Roxanne 
Stassi Schroeder is opening up about her reality TV return, and how she got Katie Maloney involved.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Smith Sisters Live with Lauren, Rachel and Mariah Smith, Stassi discussed her new show, House of Stassi, and revealed the voice note she sent Katie while pitching her on coming back to reality television.
Stassi explained that she knew Katie was happy living life off camera, so she approached the conversation carefully.
“I sent her a voice note and I was like, ‘Listen, I know that you are really happy right now living life off camera, and I totally respect that, so if you want to tell me to fuck off, you can tell me to fuck off,’” Stassi shared.
But Stassi also felt there was an opportunity for the two to address things that had gone unsaid in their friendship.
“But I think that there is an opportunity here because I’m pretty sure I’m going to start filming in October and I think that there are a lot of things that have gone unsaid, like my fault, I kind of ghosted, whatever,” Stassi said.
She told Katie that filming together could give them a chance to talk things out and possibly reconnect in a real way.
“I think that this would be a good opportunity for everyone, like for us to try and talk things out, for you to do this if you decide you want to do this,” Stassi explained. “It’s just like a win-win and you’re the person who I know how to do reality TV with.”
Stassi said she ended the message by making it clear that Katie could say no with no hard feelings.
“And then again, I ended it with being like, ‘And if you’re happy and you don’t want to do this again, tell me to fuck off and I will leave you alone,’” Stassi recalled.
Katie’s response surprised her.
“And she was like, ‘That actually sounds like something I would want to do,’” Stassi said.
From there, Katie met with the show’s other producers without Stassi present, and according to Stassi, the meeting went well.
“They had a great conversation and it was go time,” Stassi shared.
Stassi also opened up about transitioning from executive producer to co-star and why having producer control was non-negotiable for her.
According to Stassi, she would not have agreed to put her family on television unless she had some say in how her children were handled on the show.
“Well, that’s why I had to be an executive producer and it was actually really hard to find a production company that was willing to let me be one,” Stassi said.
She acknowledged why production companies may have been hesitant to give talent that level of control.
“I understand because when talent becomes a producer, then they’re going to want to get all their bad moments edited out,” Stassi explained. “I fully understood the argument.”
But Stassi said she made it clear that she knows what makes good television and was not looking to erase her own messy moments.
“I was like, ‘Listen, trust that I know how to make good TV and I know not to cut out my bad moments. I know that that’s part of what makes good TV and that’s what makes me human, and that’s what people want to see,’” she said.
For Stassi, the issue was about her children.
“I will not let my family be on a show unless I’m a producer,” Stassi said. “And that was it.”
She continued, “This is for my children. I need to be able to say, ‘I want that out,’ or like, ‘I don’t want that in’ about my children and if not, I’m just not going to do a show and I found one production company that said yes.”
Stassi also admitted she was concerned her castmates might feel like she was their boss instead of their co-star.
Mariah Smith asked if anyone felt nervous about upsetting her during filming because of her executive producer role, and Stassi said that was something she thought about.
“That is a fantastic question, so I was really worried about that,” Stassi admitted. “I was concerned about that.”
To avoid any confusion, Stassi sent her cast a group text on the first day of filming and made her role very clear.
“I was like, ‘Listen, I know I have been your general for the past few years getting this picked up and getting this like over the finish line,’” Stassi said.
She told the cast that once filming started, she was not acting as their producer.
“But as of today, for the next eight weeks, I am your co-star. I won’t know about your storylines. I’m not going to ask. I don’t know what you’re filming. I am going to show up every day as if I was on Vanderpump Rules and that’s it. No executive producer,” Stassi shared.
And according to Stassi, the cast did not hold back.
“Yeah, they were not scared to upset me,” she said.
Mariah joked that if she were Stassi, she would tell everyone not to come on her show and make her mad. Stassi admitted part of her wanted to have that mindset, but she knew the show required her to take the hits too.
“You know, there’s a part of me that wanted to have that,” Stassi said. “But then I’m like, this is called House of Stassi. I need to shoulder all of the hardships. You know what I mean? That’s my responsibility and I’m okay with it.”
