Kristen Doute Told Her New 'The Valley' Costars to Remain 'Authentic' When on Reality TV — But 'Not Everyone Took the Advice'

Kristen Doute is no stranger to living her life in front of the cameras.

The Vanderpump Rules alum recently made her Bravo return in the new spin-off series, The Valley, but she's always remained true to herself — no matter how popular she's gotten.

Doute exclusively chats with OK! about being back on television, the advice she gave to her new costars, her friendship with Ariana Madix and how her recent AirSculpt procedure changed her life.

"The pandemic was a whirlwind for everyone," she says of being on hiatus from filming. "I think we all had a pretty hard reset. But for me personally, I definitely did a lot of self-work. I got to meet the love of my life [boyfriend Luke Broderick], which is so exciting and kind of get our little our little dog family started."

Now she's joined a bunch of her friends, who are brand new to being on television besides her former VPR costars Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright. "The only advice that I gave them was just to be authentic. Be authentically yourself because that's also something that I've learned since we've done Vanderpump Rules," she explains. "But not everyone took the advice."

"[If you] change yourself for the people around you, then those people might not be for you. Find your tribe, love them hard," Doute notes. "You will gravitate toward the people that are supposed to be in your life and that are like-minded. I wanted to remind my friends that were going on a reality show for the first time because it can be very nerve-wracking at times."

One person she's definitely gravitated toward has been the Chicago actress, whom she recently had on the first episode of her relaunched podcast "Balancing Act with Kristen Doute and Luke Broderick."

"I was so excited because I've been trying to get Ariana on the podcast for a while," Doute spills about Madix. "I told Ariana off the bat, 'I don't want to talk about the show, and I don't want to talk about the Scandoval of it all.' We have dogs, some people have children, we have families, we have work, play, hobbies, entrepreneurial endeavors, and that is what I really wanted to talk to her about. A lot of people were very surprised that it wasn't some Tom Sandoval bashing fest, but that's not either of us and we don't live that life."

But one thing Doute definitely wants to talk about is her recent AirSculpt procedure. "I just turned 41, so it was like just before I turned 40, and I was noticing, no matter what I was doing, I just didn't look the same. I didn't feel the same about my body, and there were little trouble areas that nothing I was doing was helping," she admits. "When I was introduced to AirSculpt, it seemed like the perfect thing for me to do."