Even if Vanderpump Rules didn’t go through a cast overhaul, Katie Maloney says she still wouldn’t have come back for season 12.
“I didn’t plan on returning,” Katie, 37, revealed on the Wednesday, December 4, episode of her “Disrespectfully” podcast. “I had made a decision months ago after this past season. I needed to move on with my life.”
Katie recalled making the choice before Vanderpump Rules was “put on pause,” adding, “I had talked to our producers about it and I told them my decision on that. I felt personally ready to move on from the show. I felt like my life and where I was at was moving in a different direction. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, I was prepared to move on from the show.”
After being on the Bravo show since it premiered in 2013, Katie was ready for something new.
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“It had been a long time. I lived many lives and went through so much on that show,” she continued. “It just got to a point where I don’t know that I can live and grow and be the version of myself I want to be on this show any longer.”
Vanderpump Rules has been a consistent presence after getting its start as a spinoff of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and evolving into its own hugely popular franchise. In the aftermath of Tom Sandoval‘s affair with Rachel Leviss, the show picked up cameras immediately to document season 11. The episodes, however, were met with mixed reactions and ultimately the show was put on pause amid cast tension.
Last month, Bravo confirmed that season 12 begins production next year with Lisa Vanderpump and a new group of cast members.
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“The group and the dynamic and what makes the show that show would be hard to do because it was so fractured at the end there,” Katie noted on Wednesday. “And many of us don’t hang out. There might be some people that talk to this person or these people hang out or these two hang out. But as far as it being like a cohesive unit, it just doesn’t exist anymore.”
Katie wasn’t surprised that Bravo made some changes considering Vanderpump Rules “didn’t exist” in the way fans loved anymore. Despite her plans to exit the show, Katie is still mourning the experience after over a decade on screen.
“The finality of it is surreal. It’s knowing that it’s just going to be no more. It’s final. It’s out there that it’s final,” she continued. “That it is done is still a weird feeling. It is sad. It’s like that closing of a chapter is sad no matter what.”
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Ariana Madix has also spoken out about looking at the bright side of the situation.
“I was just relieved that the public finally was privy to the conversations that we had been having,” Ariana, 39, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, December 3. “So, it’s nice that that news is out there and yeah, now I don’t have to sit here holding that.”
