Moving on! Days after Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz finalized their divorce after five years of marriage, the Harper’s Globe actress is opening up about how she’s coping.
“I’m definitely ready for a fresh start. That was very terrifying thing, you know, making that leap and everything, and now I’m really embracing the unknown and the possibility of the unknown,” the Vanderpump Rules star, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly at BravoCon 2022 on Saturday, October 15. “It’s scary. But, you know, one day at a time. There’s some days that are harder than the others, but I just want [Tom and I] to get to a good place and be friends.”
While Katie — who filed for divorce earlier this year — noted that both she and the TomTom cofounder, 39, still have “a lot of love for each other,” it’s been challenging to move forward as singles.
“[It’s] gonna be a work in progress, probably for a long time,” the Utah native said on Saturday while attending the convention at New York City’s Javits Center. “We’ve put so much of our relationship and our life out there for almost the entirety of our relationship, so it would feel wrong in some ways to not be open about it.”
The Bravo costars — who tied the knot in 2016 and again in 2019 after learning they were never legally wed — announced in March that they had decided to separate.
“I never thought I would have to make an announcement like this. But I feel it’s important that I’m open about my life with you,” the “You’re Gonna Love Me” podcast host wrote via Instagram at the time. “After 12 years on an adventure through our life together, Tom and I are ending our marriage. This ending is not met with resentment or animosity, no sides to choose. We have deep admiration for one another that will always remain and cherish our friendship.”
The Minnesota native, for his part, shared his own statement after news of their breakup made headlines. “I’m not the victim. Not gonna write too sad a song,” he captioned an Instagram post. “Fully respect Katie’s decision and we’ve had healthy, productive conversations about it. It would be far sadder if she decided to stay with me whilst not happy.”
Us confirmed on Thursday, October 13, that the twosome’s divorce had been finalized one day earlier and they agreed to split the profits from the sale of their joint California house and divide up their remaining assets.
While Katie is ready to start a new chapter post-divorce, she’s not ready to dive into a new long-term romance at the moment.
“I don’t want, like, a relationship just yet. I just wanna have fun right now,” she told Us on Saturday, teasing that some of her dates may be featured on the next season of Vanderpump Rules. “I didn’t think I’d ever [be in this position and I] thought [Tom] was my forever person, so yeah, this [is] very weird.”
While Katie played coy about who she’s been seeing, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix confirmed during the cast’s BravoCon panel on Saturday that she had the “most surprising hookup” in the new episodes.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
