Katie Maloney opens up about what actually made her break up with Tom Schwartz.
The Vanderpump Rules star, 35, reflected on Friday’s episode of her You’re Gonna Love Me podcast, which prompted her and Schwartz, 39, to go their separate ways after 12 years together.
After thanking supporters for their kind words during the split, Maloney said: “I know [for] some people [it] It might seem like a shock, or it might seem like an abrupt thing, but for us it’s not like we decided this week or yesterday or the day before yesterday.”
“There wasn’t a crazy incident, there wasn’t a crazy fight leading up to it,” she continued, speaking through tears. “It was my decision, which was probably the hardest and most painful decision I’ve ever had to make.”
Noting that she wanted to “deny” and “get out of my head” the negative feelings surrounding her relationship with Schwartz, Maloney said, “I love Tom, we built a life together and he was my person and I wanted it be him forever. But in the end I just wasn’t happy.”
“It just became clearer and I just couldn’t deny it any longer,” she explained. “There were so many happy moments, even today. I love being with him, but ultimately I just wasn’t fulfilled.”
But telling Schwartz about their split decision, Maloney said, wasn’t an easy task. “It was the hardest, hardest thing to do,” she said. “The hardest thing to tell him, because I knew it would destroy him.”
Still, Maloney felt it was what she had to do for her own happiness. “I really had to start prioritizing myself and my happiness,” she explained. “It just had to happen.”