Credit: MEGA, Bravo
Katie Maloney warned ex-husband Tom Schwartz about his business partner and friend, Tom Sandoval, after learning of his affair with Raquel Leviss.
While appearing on Nick Viall‘s podcast this week, the Vanderpump Rules star said her former spouse is “very much concerned” about their businesses, suggested Sandoval would drown Schwartz to save himself if he had been the exposed cheater as she spoke of her sandwich shop with Ariana Madix, threw shade at Raquel, and teased the upcoming reunion.
“Schwartz is very much subservient to Tom in a lot of ways. He lets Tom kind of dominate him and the friendship and the business. And because Schwartz is kind of, like, wants to just go with the flow and doesn’t want to be confrontational about things had the roles been reversed — let’s say in this whole situation with the Scandoval — I told him that, you know, ‘I think Tom would throw you under the bus and save himself,’” Katie said on the April 4 episode of The Viall Files, via Us Weekly. “’He would drown you if the ship was sinking and save [himself].’”
Katie also pointed out that Sandoval’s decision to engage in a months-long affair with Raquel came with complete disregard for how it would impact Schwartz.
“I told [Schwartz], I’m like, ‘Now that you’ve really hitched your wagon to this person, and you’re in business with this person, and the fact that they could go out into the world, and be so careless and not think about the ramifications and how it could affect you — that has to be frustrating to you,’” Katie shared.
Learning from their ex’s mistakes, Katie said she and Ariana want to do “everything” differently with their sandwich shop, Something About Her, which is expected to open in West Hollywood later this year.
“We wanted to really crystallize our idea and our plan, budget, branding, all of it, before we even started spending any kind of real money,” Katie explained. “We worked with a consulting company who’ve opened their own restaurants, who have helped other people, you know, relaunch [businesses from] hotels to coffee shops to other bars and restaurants around L.A.”
As for how Ariana’s been holding up, Katie said she’s “feeling really good” — “for the most part.”
“She has a really healthy outlook on it all. She wants to just leave it in the past, move on,” Katie revealed. “She thinks they’re scumbags. … She understands that, like, every day her life is gonna get better. But you know, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
After all, it was her boyfriend of nine years and her close friend of several years who betrayed her.
“I think Ariana was just wholeheartedly like, ‘I trust this girl so much. And I’m not, like, a jealous type person or not of this situation. I don’t get jealous of my friends. And I trust her, and I don’t think for a moment that she would ever do this,’” Katie suspected.
Speaking of her own experience with Raquel, who made out with her then-estranged husband, Schwartz, last summer, around the time her romance with Sandoval began, Katie admitted it was possible that Raquel had feelings for both Toms.
“She’s always been a fan so maybe she really did like them both,” Katie said. “[But] at the end of the day, it was still extremely hurtful because I had sat in front of her not once but twice, and told her that it would hurt me.”
Looking back at the March 23 taping of the Pump Rules reunion, Katie admitted “multiple people” surprised her, including one co-star in particular who she didn’t name.
“I was definitely interested in people’s body language. And the way the body language was changing depending on who was speaking to them or who they spoke to,” she explained. “This person at times would either just be, like, kind of hunched over and staring at the ground. And other times they, you know, would be a little bit more animated — just depending on who was addressing them or who they addressed.”
And looking ahead to season 11, Katie said the idea of filming with Sandoval and Raquel sounds like a “nightmare” before noting it’s part of “the job.”
“How do I make sense of, like, ‘I’m going to be in the same room as this person?’ Beyond just being, like, this is a show that we do … you have to make it make sense,” Katie said. “We’re just fresh out of this season. I can’t even wrap my head around a next season.”
As for the recently surfaced photos of Raquel at Sandoval and Ariana’s shared home, which were taken when Ariana was out of town, Katie said she believes the couple had an overnight visit.
“I think so,” Katie said, as noted by Page Six. “Like, you don’t just pop by and bring all your overnight luggage.”
After Raquel was seen at Sandoval and Ariana’s place with several bags, Sandoval’s rep denied she had slept in the home. But either way, Katie believes that because Raquel “has her own place,” they should’ve gone there.
“I mean, this whole thing began out of poor judgment and no shame, so for them to apply any of that now, I mean, please,” she said.
Also on the podcast, per Us Weekly, Katie discussed her ups and downs with Scheana Shay.
“It’s 10 years of knowing each other,” she explained of their drama. “Maybe we just aren’t meant to be friends because we just have different personalities. … I feel like with Scheana it’s been this kind of a cyclical thing where she does this thing where she’ll throw rocks and hide her hands.”
“She does want to take responsibility for the little sh-t stirring that she does,” Katie added.
Vanderpump Rules season 10 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.