Katie Maloney Warned Ex Tom Schwartz To Distance Himself From Tom Sandoval Amid Scandoval

Katie Maloney urged her ex-husband Tom Schwartz to keep his distance from his controversial pal, Tom Sandoval.

Since Sandoval's affair with Raquel Leviss, dubbed "Scandoval," first made headlines last month, "Vanderpump Rules" fans have wondered whether Schwartz had long been aware that his friend and business partner had been cheating on longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix with Leviss.

Schwartz was linked to Leviss last year after reports said the pair hooked up at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies' wedding in August 2022, but after Scandoval, some fans began speculating that Schwartz was a cover for Sandoval and Leviss' months-long secret relationship all along.

Maloney recently told Nick Viall on his "Viall Files" podcast that she wasn't sure about the timeline of when her ex-husband found out about the affair.

However, she said she warned Schwartz to distance himself from Sandoval, claiming that she doesn't believe the musician would save her ex-husband if their roles in Scandoval were reversed.

"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," Maloney said on Tuesday's episode, Us Weekly reported. "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."

The "Vanderpump Rules" star continued, "'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."

In his first statement after news of his split from Madix and his affair with Leviss broke on March 3, Sandoval claimed that Schwartz had learned about the secret romance "very recently" and asked the public not to take out his actions on his best friend and their restaurants TomTom and Schwartz & Sandy's.

"Hey, I fully understand and deserve ur [sic] anger and disappointment towards me, but please leave Schwartz, my friends and family out of this situation," the musician and restaurateur began in a post on Instagram.

"Schwartz specifically only found out about this very recently, and most definitely did not condone my actions. This was a very personal thing," he added.

According to Maloney, Schwartz is "just very much concerned about the business" amid his business partner's cheating scandal.

"He's ... 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," she told Viall.

Maloney claimed in a previous interview with Us Weekly that she never had the chance to be close to Sandoval during her marriage to Schwartz.

"I never stood a chance with him. He was always gonna find fault with me," Maloney said of Sandoval, adding that the latter "never" respected or acknowledged her.

Maloney and Schwartz split in early 2022 after 12 years together and five years of marriage. They finalized their divorce in September last year.