Vanderpump Rules’ Katie Maloney Drags Tom Schwartz Into Tom Sandoval Interview Backlash
Vanderpump Rules star Katie Maloney thinks her ex-husband, Tom Schwartz, should come get his man Tom Sandoval.
After the Instagram account @Bravobybetches highlighted an eyebrow-raising comment that Sandoval, 41, made during his Tuesday, February 20, interview with The New York Times Magazine, Maloney, 37, took to the comments section.
“Hey Tom Schwartz you wanna come explain what he was really trying to say?” Maloney wrote on Tuesday, calling out Schwartz’s habit of defending Sandoval’s intentions.
The quote in question came when Sandoval attempted to compare the fallout from his cheating scandal with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss to the national conversations surrounding O.J. Simpson’s murder trial and the 2020 murder of George Floyd committed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Tom Sandoval Compares Himself to O.J. Simpson in New Interview: The Most Unhinged Moments
“I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?” Sandoval said.
Maloney isn’t the only one who found the remark tone-deaf. The Real Housewives of Miami’s Guerdy Abraira also commented on the @Bravobybetches post, writing, “The disrespect … and on Black history month … WOW just plz ?? ??.”
In a subsequent comment, Abraira, 46, added, “@Tomsandoval1 PLEASE reflect on this repulsive statement you made (regarding GEORGE FLOYD r.i.p) especially on Black history month and take it back!! NOT OK! An immediate apology is in order Sir!”
Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard star Jordan Emanuel chimed in, “Comparing slinging d–k to a Black man being murdered in front of our eyes during Black History Month is something I just don’t have words for.”
The New York Times Magazine profile explored how Sandoval “became the most hated man in America” after his affair with Leviss, 29, came to light in March 2023. He and then-girlfriend Ariana Madix called it quits after nine years of dating in the wake of the scandal.
“I feel like I got more hate than Danny Masterson, and he’s a convicted rapist,” Sandoval told the outlet. (Masterson, 47, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in September 2023 for forcible rape.)
Sandoval has been open about how the public backlash affected his mental health.
“If I f–king say I am sorry and I cry then it is [called] crocodile tears. I battled with suicide [thoughts],” he told Lisa Vanderpump during the February 13 episode of Vanderpump Rules. “I was hanging on by a thread. The walls start closing and you can’t see past the hurt and the pain. You can’t dream about better days. I was getting to the point where I was like, ‘What is the f–king point?'”
Sandoval previously said during a December 2023 appearance on the “Two Ts in a Pod” podcast that he and Leviss “literally [debated] on f–king killing ourselves” at one point.
Leviss, who did not return for season 11 of VPR, slammed Sandoval’s comments during the Monday, February 19, episode of her “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast.
“It is not OK for somebody else to tell other people that they have expressed feelings of not wanting to live anymore,” she said. “It was like, ‘Whoa, why are you talking about this personal information? That was privy to only your ears?’ … The way that he said it too, he made it seem like we had a suicide pact, like it was some sort of Romeo and Juliet love story. That really angered me.”
Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
