Tom Schwartz Defends Raquel Leviss Amid Instagram Drama with Katie Maloney

Raquel Leviss’ recently shared Instagram photos featuring Tom Schwartz have caused quite the controversy in the Vanderpump Rules world — namely, with Tom’s ex-wife, Katie Maloney — but according to Tom himself, Raquel’s post was “not meant to be a jab.”

“It was not deliberate. It was not premeditated. I never want to do anything to hurt Katie,” Tom told Us Weekly on February 22, just days after Raquel made the post — captioned “Just cause” with two cheeky emojis — and Katie subsequently commented, “You really thought you did something here but these comments ATE LOLOL.”

Added Tom, “I still love her and it wasn’t malicious. It’s not like we coordinated here. Like, ‘Yeah let’s stir the pot a little bit.’ I think we were having a really good night and we were celebrating a milestone. [Raquel] wanted to show some love.”

That said, Tom did acknowledge that the timing of the post might have not been the best, as Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules has seen Katie express her disappointment in Scheana Shay for attempting to play matchmaker for Tom and Raquel. (Take, for example, the above first-look preview of Vanderpump Rules’ March 1 episode.)

As Tom put it, “I understand that with the story line this season — inherently it could be interpreted as a little rude. But I never do anything maliciously.”

“Maybe from time to time I can be careless or slightly inconsiderate, but in regard to Katie, I never want to hurt her,” Tom continued. “It was never my intention. Given everything that we’ve been through, I feel like we’re on pretty good terms.”

That’s not to say that the social media drama doesn’t get to him. On Raquel’s post, one Instagram user replied to Katie, writing, “girl please, we are not being sad over men with the personality of spray cheese in 2023.” Katie then wrote, “nobody sad. Lol spray cheese … I’m dead! The amount of times the picture landed in my inbox I couldn’t leave it alone. Desperado.”

Tom’s response? “I’m not too self-righteous to appreciate some good tea. I like some gossip. But also, I’m just very wary of thriving off of comments or diving into the comments section. I saw a few comments and it hurts when you see something that was so special to you — which was my marriage and my relationship to Katie.”

“It wasn’t perfect, but it was a rich and complicated relationship,” he concluded. “To see it just be, like, reduced or belittled into, like, 240 characters — sometimes it does hurt a little bit.”

For more on the drama between Tom, Raquel, Katie, and Scheana, watch another sneak peek at next week’s all-new episode of Vanderpump Rules below.

Is Raquel Leviss Starting Issues in James Kennedy's New Relationship?

Watch Vanderpump Rules on Bravo Wednesdays at 9/8c and the next day on Peacock. And catch up on all past seasons of Vanderpump Rules on Peacock.