Nevada Ballet Theatre Honors Lisa Vanderpump As Woman Of The Year 2026

Queen of Reality TV to Woman of the Year

Lisa Vanderpump Reigns Supreme at the
Nevada Ballet Theatre Black & White Ball

By Stacey Gualandi // Photography by Denise Truscello

Say hello to your 2026 Woman of the Year, daaaaahlings!

Lisa Vanderpump, aka the Queen of Beverly Hills and beyond, earned a new title when Nevada Ballet Theatre honored the businesswoman, author, TV personality and philanthropist at the 42nd annual Black & White Ball, its largest annual fundraiser.

“To be honored by the world of ballet, by an art form that has given so much for so many centuries, I cannot tell you what that means to me,” Vanderpump said. “To be recognized in this incredible city is one thing, but to be truly celebrated is just something else.”

Held inside the Encore Ballroom, with Wynn Resorts as presenting sponsor alongside Mikimoto, Vanderpump shared how important it is to celebrate the arts and support Nevada Ballet Theatre’s community education programs, which reach 20,000 students annually through free dance classes, scholarships and other essential arts programming.

She accepted her Richard MacDonald sculpture award following performances by NBT’s Future Dance and Dance Discovery scholars, the NBT professional company performing “Red Angels” and students from NBT’s award-winning competition group.

“I believe raising children to love the arts and find joy in music and movement, in the beauty that this world has to offer, is essential to a truly well-grounded education,” she said.

While Vanderpump is best known for appearing in more than 350 hours of television, as well as producing more than 200, she began her career in the spotlight as a young ballet student who went on to teach community theater as a young mother.

She said it was the most satisfying thing she’s ever done and admits dance shaped her more than perhaps anything else in her life.

“I fell in love with dance as a young girl, and what it gave me was so much more than the ability to move gracefully. It gave me discipline. It gave me dedication. It taught me that beauty, real beauty, is not accidental. It’s earned,” Vanderpump said.

“Those of us who have lived it, we know what that truly means … It means climbing into bed at night with bleeding toes. It means doing the same movement hundreds of times until it looks to the audience like you simply floated onto that stage, and it costs you nothing. That is the great illusion of ballet.”

Lance Bass, one-fifth of ^★NSYNC, gave a special tribute to his longtime “bestie,” calling her “the hardest-working woman.”

“She’s as funny as they come, an incredibly supportive ally and someone whose generosity and kindness know no bounds, even if sometimes she’s the most inappropriate person I know. She’s promised to behave tonight,” Bass joked. But that was short-lived.

“I do have many similarities with ballet,” Vanderpump said. “I have swans in my lake back home, and my husband [Ken Todd] says after 43 years of marriage, I’m definitely a nutcracker.” Ha!!

With a rich history of honoring female pioneers, icons including Debbie Reynolds, Chita Rivera, Celine Dion, Bette Midler, Marie Osmond, Debbie Allen, Olivia Newton-John, Vanessa Williams and Shania Twain, the Black & White Ball has grown into one of Las Vegas’ preeminent society and fashion events. It all began with the first honoree in 1985, billionaire businesswoman Elaine Wynn.

“I am truly humbled to be here tonight just by virtue of my predecessors,” Vanderpump said. “Elaine Wynn was somebody so welcoming and supportive from one woman to another as I joined Vegas. To me, the woman of Las Vegas was always Elaine Wynn. I loved Elaine, and I was getting to know her personally as a friend, and I absolutely adored her. So when she died [in 2025], it was such a loss to the city. Those are huge shoes to fill, and I doubt, however long I live, I will ever be able to fill her shoes.”

But Vanderpump is certainly taking Wynn’s lead on and off the Strip. She is a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ causes and suicide prevention and runs the Vanderpump Dog Foundation.

Vanderpump is also a designer and award-winning restaurateur who has developed three highly successful Las Vegas venues, including Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace, Vanderpump à Paris at Paris Las Vegas and Pinky’s by Vanderpump at the Flamingo. She now reaches a new milestone: her 40th location will be a hotel with the transformation of The Cromwell into The Vanderpump Hotel.

Her legacy is intact, but while she is proud to be the only person to have ever danced with the legendary Len Goodman on “Dancing With the Stars,” she laughed when I asked if there was one ballet she would love to perform in now.

“Oh, good lord; nobody would come, and nobody would pay,” Vanderpump joked. “Everybody would be very disappointed; let’s leave it at that.”

For more information, visit nevadaballet.org.

Photography by Denise Truscello