Katie Maloney claimed she was ready to move on from Vanderpump Rules before the reboot of the Bravo series was announced.
On the Dec. 4 episode of her podcast Disrespectfully, the 37-year-old reality star said, “You know — as [well as] many people close to me — I didn’t plan on returning.”
She further detailed her decision not to return to series after 11 seasons, saying, “Maybe it doesn’t matter at this point, but I had made a decision months ago after this past season. I mean, I just needed to move on with my life. And this is before we knew the show was gonna be put on pause, before any of that.”
The Something About Her co-owner claimed that she decided to bid farewell to Vanderpump Rules following the season 11 reunion, but before the show was “put on pause.”
“I had talked to our producers about it and I told them my decision on that,” she claimed. “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.”
During her time on the series, Maloney married costar Tom Schwartz in 2016 before the pair filed for divorce in 2022. In later seasons, she forayed into the dating scene following their split.
“It had been a long time. I lived many lives and went through so much on that show,” she shared. “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.”
The television personality also spoke about the “fractured” dynamic of the costars after Ariana Madix ended her nine-year relationship with Tom Sandoval after discovering his months-long affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss in March 2023.
“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,” she explained. “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.”
She added: “But as far as it being like a cohesive unit, it just doesn’t exist anymore.”
Despite being ready to say goodbye, Maloney admitted that closing this time in her life comes with mixed emotions.
“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 noted. “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.”
Maloney also put to rest rumors that the cast was “demanding tons of money” as she claimed that negotiations for a new season had “not even been discussed” before the reboot was announced.
Her comments come more than a week after Bravo announced VPR will return for season 12 but with a new cast featuring servers, hosts and bartenders at Lisa Vanderpump’s SUR and TomTom.
“The last 12 years of filming have been an extraordinary run full of laughter, tears and everything in between,” Vanderpump, 64, said a press release. “I can’t thank enough those who have shared their lives. How I love you all. In the restaurant business, one shift always gives way to another. Cheers to the next generation of Vanderpump Rules.”
Vanderpump Rules can be streamed on Peacock.