All part of the game? Katie Maloney has a compelling theory on why Tom Sandoval told Tom Schwartz about his secret affair with Raquel Leviss.
“I think right after the wedding — after [Schwartz] and Raquel kissed — is when Sandoval told him. Because I think Raquel was playing funny games with Sandoval. [She was] maybe trying to make him jealous because, ‘Well I’m single, I can do what I want. You have a girlfriend [Ariana Madix], so I’m gonna go kiss your friend,'” Maloney, 36, explained during her Wednesday, May 10, appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
The Utah native continued: “So then Sandoval came and put a kibosh on it and told Schwartz that him and Raquel have a thing going on so Schwartz wouldn’t pursue Raquel. Doesn’t that make sense? So now, Schwartz knows about it but Schwartz isn’t going to do anything about it because he’s been Sandoval’s vault for years.”
Bravo viewers originally tuned into season 10 of Vanderpump Rules to see Schwartz’s shocking hookup with Leviss, 28, amid his divorce from Maloney. However, things took a turn on and off screen when news broke in March that Sandoval, 40, was cheating on Madix, 37, with the model.
In response, the “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast host slammed Leviss for her behavior toward her costars. “I gave you every opportunity. I was so kind to you when I didn’t have to be, but I was,” Maloney said on Lala Kent‘s “Give Them Lala” podcast that same month. “The fact that you didn’t really step [up] or appreciate that or recognize that and you walked all over that and took a giant dump on it, you’re an idiot.”
Maloney, who announced her split from Schwartz, 40, in March 2022, said she had no sympathy for Leviss amid the public controversy, adding, “You deserve … what’s coming to you right now.”
The Minnesota native, for his part, revealed when he found out about his business partner’s affair. “I learned about the affair in August. The one-night stand was in August and then it became, from my point of view, it became an emotional affair. Which is still inappropriate, but I didn’t think it was linear,” he said on WWHL one month later. “[Then] in January, he came to me and told me that he was in love with Raquel.”
Schwartz went on to draw backlash when he referred to Maloney as a “monster” during the talk show. “She’s way better now. Katie, I love you but in the beginning, she was kind of a monster,” the TomTom co-owner added at the time. “She was a monster. She has had a falling out with every single person in her life multiple times. And I just didn’t like getting dragged into all that and I guess I became a little numb when she actually did need me. It’s like the boy who cried wolf.”
After the episode, Maloney called out her ex via social media. “I was called a monster too many times to count,” she tweeted. “Tonight’s #wwhl didn’t phase me. Sadly.”
The Something About Her cofounder reflected on the decline in her marriage on Wednesday after being asked whether Sandoval attributed to the split.
“Sandoval’s influence and their friendship definitely got in the way of a lot. I think Schwartz didn’t really come to the table on his own,” she told Andy Cohen. “It is true and it is not. It didn’t help our marriage. Their friendship did not help our marriage at all.”
Maloney’s insight comes shortly after former costar Jax Taylor claimed she would still be with Schwartz if it wasn’t for Sandoval.
“I would like to think they would still be together if it weren’t for Sandoval,” Taylor, 43, shared on his and wife Brittany Cartwright’s three-episode stint on Peacock’s Watch With feature, which premiered in April. “As much as Katie drives me nuts, I see her point.”
