Credit: Todd Williamson/Bravo
Katie Maloney reacted to claims of Something About Her being a money grab and offered an update on the status of the sandwich shop during a podcast appearance on Monday.
While opening up about Tom Schwartz‘s alleged kiss with Scheana Shay, 38, and Lala Kent, 33, comparing Ariana Madix, 38, to God post-“Scandoval” in another interview, Katie, 37, shared where she and Ariana stand when it comes to their opening date for their venue and suggested that day is near.
“I think people really, genuinely think this is like, some kind of conspiracy theory when we’ve said so many times that like, we’ve truly been at the mercy of these different agencies and people that assign or give these permits out,” Katie explained on the February 5 episode of The Nikki & Brie Show, via Taste of Reality on Instagram. “And it’s hard because especially in West Hollywood, they don’t operate the same way the greater Los Angeles does, and by the time you get someone to come out and do the inspection that you need, which sometimes takes weeks, if there’s any kind of repairs or changes that you need, then that takes a period of time and you’ve gotta get them to come back.”
According to Katie, it can take months in between these inspections. And she and Ariana have been faced with just about everything that could go wrong.
“[But] it hasn’t even been a year since we actually started work on the property,” she continued. “We acquired it, we took on the lease way before we were even prepared to but we didn’t want to let it go so it feels like we’ve been working on this for a lot longer than we technically have.”
Luckily, despite the many permit issues that have come up, Katie said she and Ariana “finally [have] all the permits [they] need in order to get the final one.”
“We just needed all those physical copies before they would come out and do the final walk-through that we need,” she revealed. “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s just having to be patient. We just had to be patient and just kind of like roll with the punches and just like, take things as they come and just kind of get it done. Because you want to make sure that you’re doing everything that’s required of you. You don’t wanna get fined. You don’t want to go through all this just to close. It would be awful.”
“It is not easy but we’re so excited. It’s gonna be so great,” she added.
During another interview, Katie was questioned about Schwartz, 40, and Scheana’s supposed kiss, which she’s denied.
“All I’ll say is I think it will be a surprise how that all reveals itself, and what the reactions were,” Katie teased during a February 6 interview with Metro.co.uk. “I don’t want to give away too much, I know Scheana has said, ‘I didn’t make out with him.’ Given that I am very much healed from my relationship with Tom Schwartz, I obviously have a different perspective on everything now.”
As Katie explained, she’s been on a healing journey since splitting from Schwartz in February 2022 and has “separated” herself from him.
“I was really open to dating, and just having fun and embracing that side of myself that I haven’t explored for a long time. You’re definitely going to see more of that attitude, and that side of me,” she said of Pump Rules season 11.
As for Lala’s comment about Ariana, which was seen in the trailer, Katie said she wasn’t sure “what [she was] talking about” and insisted she was not making the comment out of jealousy.
“I don’t believe that that came from a point of being jealous. I think Lala has been extremely supportive and happy for Ariana, so I don’t know what she [meant],” Katie admitted.
Although there have been rumors of a feud between her and Lala, Katie shut them down.
“Lala is one of my closest friends, I love Lala so much. I think when Ariana and I began working more heavily on the restaurant – when we got the space and then almost a year ago is when we actually began the design portion of it all – I became busier with that whole part of everything, and she spends a lot of time in Palm Springs. We just weren’t spending as much time together but it wasn’t like we weren’t close or anything like that,” she clarified. “Her and Scheana spent a lot of time together because of [their daughters], and they’re really close. There’s a lot of things that we have different going on in our lives, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not still close or great friends. I don’t have a kid, so I’m not going to the park and playdates, and things like that.”
Also during the interview, Katie commented on the dynamic between the cast post-“Scandoval.”
“Everyone was trying to figure out how they wanted to approach their relationships respectively, with certain people. Everyone is in their own right, they can do what they want with that,” she shared. “I definitely had my own opinions and was pretty firm on those. So, it was just trying to feel people out and understand their perspectives on things. Maybe we didn’t all agree on those things – trying to not let that completely divide us was the biggest challenge.”
Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
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