Heavy/Getty/NBCUniversal Katie Maloney and Tom Sandoval.
The cast of “Vanderpump Rules” remains divided four months after Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ cheating scandal first made headlines, but one star is thanking Sandoval for an unexpected aftereffect.
Katie Maloney and other costars rallied around Ariana Madix after she was betrayed by Sandoval, her ex, and Leviss, a former close friend. And, according to Maloney, the fallout helped clear the reputations of some cast members who had been negatively labeled by fans.
Maloney and former costar Stassi Schroeder discussed the misogyny directed toward the show’s female cast members during the June 24 Los Angeles date on the latter’s “Straight Up With Stassi Live — The Mommy Dearest Tour,” according to Rolling Stone.
“I feel like society doesn’t like women that do stand up for themselves,” Maloney said. “Now that people are seeing it through a different light, they are seeing [that] … these were women that actually were really advocating for themselves,” she said.
In a strange way, she said, Sandoval was to thank for switch in viewers’ perception “because if it had to happen this way, then, yeah, thank f****** god. Thank f****** god for that worm with a mustache.”
Sandoval was called “worm with a mustache” by costar James Kennedy in March on the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 reunion, according to Page Six.
Katie Maloney Is Glad People Can Finally See That She Wasn’t Just an “Angry B****”
BravoTom Schwartz and Katie Maloney on “Vanderpump Rules.”
Maloney addressed the longtime narrative that she was a “b****” to her ex-husband, Tom Schwartz, who has since been labeled as a “decoy” during his best friend’s affair.
Over the years, Schwartz was a sympathetic figure to many fans, despite the fact that he was filmed dumping a drink on Maloney’s head and taunting her about their sex life.
In one “Vanderpump Rules” scene, Schwartz told Maloney to “shut up” in front of a group of friends. “Nobody gives a s*** about your opinion,” Schwartz said in a scene that aired in 2020, per E! News. “I’ve never been more turned off in my life. … That’s why I don’t have sex with her.” Schwartz also called his then-wife “a moron,” ”idiot” and “so gross.”
While speaking about the most recent season during the “Straight Up With Stassi” chat, Maloney noted how “sick” it was that she was tortured for months over a fake narrative that Leviss had a crush on Schwartz but was sleeping with Sandoval all along. Many viewers were turned off by Maloney’s reaction to the filtration, with some accusing her of being controlling and possessive of her ex-husband after she had initiated their divorce.
“It’s kind of like everyone’s finally seeing that I wasn’t just being an angry b****,” Maloney told Schroeder, adding that she sometimes felt like it was all on her to “not cause a scene” with her ex.
Tom Sandoval’s Scandal Helped Katie Maloney & Ariana Madix Raise Funds For Their Upcoming Sandwich Shop
Maloney has another reason to be “thankful” for Sandoval. In the aftermath of the cheating scandal, fans in support of Madix bought merch for Something About Her, the sandwich shop that she is launching with Maloney this summer.
During the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 reunion, Madix revealed that the duo raised about $200,000 in merch sales following Scandoval.
“It’s really incredible that so many supportive people showed up to, like, help us,” Maloney said in March, per The Daily Mail.
READ NEXT: VPR Star Told Tom Sandoval He ‘Better Marry’ Raquel Leviss