Katie Maloney is opening up about her split from Tom Schwartz, and how she saw the signs that led to her filing for divorce last month.
Maloney, 35, recently sat down on the recent episode of Lindsey Metselaar's We Met At Acme podcast, and reflected on pulling the plug on her 12-year relationship with her fellow Vanderpump Rules co-star.
"I had been expressing my feelings -- where I felt that I was not getting my needs met and where I thought I was being hurt by some of the behavior," Maloney shared. "I don't think he understood or resonated or agreed."
Maloney candidly recalled how she finally came out and confronted the situation head-on, claiming that she flat-out told Schwartz she wasn't happy, "And then he just didn't really do anything... I think he thought that I was just gonna get over it or something."
Several weeks later, Maloney said she hadn't gotten any sort of understanding from Schwartz and, "I decided that I had wanted to get a divorce."
Maloney admitted that she "really thought that we were gonna make it work," but struggling with the issues in their relationship, and putting all her focus and energy into her marriage, took a toll on her mental health.
"I've been bogged down and putting all of my energy into this relationship and when I'm not getting my needs met, it's making me feel really sad and bad about myself," she shared. "I wasn't able to pinpoint it [at the time] because I wasn't able to admit or realize that it could be my relationship... It's just a really hard thing to come to terms with."
While it was a difficult and painful decision, Maloney said she feels that "separating was the best option and the best decision for myself and really for the both of us."
"We had both changed and grown apart and [I realized] that maybe this marriage wasn't the healthiest thing for us," Maloney explained, adding that she felt like she "was just dying inside" and was "losing sleep" over constantly worrying about the marriage before she filed for divorce.
Maloney admitted that, during their relationship, she'd exhibited "toxic" behaviors and struggled with alcohol issues, but said, "I didn't want to be the reason that our relationship failed."
"I put in the work for it, but it took time," she said, and expressed that she felt Schwartz didn't make similar efforts.
The pair first announced their decision to call it quits on March 15, in separate statements posted to Instagram. Maloney then officially filed for divorce on March 22, citing "irreconcilable differences."
The news of the split came as a surprise to fans, as well as to the former couple's close pals. Their close friends and fellow Vanderpump Rules castmembers Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval spoke with ET's Lauren Zima at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, hours after Maloney filed for divorce, and the pair recalled how they felt when Schwartz told them the news.
"He just kind of, like, said it from the hallway to me and I was, like, by myself in the room,” she said. "My jaw was on the floor for I think, like, 10 minutes. And I was just like, 'OK, well, bye.'"
“Well, we obviously love both of them very much and they were hanging out the other day, and so, like, I feel like I’m really hopeful that the positivity continues,” Madix said. “I’m excited for both of them in whatever they have next in store."
Check out the video below to hear more.
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