Kristen Doute Reveals 'Cool Things' She's Done While Pregnant—Including Helping L.A. Amid Its Devastation (Exclusive)
Kristen Doute's pregnancy is inspiring her in more ways than one.
The Valley star—who is expecting her first baby, a girl, with fiancé and co-star Luke Broderick—opened up about all the "cool things" she's done while pregnant, including helping people in Los Angeles amid the devastating wildfires.
"It just kind of snowballed into this much bigger thing than we thought it was gonna be, which is amazing," Doute, 41, exclusively tells Parade of teaming up with fellow L.A. residents and multiple brands to donate "thousands and thousands" of new clothing items, healthcare products and more to those affected by the fires.
After seeing the devastation in their own city, Doute and her James Mae partners launched their "LA Strong" tees with 100% of the proceeds assisting those affected by the fires. From there, they had the idea to do more, so they reached out to several brands such as RESA, HexClad, East Kennedy and Purple. Doute was amazed that these companies, along with many others, jumped into help the over 400 RSVP's that came in so quickly.
"I was absolutely mind-blown," she adds of how many people they were able to help at the Saturday, Feb. 1 event.
The former Vanderpump Rules star also tells Parade that in addition to her carrying her daughter during her philanthropic efforts, she's already shared other memorable moments with her unborn child.
"I'm like, wow, my daughter … like, her first concert was Stevie Nicks at Jimmy Kimmel Live! That's so cool, even though she's in my belly, I'm like, she got to do this charity event [and be a] part of this wildfire thing that one day, 20 years from now, I can talk about [with her]. It's just so crazy when I think about [it] that way."
Doute goes on to reveal that her latest product launch for her clothing company, James Mae, was also inspired by her pregnancy.
"We're gonna be doing some onesies. We're dropping some onesies at the beginning of February, so some of the designs that we already have, some of the graphics, but we're gonna be putting them on different colored onesies, tie dye prints, things like that," she says. "So, I'm really excited for some mommy and me type stuff. And, because we really are just on a really great flow right now, we're trying to do a drop once a month for just men's and women's graphics as well."
Now that Doute is in her second trimester, which she describes as "definitely a lot easier than the first," she's working to ready her baby's nursery, too, with help from her friend John McClain, CEO and Creative Director of John McClain Design. "I need a million projects because even though I'm tired and even though I'm pregnant, I run a million miles a minute," she tells Parade.
"[The nursery] is such a fun project for me to really dive into, so I'm super excited to get that going. Luke and I are [also] trying to plan a baby moon right now, which I hate the name of—but, you know, it's just an excuse to go on a vacation before we have a kid. I'm excited about that too."
Doute and Broderick announced they were expecting in November last year. Both starred on Season 1 of The Valley, a spinoff of VPR, and fans can see what the couple and the rest of the cast have been up to when Season 2 of the reality series returns to Bravo sometime this year.