Fans who have been watching Kristen Doute since Vanderpump Rules know how chaotic her past relationships have been. Many rejoiced when she got together with Luke Broderick. The couple became a central plot point for The Valley and were going strong during the first two seasons.
After two years of dating, Luke popped the question! Things were going great for the couple. Eventually Kristen got pregnant. However, this brought a whole new set of challenges neither one of them was expecting.
In fact, Kristen’s tumultuous pregnancy hormones and postpartum struggles drove Luke to say some pretty shocking things to his would-be wife.
Luke Broderick and Kristen Doute had plenty of drama on The Valley Season 3
The Valley’s third season began roughly three months after Kristen and Luke welcomed their baby Kaia Lily in June 2025. Fans quickly saw the couple was having a difficult time transitioning from pregnancy to postpartum to new parenthood.
In fact, Kristen was apparently so difficult during the pregnancy that it had Luke rethinking their upcoming wedding. To be fair, Kristen did lean into him quite a bit. However, fans were still quite surprised at some of the things Luke said to the new momma this season.
1. “If things do not improve from here, there’s not going to be a wedding.”
Luke first told Jesse Lally and Danny Booko in Mexico that he was struggling with Kristen’s anxiety and that if it didn’t improve, there may not be a wedding. The new mom had a difficult time while traveling, and she was taking a lot of it out on him when he was just trying to have a good time with their friends.
However, Luke telling his friends about potentially calling off the wedding before speaking to Kristen was understandably painful for her to hear.
2. “Pregnant Kristen was someone I hadn’t met yet.”
Naturally, Kristen was upset about Luke’s reservations about marriage. They spoke about it at couples therapy. Luke surprised his therapist (and all of us) when he revealed that Kristen, while pregnant, was not someone he had anticipated. This statement seemed to suggest that had he met “pregnant Kristen” prior to the proposal, he may have changed his mind about wanting to marry her.
Kristen said his words felt like a gut punch during a time that was already very volatile.
3. “We can put pregnant Kristen to rest. Lock her up in a coffin.”
This was probably the worst comment Luke made to Kristen. It may have been a joke, but it landed horribly. When Kristen asked Luke why he’d want her to get pregnant again when he hated her pregnant self, he basically said he wants to “get it out of the way” and “be done with it.”
When they have their second baby, Luke said he wants to say goodbye to pregnant Kristen forever, and “lock her up in a coffin.” Ouch. Someone needs to tell Luke that every pregnancy and postpartum journey is different.
4. “I feel like misery loves company. There are times that she was miserable and wanted me to be miserable too.”
Sometimes Luke made it seem as if Kristen’s anxiety was purposefully directed at him. Instead of trying to understand her spiraling emotions (and let’s face it, she was already pretty anxious even getting pregnant), he vocalized that she wanted to make him miserable too, as if she set out to do it on purpose.
He often talked about not being able to go “do the things he liked to do.” But that’s something every new parent faces. Their biggest issue was obviously communicating properly. Neither felt heard, so they often hurt each other with their words.
5. “She shuts down every advance. At what point do you stop trying?”
It was hard watching Luke try to push Kristen into having sex again before she was ready. He understandably wants their lives to go back to some semblance of normalcy (and that includes intimacy), but he didn’t seem to understand that just because “you’re cleared for that” doesn’t mean a new mom is ready to hop back into bed.
It became a pain point for both of them, and many women watching, who have struggled to get their groove back postpartum, were undoubtedly cringing in PTSD.
In the end, whether Luke was simply being honest about the challenges of becoming a first-time dad or he crossed the line with his comments, one thing is clear: his words hurt, and they became a huge talking point of the season.
Will this irreparably change their relationship? Only time will tell. It looks like the pair are still together and working on it, but fans were surprised to see this side of him and remain divided in their opinion on his behavior.
The Valley airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo. It streams on Peacock.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK LUKE WAS BEING TOO HARSH WITH KRISTEN? SHOULD HE HAVE SHOWN HER MORE GRACE? OR WAS HE JUST BEING HONEST?
