Contributor, PEOPLE
Fans have watched the highs and lows of Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney‘s relationship play out since Vanderpump Rules premiered in 2013.
The pair were first introduced by fellow castmate Kristen Doute in 2011, and after five years of dating, they married in 2016. But in 2022, Maloney filed for divorce from Schwartz, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
Since announcing their breakup, the pair have remained friends and continue to spend time with one another. Schwartz has even called the couple "some of the best divorcees ever."
From waiting tables at SUR to relearning to be single, here's a timeline of Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney's relationship.
Schwartz and Maloney met before either one of them appeared on Vanderpump Rules. In an interview with Bravo, Maloney said that costar Doute set them up, and things didn’t go exactly as planned.
Not realizing their meetup was a date, Schwartz showed up with another girl. "That was the funny part … finally I'm meeting this guy that supposedly wants to meet me, that's so perfect for me, and he's got a girl with him," Maloney said.
"The very first night there was no spark," Schwartz added. "But the second night I was introduced to her and given a little backstory, that's when it clicked."
The two said they took their relationship slow: While they initially met in June, their first official date wasn't until September.
In the series premiere of Vanderpump Rules, Schwartz and Maloney appeared as a couple. However, Schwartz wasn’t a main cast member in season 1 and was only occasionally seen as Maloney’s boyfriend and a friend of the group. He became a series regular in 2014.
The couple regularly argued on camera and one of their biggest fights came during an episode of season 2 when the cast went to Mexico for Stassi Schroeder‘s birthday. Schwartz and Maloney started arguing after Scheana Shay and Schwartz suggested that Maloney might have a drinking problem.
Schwartz dumped his drink on Maloney's head, saying, "F— off, man." As her friends dried her off, Maloney said, "I have this relationship all wrong. This relationship is so … this relationship is f—– up, man."
The reality star apologized and they moved on, and years later, Andy Cohen brought up the incident on Watch What Happens Live. When asked if he should apologize for pouring a drink on Maloney’s head, Schwartz said, “Yes, I have thoroughly. I do it on a weekly basis.”
Schwartz proposed to Maloney in 2015.
On July 8, Maloney posted a photo of the couple and her new engagement ring. "So I said … YES!!!!" she captioned the photo.
Schwartz also posted a since-deleted photo of the pair. "The twinkle in my tooth says it all!" he wrote. "She said YES! (Reluctantly) Shout out to @kylechandesign for designing the perfect ring."
In August 2016, Schwartz and Maloney tied the knot in front of the Bravo cameras near Lake Tahoe, California. Surrounded by redwoods at a rustic bed and breakfast, their intimate forest wedding, officiated by Lisa Vanderpump, didn’t hit the small screen until 2017.
Maloney found her Zuhair Murad wedding dress at Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City. “The minute I put it on, there were goosebumps all over,” she told PEOPLE. “I thought, ‘This is it. This is the dress I’m going to marry Tom in.’ You just know. I had such a visceral reaction. It was awesome.”
The newlyweds headed to Bora Bora for their honeymoon. Maloney posted a photo of Schwartz on the beach and wrote, “My husband is looking ffhhhiiiiiiiiinnee!! Honeymooning with my bubba love is dreamy. #dome #twobubbs #tahitiisforlovers.”
Schwartz posted his own photo of the two of them with the caption, "The romance is REAL!"
A 2018 Vanderpump Rules episode focused on accusations that Schwartz had been unfaithful to Maloney — and not for the first time. During an argument, Shay told Maloney that Schwartz had “made out” with a friend of hers.
Costar Lala Kent claimed that while Maloney was in New York, Schwartz got “hammered” and made out with her friend Allie and drunkenly called her “Bubba,” his nickname for Maloney.
When Schwartz was asked about the story, his memory was fuzzy. "There's no way. No, it couldn't have been," he said. "Yeah, I remember going to The Bungalow, but I definitely don't remember making out with anybody. I got s—faced that night, I remember that."
During a confessional, Schwartz later said, "I truly and honestly am baffled. Obviously, I've done this before, so I am capable of this, but I have no recollection whatsoever of it. I'm like a werewolf."
Schwartz and Maloney posted wedding anniversary tributes two years after getting married to each other on Instagram.
"Happy 2 year anniversary to the love of my life, my best friend, my ninja turtle, my special guy, Postmates partner, and the only one I wanna grow old with," Maloney wrote. "You have shown me so much love and gratitude over the years and can't imagine my life without you. Here's to many more bubba!"
For his own post, Schwartz wrote, "2 years strong bub! Let's keep it going now until infinity. I'm so happy all the choices I've made in my life, good and bad, [led] me to you. I should be whispering this into your ear but instead I'm writing it on Instagram as you lay 2 feet away from me. Such is life in 2018. I'll tell you this all to your face drunkenly later tonight … You are my favorite person in the world to do nothing with. And that's something. Love you deeply. Happy anniversary Bubba."
The TomTom owner opened up to PEOPLE about his marriage in November 2018. “I haven’t messed it up yet,” he said. “We’re still going strong. Everything is great, we’re more in love than we’ve ever been.”
He said that he focuses on the "little things" to "keep the romance alive and the passion burning." As for what that looks like, Schwartz suggested, "Reminding each other that we love each other and telling each other that in the morning. Just being more present and mindful and not letting yourself get into the mindset of just going through the motions."
He also said that they planned to have a family eventually, joking, "I haven't put it in my little black book yet. It's not an official date. We're in negotiations. It's going really well."
After revealing that they never had their marriage paperwork filled out and weren’t officially married, the two legally got married in a quirky Las Vegas ceremony.
"They never had their marriage paperwork properly filled out, so they figured a trip to Las Vegas with their friends would be a great way to fix that," a source told PEOPLE at the time.
In season 8 of Vanderpump Rules, Schwartz and Maloney got in an argument about a prank costar Jax Taylor played on Tom Sandoval. Maloney found the prank, which involved hiring actors dressed as cops to arrest Sandoval, to be in poor taste.
During their argument, Schwartz told Maloney to "shut up," adding, "You're ruining a great moment. We're laughing … Nobody gives a s— about your opinion."
Schwartz continued on with his remarks, saying, "I've never been more turned off in my life. That's why I don't have sex with her." He then called her an "idiot," a "moron," and "gross," and followed up with, "That's another two months we're not having sex."
After the episode aired in March 2020, Schwartz apologized for his behavior on an episode of WWHL.
"Way out of line, way douche-y," he explained. "I was hammered. We'd been drinking all day, which is usually a recipe for disaster within the confines of our relationship."
Costar Schroeder interrupted, saying, "Just apologize!" Schwartz replied, "I'm sorry. I love you," and hugged Maloney.
Schwartz told PEOPLE in spring 2021 that the couple wanted to have kids together but didn’t know when it would happen.
"As far as the timeline, I'm still noncommittal, but I'm on the record — it's official, we do want to have kids, and I love kids," he said. He added that he had been spending time with his friends' kids, saying, "I don't have baby fever, but yeah, love some babies. [We'll] wait and see what happens."
In season 9 of Vanderpump Rules, Schwartz and Maloney opened up about going to a fertility clinic to try to get pregnant. While discussing their visit to the clinic, the couple revealed that Maloney had an abortion “early” in their relationship, before they were ready to have kids.
Schwartz said that the pair were "uncertain" about their future at that point and that it was "the best decision at the time."
"I mean, I knew I wanted to have kids," Maloney said. "But I just knew that was not the time in my life."
In a confessional, Maloney said, "Tom and I'd been together for a year and it was not pretty. Like, we fought all the time. I wanted it to work out, but I was just like if anything, he's going to leave and I'm going to be a single mom … Everyone, every woman, every person should be able to decide what's best for them."
On an episode of Maloney’s podcast, You’re Gonna Love Me with Katie Maloney, the host talked about trying to have a baby with Schwartz, saying she felt pressured to get pregnant when her castmates were getting pregnant.
"It was a lot. And I wasn't handling it very well," she said. "As much as we kept going and kept trying, at the end of last year I was like, 'This is not how I want this to go down. This is just so much pressure … I'm having anxiety even thinking about it.' I just said to Tom, 'Let's just take a break.' … It was starting to feel forced."
Maloney went on to say that she was sick of feeling pressured to get pregnant and was tired of hearing people ask when she was going to have a baby.
After 12 years together, Schwartz and Maloney announced their breakup.
"After 12 years on an adventure through life together Tom and I are ending our marriage," Maloney wrote on Instagram. "This ending is not met with resentment or animosity … We have a deep admiration for one another that will always remain and we cherish our friendship. Although we may be on different paths we will continue to love and support one another's happiness."
In his own post, Schwartz revealed that Maloney had ended things. "Fully respect Katie's decision and we've had healthy, productive conversations about it," he wrote. "It would be far sadder if she decided to stay with me whilst not happy." He added that through their ups and downs, they "had some of the most blissful, romantic, fun times humanly possible" during their time together. "I'm talking heaven on earth level joy."
Shortly after that, Maloney spoke about the breakup on her podcast, saying that their split had been built up over time and not something that had been decided quickly. She said she “just wasn’t happy” and ending their relationship was “the hardest, hardest thing to do.”
"I had to really just start prioritizing myself and my happiness as well," she explained. "It just needed to happen."
One week after announcing their split, Maloney officially filed for divorce.
In documents obtained by PEOPLE, Maloney cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the divorce.
During an appearance on the podcast We Met At Acme, Maloney opened up about her reasons for filing for divorce.
"I had been expressing my feelings … I was not getting my needs met," the reality star said. "I was being hurt by some of the behavior, and I don't think he understood or resonated or agreed." She also said she felt she had "put in the work" during their marriage without reciprocation.
"It was one day, I just told him, 'This is how I've been feeling, I'm not feeling very happy.' … And then he just didn't really do anything," she said. "I think he thought that I was just gonna get over it or something. And then, it was a couple of weeks later, I had decided that I had wanted to get a divorce."
She went on to say that they had both "changed and grown apart" and that she felt this "marriage wasn't the healthiest thing" for them. "Separating was the best option and the best decision for myself," she explained. "And really for the both of us."
During an appearance on Kamie Crawford‘s podcast Relationsh*t, Maloney shared that she had initially wanted to keep her divorce private.
Maloney then said they decided to go public on Instagram after rumors of a split began spreading and noted that the speculation made her feel anxious. "I don't like people speaking for me and saying things that maybe aren't true," she said. "I don't like that. So we had to take control of that narrative."
Three months after announcing their split, the former couple moved out of the home they had been sharing.
"I hate goodbyes," Maloney wrote on Instagram. "And this one hurts a lot. The emotions and words are hard to pin down. Closing this chapter on my life feels like attending my own funeral."
A few days later, Maloney moved into her own apartment. “I’m excited to kind of make my own little space, my own little sanctuary,” she said on her podcast. “I’ve been having fun planning what I want it to look like, what I want the vibes to be.”
In July, Schwartz told Entertainment Tonight that while the breakup had been “painful,” he thought they were “some of the best divorcees ever.”
"We still have an incredible friendship," he said. "It was rough in the beginning … but we still have a great bond, we still text, talk, we have joint custody of the dogs."
Schwartz went on to say that after some time working through it, the couple is still amicable. "It's really good," he said. "There's zero animosity, it's not awkward, there's no tension."
The same month, he told Page Six, “I’m sort of relearning how to be single, which is strange.”
The couple joined together for an episode of Maloney’s podcast, You’re Gonna Love Me with Katie Maloney. They discussed their relationship amid the divorce, with Schwartz saying, “We’re still hanging out, not in an unhealthy, exorbitant way, but we give each other space, boundaries. We’re still buddies, we still check in on each other.”
He added, "I'm happy that we're still close. I think, relatively speaking, we've done a damn good job divorcing each other."
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
