Lisa Vanderpump’s nephew, Sam, 28, revealed he has been diagnosed with “end-stage liver disease” and could die in the next four to five years without a vital organ transplant.
Sam, who is cast a member on the U.K. reality show Made In Chelsea, made the revelation during the Monday, October 27, episode in a conversation with costar Ollie Locke.
Sam was previously hospitalized in December 2024 after suffering from kidney and liver failure due to a genetic condition. Upon being admitted to the hospital, he was diagnosed with life-threatening sepsis.
“We had a call from the doctors and I’ve got end-stage liver disease,” Sam said during Monday’s episode of Made In Chelsea on E4. “There is no hope of my liver getting better, and he said, ‘I wouldn’t be having this call with you if I thought you could make it through the next four or five years.’ They’re sending me for a liver transplant assessment.”
When Ollie, 38, asked how Sam how he was feeling, he responded, “The way I look at it, I’m healthy now. Hopefully I remain healthy all the way up until one day [when] they’ll give me a call, and I’ll go in for a surgery. And then I wake up and I’ll be healthier.”
The Vanderpump Rules star’s nephew joined the cast of Made In Chelsea in season 27, which aired last year. The show is currently airing its 30th season and Lisa, 65, made a cameo appearance during a recent episode in which Sam and fiancée Alice Yaxley broke the news to the Bravo star that they are expecting a baby.
Sam and Alice, 24, announced their engagement in March after just six months of dating.
“Alice and I have only been dating for about six months, but we’ve gone through such a lot in such a short period of time. From day dot, Alice has been with me pretty much 24/7,” Sam told OK! magazine at the time. “And over Christmas we went through a bit of an episode together where I got really, really ill. I got an infection due to a genetic disease I’ve got, which led to sepsis and it ended up quite bad. I was in hospital and it was a close call, I could have died.”
“That experience brought us very, very close. I think I walked out of that, looking at Alice and thinking, ‘This is the girl I want to marry.’ So, my thinking was, ‘If I’m saying that now, why on earth am I waiting?’” he added.
In September, the couple announced that they are expecting their first child in a joint Instagram post. “Life is full of surprises, but this is the best one yet. I can’t put into words how happy and excited we are! 🤍,” they wrote alongside a photo of an ultrasound scan and another of Sam kissing Alice’s growing baby bump.
Sam’s famous aunt made an appearance on the October 20 episode of Made In Chelsea as he broke the news to Lisa that Alice is expecting.
Before meeting with Lisa, Sam told his friends, “My aunt is the most amazing person ever, but I’m actually quite terrified.”
Some stars have continued to open up about their health battles — including with something as serious as septic shock. According to the Mayo Clinic, sepsis is a serious condition in which the body improperly responds to an infection, causing the organs to work poorly. In August 2025, Bringing Up Bates star Erin Bates went […]
Later, over tea with the Sur restaurateur, the couple broke the news to Lisa. “This is great,” she reacted. “I couldn’t be happier. I’m so happy for you.”
Sam is the son of Lisa’s older brother, Mark, who died by suicide in October 2018 at age 59.
Lisa previously mourned her brother’s death during the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 9 premiere.
“I know my brother well enough to know my brother didn’t mean to do this. It was a cry for help that went horribly wrong,” she said. “There’s a lot of people who say taking a life is selfish, [but] I’ve never felt that.”
During the October 20 episode of Made In Chelsea, Lisa and Sam reminisced on their late loved one.
“He’d be so proud of you now, and so happy,” Lisa told her nephew. “God rest his soul. It has pained us every day since he took his life. We’ll never get over that. That was the worst.”
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