All roads lead back to the TomTom sweatshirt. Katie Maloney revealed that she first grew suspicious of Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval‘s relationship before their cheating scandal came to light.
“I did not know for a fact. I had suspected [because] there was something about Tom Sandoval and Raquel’s friendship that was very suspicious,” Maloney, 36, recalled on a Thursday, April 13, episode of the “Off The Vine With Kaitlyn Bristowe” podcast.
The Utah native said Leviss’ public support for Sandoval’s band made her question their connection.
“I had seen on forums that she had gone to one of his shows in Sonoma but didn’t post that she was there, which is weird because she is normally front row bopping around [like] the No. 1 fangirl,” she added. “I thought that was weird and none of her friends knew that she went to that show. I was just like, ‘This is odd.'”
Maloney also cited Leviss’ behavior at BravoCon in October 2022 after she was seen wearing merchandise for Sandoval, 40, and Tom Schwartz‘s bar.
“She wore this TomTom hoodie and everyone was commenting how bizarre it was. She went to the Tom and Tom panel and sat in the front row,” the “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast host shared. “And I told Schwartz, ‘She’s following you around like a puppy.’ I thought it was about him because I thought she was after him. And he was like, ‘She wasn’t there for me, trust me.'”
The Bravo star concluded: “That kind of stuck with me in my brain. I started to put things together because there was no evidence or proof of anything. When you are not so up close to something you can see a bit more for what it is.”
Leviss, 28, made headlines in August 2022 when news broke about her hookup with Schwartz before Scheana Shay and Brock Davies‘ wedding. The surprising makeout session came five months after the Minnesota native, 40, announced his split from Maloney following nearly seven years of marriage.
As the beauty pageant contestant discussed her interest in Schwartz on Vanderpump Rules, Us Weekly confirmed her offscreen affair with Sandoval amid his decade-long romance with Ariana Madix.
In response, Sandoval issued a statement slamming speculation that Schwartz was aware of his relationship with Leviss. The Missouri native later posted a second apology after being called out for not mentioning Madix, 37, in his initial response.
Schwartz, for his part, revealed earlier this month that he found out about Sandoval’s infidelity before it made headlines.
“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. [Then] in January, he came to me and told me that he was in love with Raquel,” he said during his appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on April 5.
Meanwhile, Sandoval claimed that he tried to end his relationship with Madix amid his romance with Leviss.
“Like many relationships, it felt like it became more of like a best friends, family [thing] — sometimes roommates,” he said during the Tuesday, April 11, episode of the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. “There were a lot of ways where the relationship was just lacking the intimacy, the connection. We would travel more by ourselves than we would together. I would go to weddings by myself.”
The businessman noted that he and the California native took a step back amid the drama, adding, “We’re really good friends. We are not putting any label on it.”
