Vanderpump Rules’ Katie Maloney Suspects Raquel Plotted Kiss With Tom, Shares Moment Leading to Divorce

Credit: Todd Williamson/Bravo

Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz agreed not to hook up with any of one another’s mutual friends after they parted ways around this time last year. But months later, as filming began on the 10th season of Vanderpump Rules, that agreement went out the window as Tom was caught kissing their co-star, Raquel Leviss.

Before looking back on her decision to divorce Tom and teasing what is to come in the new episodes, Katie reflected on how she felt after learning Tom and Raquel had hooked up amid production, slamming Tom for the disrespectful gesture, and saying her opinion of Raquel “couldn’t be lower.”

“It just made me realize that this person, under no circumstances, will never respect me and will just continue to humiliate me,” Katie told Entertainment Tonight of Tom and Raquel’s kiss on February 7. “It’s toxic. I didn’t want us to be a Vanderpump Rules statistic where it becomes very incestuous.”

According to Katie, she and Tom promised one another they wouldn’t hook up with anyone in their friend group in an effort to maintain their friendship.

“It felt like just such a slap in the face,” Katie explained. “We really had had multiple conversations and were pretty much on the same page about it all, and I couldn’t wrap my head around it.”

Katie also couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Raquel took part in the makeout, and she admitted to feeling “a little bit” like Raquel had plotted the encounter due to the “lead up to it all.”

“My opinion of her couldn’t be lower,” she stated. “I think right now people have a lot of preconceived notions about how and why things went down, and I think you’re gonna be surprised, maybe.”

In early 2022, as Pump Rules was on hiatus, Katie found herself questioning their relationship, confessing to herself that Tom didn’t seem to understand how to meet her needs and didn’t seem willing to put in the work. And while the two of them did go to therapy, nothing improved.

“You think [that] maybe, as somebody grows up, they’re gonna grow out of those things, they’re gonna mature, but that didn’t really happen, unfortunately,” she explained. “I felt like I was just kind of an option and [he was] thinking I was never gonna go anywhere, so he didn’t have to make me a priority ever.”

Moving forward, Katie, who has been linked to Satchel Clendenin and Lukas Gage in recent months, says she’s looking for someone “a little more serious” and “emotionally mature.”

“I just like somebody who has a good sense of humor, we can laugh and play together and just support each other in our endeavors… A true partnership. Someone who is going to be… emotionally supportive and not treat me like I’m an option,” she explained. “[And] I [don’t] want to throw anything in Tom’s face.”

Although Katie is currently single, she’s “not opposed” to getting remarried.

“But it would the whole wedding thing that’s hard to picture myself doing [again]… That I don’t think I would do again,” she noted.

As for where she and Tom stand today, Katie said they’re good.

“We’re not talking every single day. We don’t see each other all the time,” she revealed. “[But] we, for the first time, kind of caught up on my birthday. We had lunch. And that was nice. It was lovely. I was happy to just kind of check in with him.”

Regarding season 10, Katie said she’s excited for viewers to see “a totally different side” of her.

“You’ve never seen me date, you’ve never seen me without Tom… I’m definitely looking forward to that,” she said.

Vanderpump Rules Live Viewing Thread – This is also the live viewing thread for tonight’s Vanderpump Rules season 10 premiere episode. Please share your thoughts below as the episode airs at 9/8c on Bravo.