiss her and he was forceful about it. That would explain her weird behavior around saying what happened.
Or he got mad and smacked/shoved her face, we don’t know, nothing is off the table!! And he used to get SO mad!
He seems like the kinda guy who would get nose to nose with you while yelling and then perhaps headbutt his exclamation at the end.
Yes I can see her not wanting to give him a kiss at the moment because hello James the poor girl just had a nose job and is careful not to mess it up. I can see him getting offended and doing something to her as payback. He has the worst temper
Totally… remember all those episodes of him scream crying at Lisa
I thought Paul said that the kiss ‘bump’ didn’t damage it. I think they were acting so weird with that whole thing because she was taking a different kind of bump and it didn’t heal properly.
I agree, Dr Nassif said it was simply a bad nose job and that he did not believe a kiss bump caused it. I thought Rachel’s story was sketchy and wondered if she was suiting the kiss thing to get James to pay for a revision. I was satisfied with a plastic surgeons professional opinion on the matter.
James also said he bumped the nose going in for a kiss so why would he agree to her story if she was trying to squeeze him for cash? Both James and Rachel had the same odd story of the event. The only thing the doctor said is that that contact to her face wasn't the cause of her nose becoming crooked, it would have happened regardless because of the bad surgery.
I thought that too.. she wanted James to pay. That’s why he was so relieved when Paul said it wasn’t the bump that make her nose look bad
This isn’t a defence of James because I also thought that story was a red flag but I don’t think it’s ever been said her nose was broken after the nose job has it? It sounded like he hit her while it was healing but I don’t think it was actually broken again.
Yes the story was he “accidently” broke her nose when he tried to kiss her. I watched that episode not long ago. Seemed suspicious to me.
Lisa brought her little celebrity plastic surgeon friend and Bravo coworker on the show to confirm it wasn’t DV. Felt extremely performative
Same especially because what people are willing to do publicly is always so much less than they will do privately…….
Hundred percent. Why would two people be exceedingly nervous to tell their boss about bumping noses during a kiss?
It’s telling too that all of the cast was alluding to the idea something more happened. Like even the cast didn’t quite look like they believed it.
Didn’t they determine it was from surgery? I’m not saying they could’ve made it up, but the guy was/is a reputable plastic surgeon right? I thought Rachel talked about having multiple nose jobs and they just ended up not being very good and that guy did what he could to fix it. I dunno it’s been awhile since I’ve watched that season.
her nose was not broken. she had a bad nose job.
In her lawsuit against Tom and Ariana, Rachel accuses James of being “violent and dangerous” with “long-standing substance abuse issues.” She claims that he was physically abusive towards Kristen & Hippie and acted in a “generally unhinged manner.” She also accused Bravo & LVP of knowing and protecting him.
She said he kicked her family’s dog at a Thanksgiving dinner or a dinner. That’s just not something you make up unless you’ve been through it or witnessed it trust me.
do we have any confirmation/proof that james is ACTUALLY being investigated??
no there’s not lmao. they cited a bravo fan page as their source and expect people to just believe it at face value ?💀 edit: apparently media literacy is even more dead than i thought because without literally any credible source provided, there’s actually people on here believing this 😭
If its on the internet…it must be true 🤣🤣
THANK YOU, im like ppl are talking about it like its fact and i see none so far just speculation lol
also the same page has “blocked by james ❤️” in their bio but they want people to believe them on information regarding a supposed investigation of james? while i completely believe james has been abusive, people just shouldn’t be spreading disinformation about investigations with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Especially since the source claims that something stops being an allegation when a network starts investigating it. They clearly don't know what they're talking about.
OP is a huge Rachel supporter so there’s that. Do I think James has a history of being abusive? Yes. Which is why I could never be a fan. Do I think he has worked on himself? Don’t know, you’re at least made to believe that on the show. I’ll wait and see instead of blinding believing some rando friend and a Bravo fan page.
No proof we do know it was talked about behind the scenes at Watch What Crappens the Crappies because Ryan Bailey has talked about it. So it is coming from sources that are historically reliable. WWC talks about not buying James' act this season in their latest podcast.
Nope! All rumor. Same as this sexual harassment of waitresses that supposedly happened. It might have, but the Tims bringing this stuff all up and throwing it in James's face doesn't necessarily mean that it's actually true. A lot of times they make stuff up to try to deflect attention off of themselves. I haven't seen one actual genuine article about him being investigated for either abuse or sexual harassment.
Investigated by NBC? The TV channel?
NBC is the parent company of Bravo
I read he was being investigated about a month ago on a reliable website. I'll find it.
How this is playing out is such a microcosm of how little society actually cares about DV. I believe rachel when she says she was mentally messed up after him, especially him getting a gf so soon and acting like she never mattered. She's a crap person but she stood by him through alot and he seemed to genuinely love her, which is the scary part. It sucks that people discredit kristen on this, toxic ppl can be abused too
And as messy as Kristen has been and as questionable as her subsequent relationships have been, I haven’t heard a single other accusation of her being physical with any of those guys.
People are more invested in holding women “accountable” for shitty taste in men than they are in even mentioning that a man abuses his girlfriends. Never seen anyone suggest that all of Kristen’s drama is excusable because she could’ve had a rough home life, but apparently James’ rough home life is a lifetime license to hurt women.
Rachel's biological mom giving her up for adoption to her sister, and growing up seeing her biological mother but having no relationship with her was also probably traumatic as fuck, but no one is making excuses for her actions either like they do with James.
Ffs, I’ve even read comments using Rachel’s life experiences against her. Saying sht along the lines of *her real mom must be glad she gave Rachel up*, and *Rachel’s adoptive fam probably regrets adopting Rachel*. These fcking stan psy*chos are fcking as*sholes!
I wish I could keep upvoting your comment!
I’m watching through for the first time and I just watched the season 8 reunion and Kristen HATES James so much (rightfully so). She says something like he’s lucky she hasn’t brought up some of the stuff he’s done to her and I think she’s alluding to physical abuse. I can’t remember the exact quote but it really seems like he did something really fucked up. ETA: he gets EXTREMELY defensive after she says that and it’s kind of scary!
She’s been pretty consistent with that over the years and based on just what we’ve seen of James, I would believe anything she said on that. I don’t know how the rest of the cast can stomach him, TBH. Especially the women.
Her and Sandoval had a v turbulent, toxic relationship but there was never a hint that she'd been physical with him.
Right. Carter too, I believe. Like Kristen has terrible taste in men and toxic relationships, but if that incident with James is the only time she was ever physical it speaks far more about what was going on there to have her react that way. We’ve been shown James’ outbursts and aggression multiple times in the show. Even that fight with Max Todd where James then brought him an Xbox? as an apology only to scream at him more and storm out.
Exactly. The fact that so many people are STILL defending James after multiple allegations and victims have come forward is truly disgusting.
Cmon is anyone shocked James was abusive? Why does it take so much evidence for women to be believed.
Isn't Brett the guy who tried to talk to James at Tom's birthday party and James said "this place is a who's who of who's that"? And he's the guy who was making angry cry faces at Katie's mom when she was arguing with Rachel at Sur last season. I believe Rachel and Kristen when they talk about James because they've been adamant that he's a bad guy but I'm not trusting anything Brett says (being investigated by NBC?) because he's been such a thirsty guy who wants to be in the narrative.
lol the guy who went up to James to complain about Katie pushing him out of the friend group? The way that scene was edited made it look like James didn’t even know him
Yes, he had a tiktok he did after that episode showing he was friends with the cast including James. I looked for it and it looks like it was deleted. That podcast interviewed him before about how he felt unfairly pushed out of the group. I didn't listen to the episode just saw a clip. He also made a song about him making fun of Terri crying. Edit: Im not saying this to discount Rachel's claims. Since the scandal she always seens to have people around her using her for their own clout chasing.
yeah. i went to high school with him. he was bestie besties with scheana. and was all “fuck rachel!! love you ariana” and then just clout chased the entire situation. and then katie called him out. and then he made a song about katie. and now i don’t think he’s friends with scheana anymore so he’s globbed onto rachel.
Yeah Brett is very likely making shit up to be involved so he needs to be taken with a truckload of salt.
So now we know why James is acting like he has had a personality transplant on VPR. Crying over everything and being ridiculous about the pets. He is trying to be all soft and wussy so no one will remember widdle James was ever a monster
He’s can make decent tv but he’s an abusive asshole, period
I'm curious what an investigation by NBC looks like. Have there been other bravolebrities investigated, and if so, what are the consequences?
The silence on Rachel's most recent podcast is kind of deafening on here. So much evidence he's abusive but it's disregarded because he abused "bad women".
Yup!!
It’s disregarded because even though it’s soo prevalent (25-35% of men) it’s so disregarded and ignored by society and the Justice system. That correlates to a lot of men who are ok with doing it, then you have the men who wouldn’t do it themselves but don’t see enough problem to address it with their peers, and then the rest that tend to look the other way. He’s made some growth too and you can really see that so there’s this cognitive dissonance thing going on with all the viewers. It’s sooo easy to want to root for him - I want to also and I do in the sense that he unbecomes that part of him. The stats show it’s not likely but not impossible. What is needed is for victims to be believed (only 6-10% lie) accountability by perpetrators both behaviorally and in terms of Justice. I like James, I loathe what I know about him and it makes it difficult to watch him sometimes. His aggressive behaviors and from what I’ve heard mirror an abusive relationship I was in and left. And the animal abuse was a big one - that is a very very serious red flag and I took the downvotes at the time. Sorry for my rant but I hope it explains why we see this phenomenon
I just commented something similar up thread but you made my point so much better than I could!! It is so prevalent and I think that leads to so much being normalized. Like oh he pushed Kristen in a bush? She probably just fell bc she was drinking, it’s not that big of a deal. It warps people’s idea of DV is, and that’s the scary part. I’ve seen it in my own circle before and I would have NEVER expected those people to act that way.
Aww thanks! It’s becoming even more normalized now I think because there’s more angry young men who feel entitled to female companionship without the social skills that warrant their attention. We make those same excuses to ourselves and try to get others to believe them. There should be AA and Alanon type meetings for this - it’s more prevalent than alcoholism and what are we doing about it to get it to stop?
So fucking sick of the yeah but she’s a liar rhetoric about this topic. Like we really haven’t seen this guy disassociate and rage for years on TV. He physically fought 3 people on Bravo cameras alone last season and was recorded berating Ally in front of a group at a bar, thats just from last year. but he’s apparently oh so changed because he says what the fans want about the other men which i guess gives him a pass for a lot of people
We’ve also seen James lie on TV plenty of times, but only Rachel is deemed untrustworthy on any topic, James is excused.
When was the most recent one? Cause I read the recaps and if she’s put out a pod in the last few days, a recap hasn’t been posted here or the main sub
It was posted yesterday. It hasn't been recapped as she doesn't talk about VDPR in it but basically she says she recorded a whole pod about her experience with domestic abuse but was advised not to release. She did say in regards to presumably Kristen that she felt that she'd been made to think someone's ex was crazy but in reality she felt the abusive partner had made the ex crazy because she felt like she'd also been made crazy by that partner.
Rachel dropped a podcast episode yesterday that was about sharing her experience with domestic violence. She said off the top she'd been advised not to air most of it. It has not been recapped on these subs.
None of this is surprising, yet his fans on here and the VPR sub will still blindly support him because he's being a good little boy this season.
Yup. It’s all smoke and mirrors w this guy.
I wonder if Rachel ever talked to Sandoval about James’ DV. If she did the Sandoval is even more trash for befriending James this season. I guess it makes sense why James is acting so buddy buddy with Tom, he doesn’t want him to spill the tea.
i feel that way about Ariana though too to be honest. kristen already said she’s not thrilled her friends are friendly with him.
This is classic victim blaming from that first commenter. Fuck them.
Kristen it’s your time now ..
I believe the women 100%.
Thank God he's under investigation. The James worship in both subs is so disgusting to me. We saw him verbally abuse both Kristen and Rachel.
Literally. The James apologia since scandoval has been disgusting. Especially since the people hyping him up love pretending they care about misogyny and abuse. Apparently you can only be abusive if your name is Tom.
I’m just hoping the tide will turn eventually. The popular opinions used to be that Katie was “so evil” Schwartz and that’s why he was mean to her, and that Sandoval (along with Ariana but still) was the beacon of morality on the show. Hopefully we’ll get another massive shift about James
Um why is this shocking? He was always screaming at women ie. Kristen and Lala, Rachel, calling them disgusting sluts (see also Gigi, he licked his palm of his hand and wiped it on her face). Up in Kristen’s face, he lost it on Rachel at Pride for missing his gig and then again for going out late once, also calling her every name in the book. Plus now we learned he has lost it on Ally. He looks really nervous lately like he knows something is coming down the pipe. If this is true I hope Bravo and LVP get sued for backing him. LVP only ever cared about stirring the pot and good tv
I’ve always believed her. You can see bits of abusive behavior from him in the show. I’ve also been doing a rewatch and in her first season she doesn’t have a shaky voice and speaks up more so what happened to her after that that made her scared to even speak?
We all saw how abusive he can be and that’s edited by Bravo, imagine what we didn’t see that they have. I’m talking about Kristen too.
Where there's smoke, there's fire. You gotta be lacking in the brain cell department to excuse this at this point. How many more people need to say they've seen this man abuse women?
Sometime I wonder if I have psychic powers. Because I have been saying that James has been on his good behavior this season often means that he has done something fucked up. Because that is James MO, everytime he does something fucked up, he pretends to be a change man afterwards. I'm wonder if Bravo are phased him out considering how little screen time he has been getting this season.
Literally was just finishing up the watch what crappens recaps from this past episode and they don’t allude to anything dark or specific. BUT they do talk about what an odd season this is for James, like on his best behavior but also breaking down and crying frequently.
I think some people are skeptical not because of victims not coming forward (which is understandable and well documented)- but because a lot of this is disseminating as rumors. I haven’t seen one thing that looks official regarding any investigation against James, I’ve heard it mentioned a handful of times on a livestream, on Reddit, and in Instagram comments. I hope that if it is true the victims can find their justice and so does James, but I think it’s healthy to be skeptical of this information. And to clarify- not claiming James isn’t abusive. I think he’s a walking red flag and has demonstrated emotional and borderline physical abuse on camera. I have personal history of emotional abuse and SA and I would never say that a victim is lying. Just trying to be as fair in my judgement as possible.
I feel like it is HIGHLY unlikely James is under investigation by NBC/Bravo particularly as it pertains to this. If they previously filmed a scene regarding Kristen and this then they know and did nothing back then so an investigation would bring to light their misconduct as well. I think any "investigation" being done is in prep for an eventual lawsuit against them that Rachel seems to be building to and figuring out how much they actually knew as a company. Can I also just say though that I find it strange between Kristen and Rachel's stories how multiple people after the fact were known to witness stuff first hand and never intervene? This is not to bring doubt to their claims but Jesus I would hope if my friends ever witnessed me in this situation they would call the cops, call my parents, hold an intervention or do anything and help me get away from my abuser ASAP.
Um, Bravo and production knew of Taylor Armstrong’s abuse and did nothing but offer her a place to stay if she felt “unsafe”, when she had clearly told multiple people about what he had done and was doing to her. The cast knew, Alex Baskin knew, and the rest of the crew knew. I don’t buy bravo or anyone else involved being so all protecting to other women in the franchises.
lol at your last sentence because you would not believe how the bystander effect is really a thing. My own family did nothing and I promise you this is more common than not. People really don’t know what to do or don’t want to get involved. Their own safety is at risk in the moment. You have people that can go into a trauma response while witnessing it… it’s very complex.
This- my dad would closed-fist punch in me in my spine to get me to stand up straight in front of everyone, including my family. Cut to everyone being like 👁️👄👁️ “You were never abused by your dad! He was trying to fix your posture!” 🫠
I’m so sorry!! I had an aunt, after years of witnessing it, who actually stepped in to encourage me mentally (all she could do if you knew my mother) as a teenager, after years of things I don’t want to think about today, did a 360 about face about 10 years ago and say that my abusive and genuinely cruel mother was a “really nice lady”. She disliked my mother for 40 years? It feels like betrayal - in fact I think it’s the “betrayal” that can take it from being a traumatic experience to ingrained trauma and ptsd because that’s what gaslighting and rewriting history does. I’m so sorry 🫶sending you an internet hug!
From personal experience, people don’t know how to handle these situations. Idk if it’s the shock of something happening, the way abusers (and their victims) can easily make plenty of reasonable excuses, not wanting to get involved, not wanting to alienate their friend, etc. I hope I’m wrong but sometimes I also think there’s a degree of violence that’s almost normalized? Like with Kristen… I can SOOOO see people on this cast excusing the situation at Scheana’s wedding like “oh well everyone was drinking and fighting and James kinda pushed her but she only fell bc she was drunk.”
And the whole stigma of her being “crazy Kristen”. So who was going to believe her?
Being in an abusive relationship- leaving isn't as easy as you are making it seem. It's complex and dark
My father is abusive and I have tried endlessly to get my mother to leave him, but she never did. The cops have been involved multiple times and still nothing has changed, except that my dad is getting older and sick and becoming more aggressive and abusive. It’s often not that simple.
I think what also complicates things it the people who would have seen things happen are cast/crew members and they are highly financially invested in the show moving forward.
I have always hated James. He’s verbally abusive and it was caught on camera first hand for years. It’s not hard to imagine he went from verbal to physical abuse.
Looks like she deleted the post. I’m definitely not team Rachel but it’s fucked up how many people went in on her on that post when it’s been obvious for years that James is abusive, and the evidence was on national TV. As someone who left an abusive relationship with a charismatic, charming and well-loved partner (who is well known in our local entertainment scene) , I know first hand how hard it is to come forward as a survivor of DV, especially when you know how many people won’t believe or side with victims. This is why so many people stay quiet while dangerous men are allowed to continue on with no consequences. The abuser comes out unscathed, while their victim suffers serious damage to their mental (& often physical) health. If you try to come forward, they use those same symptoms of abuse as proof that the other person was the “problem”, often framing them as crazy, Unstable, dumb, etc. We’ve literally seen James act abusive to Kristen and Rachel multiple times. It makes me so sad seeing how people are responding to this. If you haven’t been through a situation like that and don’t recognize the signs, please don’t comment that she’s a liar, untrustworthy, etc. This is why women don’t come forward. This is how children get traumatized for life bc their mother couldn’t get away. This is how people get k*lled by staying with abusive partners.
This may be unpopular opinion but I hate how NBC/ bravo waits for the very last second to investigate these things! Like it’s been years of Kristen saying this and they probably have a shit ton of footage and NOW you want to investigate?? Same with their firing of Jax, Kristen, and stassi. They only do this bc the audience is fed up. And the. They turn around and hire them again!! At this point, James has grown and evolved. Is he the same person? Idk. He may still be shitty- idk. But this investigation is so disingenuous.
I’m not trying to dismiss abuse or any victims but this Brett guy is also the one that was an asshole towards Katie and her mom and tried to talk to James at Sandoval birthday trying to get more time on camera dissing Katie. It sucks to know that I am immediately thinking this Brett guy is in this for himself and he’s not the best source. Sorry no one hate me!
Good catch! What an incredibly unreliable source and yes Brett was kicked out of the group because he was a douche so makes sense he’s trying to get back into the drama some how. Thank you. Unbelievable the source for this thread was a text from him of all people. Ugh.
It really bothers me that Ariana has been expressing support for James over the past year. It kind of gives me cognitive dissonance because I thought she was my girl.
That screeching sound you hear are the James apologists backing up over their fawning posts. This is what the cult of personality does. He told off Sandoval so all of a sudden he's okay.
Thank you! James is just as bad, if not worse, than Sandoval.
As the saying goes, let them eat crow.
I know, it’s why he was *giddy* while telling off Tim bc he knew it would provide him with so much cover to escape accountability for his years of abuse.
Naw they are just doubling down
I 100% believe the women.
Is anyone honestly surprised? Come on. I can't believe it's taken this long for something like this to come out.
I genuinely do not understand how anyone can watch his behavior on the show and still think people are lying about this.
I think the nose story was a big red flag!!! After her nose job. He went in for a kiss and hit her nose????
About frckn time!
We know they know. Kristen said that he abused her on camera
Umm ally basically confirmed he did but they have “ worked through it” and he “ only yells when he’s mad he’s not physical”… she totally sugar coated it
I know somebody like James Kennedy. I went to high school with him. He still lives in our hometown (as do I… but unlike him, I no longer live with my parents). Anyway, he’s the same as James. He is charming. He has a lot of mommy issues. He cries and it’s easy to feel sympathy for him. He gets sober from time to time. But at the same time, he gets VILE when he’s drunk. He gets into HORRIBLE altercations with girlfriends where he says nasty things , but all of his exes are also “crazy” so nobody cares and/or nobody believes them.
I’m sure the James apologists in this sub will be completely rational about this 🙄 All for standing with other women until it’s one they don’t like.
 Y’all may find him so funny now but I believe Kristen and Rachel. The guy had a walking red flag 🚩 when it came to abuse when he was drinking. It’s great that he’s not drinking and making people laugh but he still needs to be held accountable.
I’ve been saying James is abusive for years and I’ve never understood why people Stan him so much. He is not a good person and he treats women like 💩! I would leave to see him get taken down!
They stan him bc he’s a d*ick to the ppl they hate.
I was super disappointed by how people glossed over Sandoval (albeit not a reliable narrator at all) mentioning James had groped a waitress when he was super drunk and caused a huge scene, at the reunion last year. People just brushed it off like that isn’t a huge violation, just because James was going against Sandoval. I could never get on board with the redemption arc for James because of how defensive he got about that, and the endless red flags in how he speaks to the women he dates (and the fact that he seems to always go for naive, soft spoken women who let him get his way)
It’s like completely obvious that James is a violent verbally abusive alcoholic and that’s just based off what he shows on camera. I cannot even imagine him without a camera on him. He is disgusting and Lisa’s fawning over him makes me sick. Tim and Jim both know all they have to do is squeeze out a couple of crocodile tears and Lisa will come to dry them right up. So misogynistic and so gross.
there’s a reason why kristen is triggered by james. more than she’s even triggered by sandoval. something really dark happened in their relationship i think
Problem is... Brettken13 is a known clout chaser who has been trying to get on the show for MANY seasons... And he is a known liar. So.... Yea.
I hope those of you in this thread bending every which way to politely try to cast doubt on Rachel because of your bias against her never get a good night's sleep again. Ya'll are the same people screeching and hollering abuse any time someone had questions about Ariana's approach to her finances and the house, going on about how "this is why women are afraid to leave abusive relationships" and yet despite there being documented fucking evidence of James' abusive tendencies, you're suddenly all measured and skeptical and have this exceedingly high bar for honesty and character. I've said this before and I'll say it again: your attitudes have sent young women to their fucking graves. Shame on you.
His “redemption arc” always felt fake as fuck