Katie Maloney is grieving the end of Vanderpump Rules with the help of a select few costars.
“I’ve talked to Ariana [Madix] and I talked to Tom Schwartz, but that’s it,” Katie, 37, said on the Wednesday, December 4, episode of her “Disrespectfully” podcast. “I mean, Ariana and I have very, very similar thoughts and feelings. Tom, I don’t want to speak for him, but I think, while he also kind of knew this was coming and all that, he’s still, like, in a [state] of suspended disbelief.”
Katie, Ariana, 39, and Schwartz, 42, have been major players on the Bravo hit since the beginning alongside Tom Sandoval, Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, James Kennedy and matriarch Lisa Vanderpump. News broke late last month that none of the OGs — save for LVP, 64, — would be returning for season 12 in favor of a new group of SURvers.
“We knew it was going to come to this one day, but you don’t know what that’s going to look like, how it’s going to end,” Katie continued, addressing her cohost and show alum Dayna Kathan. “So, when it’s here, you’re kind of like, ‘Wow, so this is it. This is how the story ends. Interesting, OK.’”
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For Katie, she’s also excited about “what’s next” in her personal and professional life.
“I’ve gone through, like, major endings and transitions and that unknown of what’s next, [which] is really exciting to me,” she said. “It’s scary, a little bit, because of what you’ve known for so long and what’s comfortable and even if it’s not a guarantee or there’s no stability, you can settle into it. You can settle into the instability and all of that, but I am excited because I haven’t really been able to consider anything outside of this for so long.”
Katie added, “[When] you’re in a contract, you’re limited to what you can do outside of it, but now it’s like, ‘Oh, I could have options? Interesting.’”
According to Katie, she is hopeful to do other reality TV shows in the future. In addition, the TV personality hosts the “Disrespectfully” podcast and co-owns a French-inspired sandwich shop, called Something About Her, in Los Angeles alongside Ariana.
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“This past week, [I’ve seen] people at the store or coming into the sandwich shop or going to the laser hair removal and they’re just like, ‘I am so sad,’” Katie recalled. “So many people were so invested and it touched so many people’s lives, so many people are affected by this that you forget. I’m gonna miss that kind of connection because so many people grew up with us and we shared our lives with so many people.”
Katie further has no regrets from her time on Pump Rules and “would do it all over again.”
“It was some amazing memories, I learned a lot. I went through a lot being on that show. It was not always easy,” she said. “I think being able to have that break away from it has been healing, really promotes a lot of growth.”
