Lala Kent‘s former assistant Jessica Walter is breaking her silence about what led to her no longer working for the reality star.
During the debut of her “Date My” podcast on Tuesday, January 7, Walter started by sharing the reason for her shocking disappearance.
“I want to address who I think are a majority of the people tuning in right now, who I’m very grateful for. And those are my loves. Those are my friends who know me from the last podcast I was on,” she said about Kent’s “Give Them Lala” podcast. “I want to take this moment to address you guys because I seemingly disappeared off that last podcast.”
Walter wanted to give an “explanation” for why she was “suddenly gone,” adding, “First thing I’ll say is no, I was not at all expecting to leave. That wasn’t the plan. If I’m gonna be honest, I thought I’d be at that last job forever. I was like ready to be a lifer. Maybe not in the role I was in, but I’ll say within the company I was in.”
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While reflecting on her time with Kent, 34, Walter noted that she “invested everything” she had professionally and personally into her job.
“I was investing in a future that I thought we were all on the same page about,” she continued. “Basically, what happened is I said how I felt about the way some things were being handled, and the response I got to that was, in my opinion, not good. The responses I got, honestly, I was taken aback.”
Walter recalled feeling “heartbroken” by the reaction, saying, “I found myself in a position where I felt like I had no other option than to choose to leave.”
Kent reacted to Walter’s comments that same day, sharing on an Amazon Live, “I did not know that she dropped a podcast and no I have not listened. I don’t know how she is describing me. She and I both know how it went down and I will always have so much love for her.”
She continued: “She was a huge part of my life and we did become very close. But at the end of the day, she was my employee first and foremost. She felt she no longer got what she needed out of this job. I encourage anyone who feels a piece of their life doesn’t work or they aren’t fulfilled anymore to make a change. We all have that right and it sounds like her podcast came out and I wish her all the success.”
Kent revealed Walter’s unexpected departure on her “Give Them Lala” podcast in November 2024. After Vanderpump Rules fans questioned whether the pair were now at odds, Kent later hinted at a divide.
“It’s so wild because it’s like, ‘Where were you when she was on the podcast?’ Nowhere to be found. All I heard was, ‘Get her off.’ At the end of the day, she was my employee,” Kent said on the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast in December 2024. “She wanted to go and move on with her life. And I would be like a crazy person to not say, ‘Go and achieve everything you want to achieve.’ I don’t know how to break this down.”
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Kent clarified she had no plans to have Walter share her side of the story on the “Give Them Lala” podcast.
“At the end of the day, she was employed by Lala Kent. You’re no longer employed. I wish you the best. Have a great life,” she added. “I’ve learned a lot in many relationships in my life, from my ex-fiancé, to certain friends that I’ve had, to employees that I’ve had. Every single thing that I’ve experienced in the past two to three years, I have learned something from. I don’t regret anything, but I know how to make things different.”
Walter, for her part, started her own podcast to create a platform for herself.
“I think sometimes we invest all of ourselves into a relationship and we give it our all,” she explained on Tuesday. “And at the end of the day, maybe we don’t get in return what we feel we deserve. What we feel we deserve can be as small as you don’t have my back. And it can be confusing for people who are like me and frustrating because all these times I’ve made you feel safe and I’ve had your back, and in these moments where I should feel the same, I don’t.”
Walter clarified that she was proud of how she navigated the situation.
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“We can choose to stay on a path in life in this relationship with this person, with these people who maybe it’s not going the way we hope, but we’re like, ‘Let’s see where it takes us.’ And that’s OK. That’s your choice because that’s your life,” she shared. “Other people may choose to take a step back and say, ‘Nothing here is going to change no matter how hard I try.’ Or, ‘Nothing here is going to veer this way, or get on this path, or whatever. No matter how hard I try, it’s not going to.’”
She continued: “I’m a firm believer that if you’re making decisions based on goodness and purpose and future and the betterment of yourself and others and the world, you can only be rewarded in the end. And you may be rewarded immediately or further down the road.”
Walter concluded by expressing her gratitude, saying, “That’s not all nothing because of how it ended. … I worked hard to be in a lot of those positions and I won’t take that away from myself. Because I am a hard worker and I will always be a hard worker. That is very important to me. But I’m very grateful for all of that.”
