Stassi Schroeder, Brittany Cartwright, Lala Kent and Scheana Shay all gave birth this year — and Ariana Madix saw firsthand how Katie Maloney felt during the Bravo baby boom.
“I didn’t realize she was getting pressure from people,” the Florida native, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, October 18, while promoting season 9 of Vanderpump Rules. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff online toward her, and it just makes me feel bad. I just wanted her to know, like, ‘I’m here, and I’m not pregnant.’ I was like, ‘We can have a hot girl summer. We can just do whatever we want. But when the time is right, go ahead and plan for it. For now, let’s go have fun.’”
The Fancy AF Cocktails author went on to say that Maloney, 34, still felt “left out” as she and her husband, Tom Schwartz, struggled to conceive.
“I do remember Katie was over at one point during the [coronavirus] pandemic, and she said, ‘Yeah, we’re trying,’” Madix recalled. “Then she said, ‘We’re going to Palm Springs, and it’s going to be when I’m ovulating.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Good luck.’”
Maloney and Schwartz, 39, have been open over the years about trying to start a family. In September 2020, the “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast cohost clarified that she felt “zero FOMO” as her costars welcomed babies.
The Utah native wrote via Instagram at the time: “It will happen for us when it’s right. Sometimes it just takes time and doesn’t always happen [on] the first try.”
She and the Minnesota native initially thought that they would conceive “right away … once [they] pulled the goalie,” Maloney said in an April clip of the Bravo show. After telling Schwartz to “maybe go and get [his] sperm tested,” he replied that he was staying away from hot tubs.
The reality stars got engaged in July 2015 and wed in August of the following year in California. While their initial ceremony wasn’t legal, they remarried in Las Vegas in 2019.
As they wait to conceive, Maloney told her podcast listeners in November 2020 that she is “having fun” supporting Schroeder, 33, Cartwright, 32, Kent, 31, and Shay, 36, as they raise Hartford, Cruz, Ocean and Summer, respectively.
Maloney is the Next Level Basic author’s 9-month-old daughter’s godmother. “My Dear little Hartford, I am so happy to finally meet you today,” Maloney captioned February photos with the infant via Instagram. “I can’t wait to watch you grow, you are already so curious and can’t wait to know all your little thoughts. Maybe one day I will tell you stories about your mom, and it will be our secret. I’m honored to be your God Mother, I love you.”
Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
