What really happened between Jeff Lewis and Jenni Pulos?
The Flipping Out star addressed reports about him parting ways with his longtime business partner and friend on his SiriusXM radio show, Jeff Lewis Live, on Friday. "This season, it's a crazy season, and I'm gonna say that there was a lot employee turnover, it was a very, very stressful time, I had a lot of pressure and I wasn't always my best self," Lewis said of the Bravo show's upcoming season 11. "Around the end of the season, which is around episode 9/10, Jenni and I did have a rift."
"It is true, so Jenni and I did have a fight, which then resulted in a rift," Lewis, who is an executive producer on the show along with Pulos, said. "Now we've been very good friends, pretty much brother and sister I would say, for like 15, 16 years. So, look, we've been through a lot together and we've had fights before. And this fight was very much like, you know, maybe a little more heated, but it was like the other fights, and it was really kind of silly."
Lewis then explained that the fight was set off after he "offered some unsolicited career advice" to Pulos. Prior to their fight, Lewis shared on the radio show, he had brought Real Housewives of Miami alum Lea Black in to talk to his employees. Through that audit, Lewis learned that there were three employees who didn't want to be there, one being Pulos, who said she gave up her acting career and her time to be Lewis' assistant. After hearing this, Lewis was "hurt."
"We elected, at the end of all this, to have her move on from Jeff Lewis Design," he told listeners Friday. "And all of this was actually very civil, I thought."
Lewis said he "initiated" the conversation because he thought it was "the best for both of us" and he doesn't want to "hold her back." He wants her to focus on her passions and he wants someone who is "all in" to work for him.
The Bravo star shared that their fight ended up yielding "positive" results, they had lunch together and he even told Pulos that he still wants her to be on the show.
Lewis also addressed that Pulos doesn't work for him seven months out of the year, "She shows up the day of filming. She leaves the day of filming." So he wanted Pulos to be on the show in a more "authentic" way, as his friend, if there were to be another season.
He went on to share that he thought their friendship was intact, but then he claims that he got a call from production saying that he had been "allegedly reported for abuse and victimization."
On Monday, Lewis claims, Pulos "doubled down" and he was allegedly reported for "wrongfully terminating her off her own show" and allegations of a "hostile work environment."
"I haven't spoken to her in three months," Lewis shared. "I thought we did make up."
Lewis said that Pulos' alleged claims put his "entire career in jeopardy." He later adds that he has been "cleared of all abuse victimization charges."
"I would never do that to her," Lewis said, adding he had to "tell my story."
E! News has reached out to Pulos and Bravo for comment.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)