Vanderpump Rules' Faith Stowers on Her Experience as the Only Black Cast Member: 'It Was a Lot'

Faith Stowers is opening up about her experience on Vanderpump Rules — and the "attacks" she says she faced after leaving the Bravo show.

During an Instagram Live chat with Floribama Shore star Candace Rice, former SUR employee Stowers reflected on her stint as a recurring character in season 4, and her brief reappearance on the show two years later due to her affair with Jax Taylor. As fans recall, the bombshell revelation that Taylor cheated on now-wife Brittany Cartwright with Stowers dominated season 6.

"I did a show with an all-white cast," Stowers said. "I was the only black person on the show. It was a lot."

Vanderpump Rules, which premiered in 2013, has come under fire from fans in the past for its predominantly white cast. Besides Stowers and Tina McDowelle, a recurring character in seasons 1 and 2, there have not been any black stars.

During the Instagram Live, Stowers, 31, said after her hookup with Taylor, 40, was made public, she faced the wrath of other cast members, including Kristen Doute and Stassi Schroeder.

"I felt like after their friend did something that we both were involved in that he's done like, a thousand times, they wanted to attack me instead of him," she said, referring to Taylor's well-documented history of infidelity. "They wanted to attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. I was wrong, I was this, I was that, calling me names, saying my hair was nappy, which is weird coming out of their mouths."

"And I believe it hit the ceiling for me, and made me really want to run for the hills, when Kristen and Stassi decided they were going to call the cops on me," said Stowers, who went on to star in MTV's Ex on the Beach and The Challenge. "I [had] left the show [at that point]. I was invited back to tell my truth, but decided it wasn't going to do anything for me. So I ended up not coming back, I decided to go over to MTV. Once I did that, I felt like they got upset with me."

Stowers said that Schroeder, 31, and Doute, 37, spotted a tabloid article about a black woman wanted for theft, then called police and tried to pin the crimes on her.

"There was this article on Daily Mail where there was an African American lady. It was a weird photo, so she looked very light-skinned and had these different, weird tattoos. They showcased her, and I guess this woman was robbing people," Stowers recalled. "And they called the cops and said it was me. This is like, a true story. I heard this from actually Stassi during an interview."

Schroeder confirmed calling the cops about Stowers during an appearance on the Bitch Bible podcast in 2018. According to RealityTea, she said she and Doute compared the article's "video footage stills" with photos of Stowers to match up their tattoos and wig. Schroeder said she and Doute tried to move their "investigation" further with police, but it didn't work out.

"We are like, we just solved a f---ing a crime," Schroeder said. "We start calling the police. The police don't give a f---. It's really hard to get in touch with the police unless it's an emergency."

Doute tweeted a link to a news story about the woman at large at the time, writing, "hey tweeties, doesn't this ex #pumprules thief look familiar? someone put her on mtv & gave her a platform for press. I didn't wanna go there but I'm going there."

According to Stowers, "it was just funny, because they thought it was me because it was a black woman with a weave."

"So they just assumed it would be me, and they called the cops on me," she said. "It didn't work, so they were upset about that."

"I get people being upset [about the affair], but I didn't understand why I was getting so much heat and the man wasn't," she added.

Reps for Schroeder and Doute did not respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.

Stowers also noted that she didn't get to film any confessional interviews. (Confessionals are typically reserved for main cast members, though.)

"I didn't have anything like that," she said. "It could be different on their end, but in my opinion, I thought it was weird that everybody on the show got to do interviews and confessionals and I didn't even get a chance to do that, to tell my story. Which was a very interesting story, being a black woman in the military at the time. At the time I was still in the army. ... I didn't feel like they appreciated that."

"It was a lot," she added. "But I feel like now I'm in a way better position anyway."

A rep for Bravo did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Before the most recent season of VPR premiered, two new cast members, Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni, came under fire after their years-old racist tweets resurfaced.

The controversy was brought up during part one of the virtual season 8 reunion earlier this week, with Vanderpump explaining why — though she condemned their "heinous" words at the time — she did not fire them.

"If I fired every one of you that have made mistakes, it doesn't matter to what degree, probably none of you would have a job," she said.