When Did Lala Kent, Randall Emmett Start Dating? A Timeline (2024)

From love to legal woes. Lala Kent and Randall Emmett’s romance fascinated Vanderpump Rules viewers from the beginning.Bravo fans were introduced met Kent on season 4 of Vanderpump Rules. During her first year on the show, the SUR hostess was single — and found herself in the middle of drama with James Kennedy and Jax Taylor. By the time season 5 rolled around, however, Kent was seeing Emmett, but playing coy about her relationship status on the show. As a result, her costars often questioned Kent’s intentions with the movie producer, who was going through a divorce at the time."That will go down as one of the toughest times in my entire life. I was just so madly in love with this person, and it was so different from anyone I had ever dated before, and so my feelings got hurt when people spoke about the money aspect, because that’s never really been my type of personality to go for such shallow things,” Kent recalled to Cosmopolitan in 2018. ”He’s my best friend. He takes care of my heart and my soul. That’s important when you’re in a relationship. You have to marry your best friend. What’s better than being able to have sex with your best friend?"Emmett, for his part, was married to Ambyr Childers prior to his relationship with Kent. The exes, who wed in 2009, share daughters London and Rylee. After separating in 2015, their divorce was finalized in 2017.“My kids love Lala, she loves them like her own. I’m so lucky,” Emmett gushed to Us in May 2020. “I take it for granted some days, because I’ll be at the office now working and I’ll say, ‘Oh s—t, I got to get home.’ And she’s like, ‘Babe, me and the girls are going swimming and after we’re cooking hot dogs, so just take your time.’ I just got lucky.”[sendtonews type="float" key="S75RZlLp1k-2834908-14453"]While things weren’t always smooth between Kent and Childers, they came together in December 2019 to celebrate the holidays together with the girls.“Being a stepmom, I always tell her, it is as hard as it gets. It is not easy. And she, at her age, just stepped up,” Emmett told Us. “And [Lala] has really been there for me as a partner, but also as a stepmom. I’m just very blessed that the girls just love her the way they do and she loves them the way they do and they have this bond.”Kent and Emmett, who got engaged in 2018, announced they are expecting a child of their own in September 2020.The pair welcomed their baby girl, Ocean, in March 2021.Us confirmed in November 2021 that they split, calling off their three-year engagement. The pair sparked breakup speculation one month prior after Kent was spotted without her engagement ring while out in Los Angeles.Scroll through for a complete timeline of Kent and Emmett’s ups and downs:[podcast_block]

The twosome first crossed paths in December 2015.

“He came in for a Christmas dinner and sent his assistant up to me and asked me if he could get my manager’s contact info because he wanted me in a film,” Kent explained to Cosmopolitan in 2018 about meeting Emmett. “And so then we started that whole process, I booked the film and then we just had this instant connection. It was my first season of [Vanderpump Rules]. I think only like, three episodes had aired of Season 4.”

Kent referred to Emmett as “my man” during several seasons of Vanderpump Rules.

The pair went public with their relationship in early 2018.

“2017 … You were tough. You were amazing. You made me cry. You made me smile. & sometimes you really sucked. But look where You brought me- Just as a human being,” Kent captioned a photo with Emmett via Instagram. “I want everyone to remember to shake things off. Go with your heart, go with your gut. Trust your mind. People can say things. People can write things … but no one in the entire world knows your truth. Only you do. Never forget that.”

Emmett popped the question on the beach in September 2018.

“I can’t stop calling him my fiancé,” she gushed to Us at the time. “My face hurts from smiling! I just can’t believe I get to have this man forever. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

After a public feud with 50 Cent, the couple sparked split speculation when Kent deleted all of her pics of Emmett on Instagram. Us later confirmed that they were still together — and planning to wed in April 2020.

After refusing to appear on the Bravo hit for several years, Emmett had a role on season 8 of Vanderpump Rules, which filmed during the summer of 2019.

“She had to do a lot of begging,” Emmett told Us in November 2019. “Here’s the thing, for three seasons she asked politely slash begged, and then we got to a point where we decided, she said, ‘Look please, it’ll be a nice thing to show who we really are.’ And … Lala gets her way. There you go.”

Kent and Emmett were forced to cancel their April 18 nuptials amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today would be the day I’d be heading to our wedding location to start prepping and getting settled in with my mama and mama-in-law to-be. I know people have been affected by this in much bigger ways. I do feel sad today, though,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “I haven’t experienced anything that I should have. Bachelorette party, bridal shower. It’s just all very weird.”

While the twosome was determined to exchange vows in 2020, Emmett confirmed to Us in August that they rescheduled to July 2021.

“It was this weird thing because it was April, obviously, and then we pushed it to September or October, and we thought that life would be somewhat back to normal [by then]. That obviously wasn’t true,” he told Us. “So she called me up one day, and she was like, ‘Babe, we have to move this wedding.’ And I was like, ‘No, we’re not moving. We’ll have it with five people.’ And she’s like, ‘No, you don’t want that version of this wedding. So we need to do the right thing.’”

The twosome have been open about how hard the quarantine has been on their romance.

“Randall and I have almost broken up about a dozen times, so, you know, this is definitely a test for people’s relationships, but it’s so crazy because, you know, you sit there and you start bickering about little things and you start overanalyzing everything, and, like, we really have just like elevated our relationship in such an amazing way,” Kent admitted. “I know we’re always gonna argue and of course we were never really going to end the relationship, but, you know, you’re stuck with someone. We’re in such a great place I didn’t even think we could get any better.”

Two months later, the Utah native wiped Emmett from her Instagram page — again. She later revealed that she was just mad at him for not helping her bring in the groceries and revealed that the couple have had each other blocked on social media since the beginning of their relationship.

“It won’t be the last time I archive pictures of Rand when he makes me mad,” she explained. “I’m petty AF. It will happen again and again until I grow out of it & it’s the most petty thing I do, I’m OK with it.”

Not long after Emmett told Us that the duo was getting serious about baby-making, they announced Kent is pregnant.

“I am so excited. I feel very maternal and motherly,” she said on their podcast, “Give Them Lala … With Randall” at the time. “I cry about everything. I look at the refrigerator and it could be empty or full and I’m, like, is [it] happy or sad, I don’t know.”

Kent shared the first photo of their baby girl, Ocean, via Instagram.

Kent opened up to Us about feeling like she's in a rush to have another baby.

"Randall says, ‘You’re so young.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re not,’” the Utah native joked at the time. "It doesn’t have to be right away because I am just so in love, and I want to enjoy [my daughter], for as long as possible. … I definitely want to have another baby."

Emmett, for his part, also admitted to Us that he wasn't in any rush yet.

“She keeps talking about another baby,” the director exclusively told Us in July 2021. “So I’m like, ‘Slow down!’”

For the Florida native, getting to enjoy themselves in the moment was the most important thing.

“Now that the baby’s out and thriving, we have had some really good date nights and have found a way to have our [time] where everybody is out of the way,” he added. "We’re thriving.”

Following Emmett's directorial debut of his movie Midnight in the Switchgrass, Kent took to social media to gush about the accomplishment.

"& to my soulmate. My life partner. My baby daddy. Congratulations. I am so proud of you. You did it, boo," the Bravolebrity wrote via Instagram.

Kent sparked split rumors after she removed all traces of Emmett from her Instagram profile. She also "liked" a meme with the caption, "All of us if Rand cheated on Lala," which showed Lisa Rinna holding a gun in the direction of the director's head. The Give Them Lala author also posted an Instagram Story that showed her friends carrying luggage and pushing baby Ocean's stroller through a hotel, soundtracked to "Sorry" by Beyoncé.

Us confirmed that Kent and Emmett had parted ways. “Randall did not want to split but it was Lala’s decision,” an insider told Us at the time. “The trust is gone. He’s been trying to win her back.”

Kent spoke to the Los Angeles Times for a lengthy exposé on her former fiancé's alleged misdeeds. In the article, the reality TV star claimed that Emmett "tackled me and knocked me to the ground" after she took his phone while confronting him for his alleged infidelity.

Emmett has denied all claims presented in the report.

After Childers sought a restraining order from Emmett, Kent voiced her support for the Aquarius alum.

“Ambyr’s story is not mine to tell. The many other alleged victims' stories are also not mine to tell. I am horrified by what took place, and the alleged emails between R*ndall E*mett and his counsel," the Bravo personality wrote via her Instagram Story, referring to an alleged email exchange between Emmett and his lawyer where the Midnight in the Switchgrass director wrote that he wanted to "take this c—t out once and for all," referring to Childers.

In court documents obtained by Us, Emmett claimed that Kent was to blame for his ex-wife's abuse allegations.

"I believe that Ambyr and Lauren [Kent's real name] are working together in [an] attempt to destroy my reputation to give them both an advantage for custody. Ambyr has completely fabricated abuse that never happened and I believe that Lauren has convinced her to do so," he claimed.

Elsewhere in the declaration, the Irishman producer alleged, "Ambyr’s claims now stem from her friendship with my former fiancée, Lauren Burningham, the mother of my youngest daughter, Ocean … Lauren and I are in the middle of a very contentious custody litigation, in which Lauren has made false allegations of abuse, though she has never filed a DVRO Request against me, because she knows she is not a victim of abuse."

Kent slammed her exes’ claims that she convinced Childers to accuse him of abuse. “When the day comes that you crash and burn, you can try to blame everyone around you for your demise,” she wrote via her Instagram Story at the time. “And not if, but when that day comes — where your truth is revealed that you desperately tried to cover up — you will have to look in the mirror and know [that] no one did this to you but you.”

Kent claimed that Emmett had gotten engaged to his new girlfriend — who she did not name — during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “They’re engaged, they’ve been engaged for a while,” she said on the show. She went on to joke that the engagement ring “probably” featured a fake gem. In December 2021, she claimed that her 6-carat engagement ring was not valued at the amount Emmett had claimed.

Following the episode, a rep for Emmett denied engagement rumors. “Randall is not in any way, shape or form engaged,” the rep told Us. “Anyone who says otherwise is either lying, ill-informed or both.”

Emmett broke his silence on a Hulu doc titled Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing and Vanderpump, which will dive into the several allegations made against him over the years. “Almost one year ago the Los Angeles Times wrote a highly biased and factually inaccurate hit piece on me,” he said in a statement at the time. “One of the writers, Amy Kaufman, seemed to have a personal vendetta against me, I believe due to her alleged friendship with my ex Lala Kent.”

His message continued: “Among other things, the article contained fictitious and greatly exaggerated stories made up by a few former disgruntled employees who had been dismissed. Lala was also a participant in this fiasco, likely because I have been fighting for 50/50 joint legal custody of our child.”