New Vanderpump Rules stars Marcus Johnson and Kim Suarez didn’t mind their on-again, off-again relationship taking center stage in season 12’s premiere, but they believe their costars got it wrong when they hated on the “toxic” romance.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion,” Johnson, 35, told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of the reboot’s debut, which aired on Tuesday, December 2. “Some people are used to relationships and understand the ups and downs of it and some people aren’t.”
He went on to explain, “If you don’t know what it’s like to be in love and be in a situation where everything’s not perfect, you might have a virgin’s response to seeing someone go through something like that.”
Suarez, 31, meanwhile, told Us, their romance is “misunderstood.”
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“There’s nothing that’s been said on camera that I haven’t heard already off camera,” she said in response to episode one, which saw several costars weighing in on her relationship with Johnson.
Suarez noted they’ve known the cast — including Venus Binkley, Jason Cohen, Shayne Davis, Chris Hahn, Angelica Jensen, Audrey Lingle, Natalie Maguire and Demy Selem — “for a long time” since they all work at Lisa Vanderpump’s West Hollywood restaurant SUR, so opinions on the couple’s relationship troubles come from a place of love.
“Marcus and I’s relationship is a bit misunderstood because you have friends who understandably are protective over you and don’t want to see you in a toxic situation. But we’re not going through toxicity the way that people think,” she explained to Us.
She pointed out that Johnson has been “navigating [the] grief” of losing both of his parents while juggling their relationship, which she admitted “never got a honeymoon phase.” (Vanderpump Rules fans will see more on that as the season goes on).
Suarez shared that she and Johnson were “working through real-life problems” prior to filming.
“There’s a lot that happens in regards to friendships and their opinion of my relationship,” she teased, adding, “It’s that constant forgiveness and compassion and trying to put myself in their shoes.”
When it came to their costars, each had a different opinion.
Davis, 32, who is the only cast member not working at SUR but has been a longtime friend of Johnson, defended their relationship.
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“Look, I grew up a little differently, so I’m used to people having big ups and downs and being maybe a little more passionate in their particular love life,” he told Us. “I wouldn’t say it’s all that toxic to me.”
Johnson and Suarez’s closest pal, Binkley, 27, however, admitted that he didn’t like how Kim reacted toward Maguire, also 27, after accusing her of flirting with Marcus in the premiere episode.
“I was really close with Kim and Marcus, and so for me to see that type of behavior, it really rubbed me wrong,” he exclusively told Us. “I think it made me and Natalie closer because I always root for the underdog, and whenever I feel like there’s injustice, I want to stand up for them, and that’s how I felt about Natalie in this entire situation. So I think it just showed everyone’s true colors, truthfully.”
For her part, Maguire said she “was so surprised” at Suarez’s accusations “because there are actually people here that have a history with Marcus, and she’s totally fine with them. So it’s pretty shocking.”
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Johnson’s love life wasn’t the only topic of conversation that put him in the hot seat in season 12’s first episode. Fans also watched him get reprimanded by Vanderpump for drinking on the job, an act that made the restaurant’s co-owner, Nathalie Pouille-Zapata, cry.
Johnson defended his behavior.
“I respected everyone’s disappointment in me,” he told Us. “I was just someone who got caught in the moment. This is a party all the time. I was just not slick enough that day to get my partying off.”
While Johnson confessed he felt “a little bit bad” about the situation, he said, “I’m not gonna let it change how I behave at work.”
New episodes of Vanderpump Rules season 12 airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo and the next day on Peacock.
