Lisa Vanderpump on Becoming a Grandmother — and Her Sweet New Work Venture

The reality star talks about becoming a grandmother and keeping her restaurants open through COVID while chatting about her new Febreze partnership

Published on August 23, 2021 05:40 PM

Life is smelling a little sweeter for Lisa Vanderpump these days.

Not only is the reality star and restaurateur about to become a grandmother, she recently partnered with Febreze on a project that bridges her love of animals with her penchant for the finer things in life: a touch-activated fabric spray called Febreze Unstopables TOUCH Fabric Refresher that, for her, eliminates the odor of her many dogs on her furniture.

"I love for my house to smell beautiful," Vanderpump, 60, tells PEOPLE. "I'm cooking, I've got sofas in the kitchen, I've got dog beds here and there … [my home], Villa Rosa, is really my sanctuary and I love my things to feel clean. It really does work."

Keeping her home tidy — and COVID-safe — is a huge priority for the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star as she prepares to welcome her first grandchild in less than three months.

"It's very happy news for us after losing my brother, my mother and Giggy in the last three years — it's a blessing," Vanderpump says of daughter Pandora's pregnancy. "I love children, I love being a mother … it's such welcome news for us."

Sharing that "Nanny Pinky" is the name that's been "bestowed" upon her by Pandora and husband Jason Sabo, Vanderpump says she's had a touch of grandmotherly practice recently thanks to the arrival of Vanderpump Rules babies Summer Shay (Scheana Marie Shay's daughter) and Ocean Emmett (Lala Kent's little girl).

"I got my hands on them, though they weren't part of filming too much," she shares. "But they are beautiful babies, beautiful mothers. I'm very, very happy for them."

Vanderpump has kept safety standards high on Rules and her other series — Vanderpump Dogs, Pooch Perfect and Overserved — as well as in her restaurants, where she and husband Ken recently announced patrons must be vaccinated or produce negative COVID-19 test results to enter.

Lisa Vanderpump x Febreze — Courtesy Febreze

"A lot of people welcome that to keep others safe," she says. "I've had a few people call me the Gestapo or things like that, but I'm a pro-vaxxer and worry about people who can't be vaccinated because they're at risk."

Sharing that the community of West Hollywood has been "incredible" to her restaurants and bars SUR, Pump and Tom Tom, Vanderpump says she feels "lucky" to have made it through the pandemic with her businesses mostly intact.

"A lot of our friends went out of business, and to see that is devastating, when people put their life and heart and soul into it," she says of restaurant closures that swept the nation. "You can't be ambivalent about the restaurant business, you have to be in it 1,000 percent, and a lot of people lost everything."

She also has another venue underway in Las Vegas — a Parisian-themed eatery set to open in Caesars Palace later this year — and feels fortunate to be seeing the other side of what's been "a really, really rough three years as a family," she says.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she adds. "Life's not easy — even though sometimes I may make it look easy, it's not. But we're getting there."