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Another day, another Bravo cheating scandal. Ever since Jax’s suggestion that Michelle’s relationship with a famous director could be the cause of her and Jesse’s marital issues, Bravoholics have been asking: Who is the director Michelle from The Valley is friends with and why did she and Jesse break up? Well, some Bravo sleuths think they’ve solved the mystery.
Michelle Lally is a cast member on Bravo’s reality TV series The Valley, a spin-off of Vanderpump Rules following five couples who live in the San Fernando Valley, California. The show features former Vanderpump Rules cast members Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright, and Kristen Doute. Michelle, a real estate agent, is married to fellow real estate agent, Jesse Lally. The two share daughter Isabella.
News broke in March 2024 that Jesse and Michelle had separated after almost six years of marriage. The news came after The Valley premiere in Jax’s bar in Studio City, California, where they didn’t walk the red carpet together. “There’s a major story line about our life where I try to work on myself throughout the entire summer to be the best version of myself,” Jesse told Us Weekly at the time. “And if the best version of myself aligned with the best version of herself, then our marriage would make it. People evolve. If your marriage and relationship doesn’t evolve with it, it will never work no matter how bad you want it.”
Ever since the news, fans have wondered the real reason for Michelle and Jesse’s split. Well, the plot thickened after Season 1, Episode 5, of The Valley, in which Jax hinted that Michelle’s close relationship with a famous director may have been the cause for relationship issues between her and Jesse. So who is the director Michelle from The Valley is friends with? Read on for what we know.
Who is the director Michelle from The Valley is friends with?
Who is the director Michelle from The Valley is friends with? Rumors that Michelle Lally cheated on her now-ex-husband, Jesse, sparked in Season 1, Episode 5, when their Valley co-star Jax asked Jesse about Michelle’s friendship with a mystery director who wasn’t named on screen. “Michelle always claims she doesn’t know who famous people are. But she was going on with that director, she was going out with him for a couple days straight,” Jax said in a confessional interview. “She goes to the Château [Marmont] every day from her house and she happened to meet him at the pool and they get along. It turned out to be another day. And then another day, Like, you don’t think this is peculiar?”
Jax continued, “I know she’s a real estate agent so this is a potential customer. Jesse doesn’t seem too bothered by it. I don’t know whether I believe it or not.”
When asked by Jax about Michelle’s relationship with the director, Jesse joked, “She was with him for the entire night, they got wrecked. They had dinner the other night with a famous actor. I told her to hike up her skirt and drop her blouse down. Whatever you had to do.” Luke Broderick, another Valley co-star, then asked Jesse if he felt “comfortable” with Michelle spending “eight or nine hours alone” with someone who is “super faous and wealthy,” to which Jesse assured that he was.
“I think when you are secure enough in your relationship or in yourself, you trust that Michelle is not going to do anything. If she does something then it is on her and I get to tell Isabella for the next 40 years that her mom fucked everything up,” Jesse told Luke, referencing his and Michelle’s daughter. “I wouldn’t [work through it if she cheated]. That’s the one straw. I will remedy everything else but cheating [is no]. I let her do whatever she wants and trust that she can make the right decisions.”
The rumors intensified when Luke hinted in a confessional interview that he had had been keeping a secret about Michelle and Jesse’s marriage. “I know Jesse and Michelle’s relationship isn’t the best, but I’m also holding a secret that can just end everything,” Luke said. When producers asked Luke to expand on what he knew, he laughed nervously before ending the conversation. “Things, uh, I don’t know how to say this,” Luke said.
Luke’s interview also came after a heated fight between Michelle and Luke’s girlfriend, Kristen Doute, in which Kristen told Michelle that she had “done nothing but protect you,” suggesting that she also knew a secret about Michelle and Jesse’s marriage.
So who is the director Michelle from The Valley is friends with? While The Valley hasn’t confirmed the director Jax was referring to, the most popular theory is Quentin Tarantino. During Episode 5, Jax joked that Michelle and the unnamed director were spending time together. “Michelle is hanging out with [redacted] right now. So that’s an opportune time,” Jax said, to which co-star Jason Caperna responded, “Is [redacted] in Malibu right now? What’s going on with that?” While The Valley bleeped out the director’s name, fans who can lip read claim that both Jax and Jason said Tarantino.
“My money is on Tarantino on who she is hooking up with,” wrote a Twitter user. Another user wrote, “It appears as though Jax says Quentin Tarantino. 👀 #TheValley.” A third user added, “I saw some other people mention Quinton Tarantino – I’m just as curious though #TheValley.” One more user wrote, “I don’t watch the valley but I have watched Jax on TV for many years, and I think the director he blurred out was “Quentin Tarantino” #TheValley.”
Tarantino — who has directed movies like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained, Inglorious Bastards, Kill Bill and Jackie Brown — was also a popular suggestion in a Reddit thread titled: “ok.. WHO is the famous director?”
“I watched jax’s mouth replayed over and over and convinced it’s Quentin Tarantino,” a user wrote. Another added, “I agree. I just watched this over and over. That’s what Jax said. Jason asked “Is Tarantino in Malibu right now? which made everyone laugh.” One more user added, “SAME!!!!!! 95% sure he was saying Tarantino!”
Others also commented on how Tarantino’s wife, Daniella Pick, whom he shares two children with, looks like Michelle. “Ok reading the comments, i do think it’s QT. His wife looks like Michelle,” a user wrote. Another user added, “Omg they could be sisters! You nailed it.”
For more on Vanderpump Rules, check out Ariana Madix’s book, Single AF Cocktails: Drinks for Bad B*tches
. The New York Times bestseller features a collection of stories and cocktail recipes that represent Madix’s life after her world was turned upside down by her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval’s affair with her Vanderpump Rules co-star Raquel Leviss, a controversy now known as Scandoval. “Each drink tells part of the story from her point of view, from when she first met her ex, through the insidious affair and its painful aftermath, and to her present state, coming out the other side, stronger than before,” the publisher’s description reads.
