The fallout from Tom Schwartz and Raquel Leviss’ make-out session continues. Us Weekly is breaking down how the Vanderpump Rules costars’ relationship has sparked a feud between Katie Maloney and Scheana Shay — and nearly a year’s worth of drama.
The idea of Tom and Raquel exploring a romance began in April 2022, one month after the former bartender and Katie announced their split. (The spouses had quietly ended things in February 2022 after 12 years together and five years of marriage.) At the time, Tom denied “making out” with Raquel at Coachella — an event he wasn’t even at.
The rumors made waves within the friend group, however, with Scheana and Katie seemingly having a conversation about the situation in Las Vegas that same month.
“There was a conversation that happened between Katie and I … and Katie said, ‘I think they would make a good couple,’ or, ‘They might be a good match,’ or something along those lines,” the “Good As Gold” singer recalled on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast in February 2023. “So I took that and ran with it and I told Raquel, ‘Katie kind of gives you her blessing if you want to pursue that.’ And then you’ll see the rest play out.”
Katie denied Scheana’s recollection of the story, sharing a series of text messages between the two women dated May 2022.
“You literally told me in Vegas that you want tom to move [on] bc it’ll make it easier for you bc you had already. And you encourage me to push him to move on,” Scheana wrote.
Katie claimed that her ex-husband moving on is “not really what I’m getting at,” slamming the idea that Scheana needs to “help tom with anything.” She implied that the “Scheananigans” podcast host pushed Tom and Raquel together.
“I was pretty clear that I didn’t mean or cosign s—t … so why go through with this?” Katie captioned the screenshots of the texts. “After starting to lay some ground work. Inviting Schwartz and Raquel to her birthday (not me) it was very obvious but sure too busy to check in with me.”
Three months later, Us Weekly exclusively revealed that Tom and Raquel made out during Scheana’s wedding weekend in August 2022.
During the February 2023 premiere, Katie declared that the “one rule” for her and Tom to stay friends post-split — something they both wanted — was no hooking up within the cast.
“When we are sharing custody of dogs and share mutual best friends, creating boundaries is necessary,” Katie explained via Instagram after the episode aired. “I wasn’t telling him what to do. I was saying it would create a toxic environment and he agreed. We had seen it play out in our friend group a million times before.”
Tom and Raquel ultimately decided to stay friends and aren’t dating, but the implications of the wedding hookup haven’t slowed down.
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Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. Scroll through for a breakdown of the drama in chronological order:
