Entertainment

Pearl before swine

In “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Lisa Vanderpump owns Villa Blanca, a fancy Beverly Hills restaurant that’s often set the stage for as many fights as meals among the Bravo show’s explosive cast of entitled, long-haired blondes and brunettes. While all hell breaks loose around her, Vanderpump, 53, miraculously retains her innate sense of grace and dignity.

The reward for that composure is obviously her new series, “Vanderpump Rules,” which finds the restaurateur opening “Sur” in West Hollywood. She refers to Villa Blanca as the place you take your wife and Sur as the place you take your mistress. In the spinoff, Vanderpump, who was born in London and has been married to husband Ken Todd for 30 years, leaves behind the shrieking housewives and steps into the role of boss of Sur’s sexy, young staff.

Q: Why set your new show at Sur and not Villa Blanca?

A: Sur is a more avant garde type of place, being in Hollywood. It’s a later venue, it’s a darker, sexier place. Villa Blanca is more Beverly Hills. I wanted to go against the grain and not do anything that would be competitive with “Housewives,” and this isn’t. This has got a totally different energy. And I think the younger viewers are really going to identify with it.

Q: On “Real Housewives” and “Vanderpump Rules,” you always seem to keep your cool in the midst of all the drama manufactured by the other people on the show. How do you manage?

A: It’s a very good question. You could liken it to the pigeon and the statue. In “Housewives,” I’m more of the statue. In “Vanderpump Rules,” I’m a pigeon, because I have a modicum of control because it’s my business, and I was lucky enough to be a producer. Obviously, I have no control over what the kids say, and I have been disappointed in some of them, to be honest. I’ve been disappointed in how they’ve behaved in their personal lives.

Q: How much are they playing up the drama of their lives for the camera?

A: You know what, we never know, do we? And I wouldn’t say that some of it is their finest hour. You can control, to a certain extent, what you say in your interviews, but [as] you see with “Housewives,” things just snowball. They might shoot something for 4 hours, and they might use a minute of it. We’re a family, albeit sometimes not a very happy one.

Q: Did you worry about how members of the staff would behave in front of the cameras?

A: There are no wallflowers at Sur, or if there are, they’re not on the show. You have to be a certain type of person who is prepared to open your life. The people who sign up for reality TV are incredibly open emotionally. I’m more controlled — I’m not running around shouting at people — but I’ve still been open emotionally. I went into it saying, “OK, this is what I’ve got to hide so I’ve got to get in front of it.” Like I never really brought up the fact that my son was adopted from foster care; it was nobody’s business, really. But I thought, if I’m doing a reality show and I don’t bring it to the forefront, it will look like I’m guilty by omission. If you’re going to enter this genre, you’ve got to give it up.

Q: Do you worry that the behavior of your staff will be bad for business?

A: That’s life in Hollywood. That’s the life of a group of wannabe actors and models. They’re all single and running around having fun. I’m not seeing any bad behavior in my restaurant. The naughtiness doesn’t happen in my restaurant; it happens when they’re out and about.

Q: Does the Sur staff ask you to take stuff out?

A: I wouldn’t give them that luxury. It’s what you sign up for.

Q: Has there been any animosity from the other “Housewives” about you getting a spinoff?

A: I don’t think they’re thrilled. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, they were patting me on the back.’ I got flowers from Taylor [Armstrong], which was great. Kyle [Richards] tweeted about it. Brandi [Glanville] was very supportive, as I’ve been supportive of her. And the rest, I don’t think I’ve really had a discussion with them, and I was filming both shows at the same time so I always had a camera crew with me, and I never discussed it with them, to be honest.

Q. There was never a meeting where you told the other Housewives that you were working on a spinoff? How did they find out?

A: Have you seen my show? Do you think I would take them to a meeting and tell them that? No. It just kind of trickled out. So, I did hear commiserations from a couple of them. I just said, ‘Oh, thank you,’ and then kept quiet about it for three months, because I was asked to.

Q: When Bethenny Frankel got her spinoff, she quit “Real Housewives of NYC.” Will you be around for Season 4?

A: I’ll see how the show does. A lot of people criticize the goose that laid the golden egg. I’ve always been mindful that Bravo has been unbelievable to me. They have had so much integrity. Even when I’ve been upset, they’ve always said, ‘Lisa, don’t worry. We will show the true story.’ I don’t know that I’m going to walk away from the “Housewives.” I don’t know what the future holds. The show has been amazing to me, but I’m not going to be on it forever, clearly, but for now, the audience has been so supportive and I really do have a great loyalty to them.

VANDERPUMP RULES

Monday, 9 p.m., Bravo