Amid the fallout of Scandoval, many fans have questioned what Tom Schwartz knew about his BFF Tom Sandoval’s secret romance with Raquel Leviss — and whether their friendship (and businesses) can survive the scandal.
While Katie Maloney told Nick Viall that she’s not “certain” about the timeline of when her ex-husband found out about the months-long affair, she warned him to distance himself from Sandoval.
“I think the main thing with Tom and Tom that we’ve seen in [the] past is that Schwartz is very much subservient to Tom in a lot of ways. He lets Tom kind of dominate him and the friendship and the business. And because Schwartz is kind of, like, wants to just go with the flow and doesn’t want to be confrontational about things had the roles been reversed — let’s say in this whole situation with the Scandoval — I told him that, you know, ‘I think Tom would throw you under the bus and save himself,’” Katie, 36, said on the Tuesday, April 4, episode of the “Viall Files” podcast. “’He would drown you if the ship was sinking and save [himself]. He would hop in a lifeboat.’ So I think as much as you want to say, ‘That isn’t true or you don’t think that would happen,’ like, think about it because I think that would.”
Sandoval has come under fire for apologizing to Schwartz and asking fans not to take out his actions on their restaurants TomTom and Schwartz & Sandy’s before he publicly addressed then-girlfriend Ariana Madix. (Sandoval and Madix’s nine-year relationship ended due to his cheating.)
“I told [Schwartz], I’m like, ‘Now that you’ve really hitched your wagon to this person, and you’re in business with this person, and the fact that they could go out into the world, and be so careless and not think about the ramifications and how it could affect you — that has to be frustrating to you,’” Katie said. “He’s just very much concerned about the business. … And is like, ‘I don’t think the business should have to fail because of it.’ … I don’t like canceled culture in that sense [or] in general, [but], like, when your business is solely based off your reputation … if you want to be the fun guys who, you know, everyone wants to come have a drink with, you better maintain that you’re a fun guy that someone wants to have a drink with.”
When it comes to starting their business — a sandwich shop named Something About Her — Katie told Nick that she and Ariana want to do “everything” differently compared to Sandoval and Schwartz.
“The entire poor approach we wanted to do differently. We wanted to really crystallize our idea and our plan, budget, branding, all of it, before we even started spending any kind of real money,” Katie said. “We worked with a consulting company who’ve opened their own restaurants, who have helped other people, you know, relaunch [businesses from] hotels to coffee shops to other bars and restaurants around L.A.”
Overall, Katie said Ariana is doing better than some may expect.
“When it comes to any kind of relationship that ends — especially after the decade — it’s not linear. You’re gonna have days where you’re like, ‘I feel great.’ It’s always easier when you can really hate the person, I think,” she said. “But I think for the most part, she’s feeling really good. She has a really healthy outlook on it all. She wants to just leave it in the past, move on. She thinks they’re scumbags. … She understands that, like, every day her life is gonna get better. But you know, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
Sign up for Us Weekly’s free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!
Scroll through for more from Katie:
For more latest TV News Click Here