After enjoying a honeymoon period after their wedding in August 2016, Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney have returned to their old, toxic ways.
Recently on Vanderpump Rules, Schwartz went off on Maloney for seemingly no reason, saying cruel and belittling things in front of all of their friends. After disagreeing over the taste-level of a prank Jax Taylor played on Tom Sandoval, Schwartz yelled at Maloney,
“Katie, shut up!”
“Nobody gives a sh*t about your opinion.”
“I’ve never been more turned off in my life. That’s why I don’t have sex with her.”
“She’s a moron.”
“You’re an idiot.”
After the episode aired, the cast appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen @Home where Schwartz tried to explain his actions. He told Cohen,
“I know it’s my wife and I should be compassionate, but instead I got really annoyed. I thought it was really self-indulgent. It really, really rubbed me the wrong way, and I was sh*t-faced.”
He continued,
“I was hammered. I had been drinking all day, which is usually a recipe for disaster within the confines of our relationship. I don’t know, something about the way she responded just rubbed me the wrong way.”
While he admitted that he was “way out of line,” he mostly joked and smiled about the incident, saying it felt good to be “reactive for once.” He laughed at the idea that he had made some “pretty catty comments.”
Watching the interview is painful, to say the least (you can watch it below). Schwartz said horrible things to his wife and it didn’t seem to bother him. Because for them, that’s “just the way they fight”. After all, Maloney has said equally horrible things to Schwartz in the past, attacking him for his dick and his inability to get an erection. The toxic relationship between the two is unhealthy and dangerous for both of them.
It was only Beau Clark, Stassi Schroeder‘s fiancé, who was willing to call out Schwartz. In his interview on the show, he said,
“I mean, there’s one thing about getting in drunken arguments with your significant other. Trust me, I’ve experienced that. But the way that Schwartz is talking to Katie, it’s just like venom.”
There is never an excuse to talk to your significant other this way. Alcohol is not an excuse. Needing to release some pent-up aggression is definitely not an excuse.
But the problem not only lies with Tom Schwartz, but with Bravo and the show itself. It’s one thing to show the drama of a relationship, but quite another to pass this off as “normal,” leading viewers to believe that this is just how couples fight.
There are so many people who watch this show and are in toxic relationships of their own. The more we normalize this kind of verbal abuse on television, the more we allow people to think that this kind of behavior is ok to tolerate in their own lives.
Tom Schwartz needs to take responsibility for his actions. His friends need to call him out. And the show needs to take him to task for treating his wife this way.
You Might Also Like
‘Vanderpump Rules’ Stassi and Brittany Defend Katie After Cruel Fat-Shaming Comments
