Tom Schwartz Addresses Relationship With Rumored Girlfriend Jo Wenberg, & New Pic With Raquel

Tom Schwartz is addressing his relationship with “dear friend” Jo Wenberg.

After admitting to Scheana Shay that the two of them stayed up until 4 a.m. on Wednesday’s episode of Vanderpump Rules, Schwartz gushed over the cast’s longtime hairstylist, explained the nature of their relationship, and reacted to Raquel Leviss‘ controversial Instagram pic of the two of them.

“Jo is a bad-ss hairstylist. … I think she’s a beautiful soul,” Schwartz told Us Weekly on Wednesday, February 22. “We’re not living together, and we’re not dating either, but she’s just someone who I appreciate on a deep level, and she’s a really cool human being, and we’re just hanging out.”

“I just got out of a 12-year relationship. I cannot be in a committed — I can’t dive back into another relationship,” Schwartz continued. “It wouldn’t be fair to the other person ‘cause I’m kind of consumed with, like, business and my family, and I’m kind of falling in love with myself all over again.”

As Pump Rules fans may recall, Schwartz was first linked to Jo, a former friend of Kristen Doute, at the end of last year, when the two of them were seen at a concert in an Instagram Story shared by Raquel.

While some have hoped to see Schwartz and Katie reconcile, Schwartz, who did not initiate their split, shot down the idea.

“I’ll always have a very special place in my heart [for Katie], and I’ll always miss the best parts of us, but I would probably say in terms of romance or rekindling the marriage, it’s over,” he said.

But that’s not to say he doesn’t miss his former spouse at times. In fact, after recently listening to an unopened voicemail Katie left him in January 2022, Schwartz got emotional.

“It was one of those, like, voicemails you leave your significant other when you’re in a relationship. It was very nonchalant. It’s not about anything in particular,” he shared. “It’s like, ‘Hey, just checking in, you know, to see about this.’ And I will say, I miss having that. I’m embracing being single, but it’s nice to have someone where you can just, like, call and be like, ‘Hey, what’s going on? You know, I accidentally sharted earlier. It’s so embarrassing. I had to pull over to a gas station.’”

“That was, like, tears started welling up for the first time in a while, but I will say, I’m in a good, healthy place right now,” he added.

Also, during his interview with Us Weekly, Schwartz insisted that the pic he posed for with Raquel was “not meant to be a jab.”

“It was not deliberate. It was not premeditated. I never want to do anything to hurt Katie. I still love her, and it wasn’t malicious,” he stated. “It’s not like we coordinated here. Like, ‘Yeah, let’s stir the pot a little bit.’ I think we were having a really good night, and we were celebrating a milestone. [Raquel] wanted to show some love.”

Although Schwartz may not have intended to rile anyone up, he admitted he wasn’t “naive” about the timing.

“I understand that with the storyline this season — inherently, it could be interpreted as a little rude. But I never do anything maliciously,” he said. “Maybe from time to time I can be careless or slightly inconsiderate, But in regard to Katie, I never want to hurt her. It was never my intention. Given everything that we’ve been through, I feel like we’re on pretty good terms.”

As Pump Rules fans may have seen, Katie reacted to Raquel’s photo with a message that said, “You really thought you did something here, but these comments ATE LOLOL,” and later slammed Raquel as a “desperado.”

Looking back, Schwartz said he was “wary” about looking at social media’s response.

“I’m not too self-righteous to appreciate some good tea. I like some gossip,” he confessed. “But also, I’m just very wary of thriving off of comments or diving into the comments section. I saw a few comments [about VPR episodes], and it hurts when you see something that was so special to you — which was my marriage and my relationship with Katie. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a rich and complicated relationship. To see it just be, like, reduced or belittled into, like, 240 characters — sometimes it does hurt a little bit.”

Vanderpump Rules season 10 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.