A new normal. Vanderpump Rules stars Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney haven’t held back when it comes to discussing their futures following their split.
In March 2022, the reality stars shocked their followers when they announced their breakup via social media. “Well this sucks,” the TomTom co-owner wrote via Instagram. “I’m not the victim. Not gonna write too sad a song. Fully respect Katie’s decision and we’ve had healthy, productive conversations about it. It would be far sadder if she decided to stay with me whilst not happy.”
In his lengthy statement, Schwartz noted that his “heart aches” with the change happening around him. “How am I supposed to capture 12 years of love in a f–king canned Instagram caption. I’m not quite ready to use the ‘D’ word [because] it’s too painful,” he continued. “We had some of the most blissful, romantic, fun times humanly possible over the course of our relationship. I’m talking heaven on earth level joy. She taught me so much about love & being a better partner.”
Maloney, for her part, later got honest what made her decide to pull the plug on their marriage. “The best and only way I can describe it is just waking up and having this voice that just became louder and louder. [Also] just events in my life and in our relationship coming into focus and feeling the weight of them on me,” she shared during an emotional episode of her “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast that same month.
The former SUR waitress officially filed for divorce days after the pair’s split made headlines, and she went on to reveal why she chose to first.
“I realized that I had to really start prioritizing myself and my happiness as well. It just needed to happen. That’s just what everything inside of me was saying, I thought it got to a point where I just felt like I was going to burst,” she explained on her podcast. “For months, it was building up. I felt just disconnected. I felt like I was drifting further and further away.”
Maloney’s decision to focus on her own future became more clear after costar Raquel Leviss ended her engagement to James Kennedy. “When they announced at the reunion that they had broken it up — it was a bit empowering because when you’re trying to figure out what to do and you see other people be strong and their convictions like that, you’re like, ‘All right, I can do it, I can do it,’” the Utah native exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2022.
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Scroll down for everything Maloney and Schwartz have said about moving on amid their divorce: