Katie Maloney Talks “Strain” With Lala Kent, Claims of Jealousy

Credit: Bravo

Katie Maloney had a tough time with Lala Kent amid production on the upcoming 11th season of Vanderpum Rules.

While appearing on Nick Viall‘s podcast on Thursday, Katie, 38, admitted that she and Lala, 33, had a short fuse with one another during filming as she also reacted to Lala’s suggestion in the trailer that Ariana Madix, 38, was being treated like “God,” spoke of ex-husband Tom Schwartz, 40, and shared her fears about being alone post-divorce.

“We definitely had a tougher time this season,” Katie admitted of herself and Lala on the January 4 episode of The Viall Files. “Not that our friendship was strained but like there was a bit of a strain or there was something kinda like under the surface there that was like coming out a bit so we definitely had a short fuse with one another.”

Following the release of the season 11 trailer last month, Lala came under fire for a comment she made about the treatment Ariana received after being cheated on for months by Tom Sandoval, 41.

“I’ve never experienced someone who gets cheated on and suddenly, she becomes God,” Lala stated in the sneak peek.

And, speaking of the comment, Katie agreed that Ariana received more love and support than she and Lala did after their own splits from Schwartz and Randall Emmett, 52, respectively.

“I think anyone can take that sort of like objective viewpoint on just the whole like social economics of the Scandoval part of it and be like, ‘Wow, like the public response to everything that was happening was wild and extreme at point,’” Katie explained, seemingly in reference to the many partnerships and roles, including a position on Dancing With the Stars and on Broadway, that Ariana landed on the heels of the scandal.

“Ariana really, if you want to look at it from that point of view, was like the perfect victim,” Katie reasoned. “She was always very like well-liked, and you know, and then I could even put myself in that position too… I didn’t go through [as much] as she did but just having so much very hard intimate moments of my life on the show and then you know go through a divorce where I didn’t even have the support of the cast really. Like oh, it would have been great to have the support of the nation so I can get that kinda point of view as well. But similar to Lala, I myself, like we’ve had our villain moments. We can be polarizing people on the show so I can understand why I didn’t get that or why [Lala] didn’t get that as well.”

As for Lala’s comment in the trailer, Katie said she did not believe it was made out of jealousy.

“[Lala’s] got like such a big heart like she really does like care and stuff like that. I think it was just how do I explain this, I think it was more of like objectively speaking more than it was just coming from a place of being jealous or angry,” she insisted.

Moving on to her split from Schwartz, Katie said that Schwartz has had more than enough time to come clean about the role he played in their breakup.

“I think even him given the time and the floor to speak and all of that without taking true accountability in the sense of saying like this is specifically where I went wrong and hurt you and I know exactly how and when that all happened, went down — it’s going to be a little hard for you to do any kind of answering,” she explained. “And I think anyone that has any empathy for him might have a little bit of trouble too.“

Following their split, Katie admitted to concerns over her future.

“Sometimes you’re like, ‘Am I going to be like alone for like ever and ever and ever?’” she shared. “The thought can be a little daunting but also it’s like I know what it’s like to be with the wrong person and be in a relationship that isn’t right and doesn’t feel good, and that can be more isolating and lonely than anything so it’s like I would rather just be by myself and be you know technically alone than be with somebody like that.”

Also during the podcast, Katie opened up about her new podcast with Dayna Kathan, Disrespectfully.

“I think it just embodies sort of the attitude that we’ve embraced when it comes to being unapologetic in our ways,” she shared.

Vanderpump Rules season 11 premieres Tuesday, January 30, at 8/7c on Bravo.