Jo Wenberg said last week that she no longer speaks to Tom Schwartz after their onscreen split played out publicly on Vanderpump Rules — and Katie Maloney, Schwartz’s ex-wife, is now coming to her defense.
Maloney, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly that she felt for Wenberg as her short-lived relationship with Schwartz, 41, disintegrated on season 11 of the Bravo hit.
“I don’t think any of us really knew what was truly going on with the two of them because we were getting a very different version or really no information from Tom about what was happening,” Maloney said in an interview alongside Scheana Shay as they promoted their partnership with Chili’s Bar & Grill.
Schwartz and Maloney announced their split in March 2022, with Schwartz and Wenberg first being linked the following December. In February 2023, Schwartz confirmed that he and Wenberg were living together but claimed that they had not hooked up.
Maloney found out about their cohabitation by finding some of her belongings at Tom’s house.
“Seeing their dynamic and seeing how they were together and getting kind of Jo’s perspective on the whole thing was very eye-opening,” Maloney added. “And I kind of did feel for her because he was giving her the runaround and bread crumbing her a bit, and it made me feel a little sad because she did have an investment in him and real feelings there.”
“I think I told him it was a bit of a F-Boy behavior,” she concluded.
Wenberg detailed that behavior on the Thursday, April 11, episode of Rachel “Raquel” Leviss’ “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast.
“He would make up these things and say that we were both dating other people. I wasn’t dating anybody else,” Wenberg said.
While speaking with Us alongside Maloney, Shay, 38, noted that she also received different reports about Schwartz and Wenberg’s relationship.
“I had been hearing things through a mutual friend that Jo and I have of the things that Schwartz was saying to her,” she said. “And so then when I would question him about it, I’m like, ‘One of you is lying because I’m getting two completely different stories here.’”
Similar to Maloney, she felt sympathy for Wenberg watching it all play out on TV.
“Watching it play out and having her at the reunion and hearing a little more of her perspective, I definitely felt for her,” she shared.
Maloney added that she isn’t fazed by the knowledge that Schwartz now has another girlfriend, Sophia Skoro.
“I want him to be with somebody that makes him happy and is good for him and is a positive person and influence in his life,” she said.
To take a break from all the Vanderpump Rules drama, Shay and Maloney like to kick back with a cocktail, like the Chili’s Espresso Martini. Maloney said the new recipe pulls one of her favorite switches — trading out the traditional vodka for tequila.
“I have been swapping out vodka for tequila with everything, so it just makes sense. I think just the flavor is so good,” Maloney shared of the new Chili’s menu item. “I’m a Reposado girl myself. I think it’s just so smooth. I think just the agave, the natural agave and tequila just really comes through and it’s just such a smooth, delicious cocktail and my history with tequila, it just makes sense.”
The Chili’s Espresso Martini is available starting Monday, April 15.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi