Katie Maloney Says She Wasn't Planning to Return to Vanderpump Rules Before Cast Revamp

During Wednesday's episode of her Disrespectfully podcast, the Vanderpump OG said that she was planning her exit from the long-running reality series long before Bravo announced its plans for a cast overhaul ahead of Season 12.

"I didn't plan on returning," Maloney said Wednesday. "I had made a decision months ago after this past season. I needed to move on with my life."

Maloney said she made the decision before Vanderpump Rules was "put on pause," adding, "I had talked to our producers about it and I told them my decision on that. I felt personally ready to move on from the show. I felt like my life and where I was at was moving in a different direction. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, I was prepared to move on from the show."

Maloney, who has been on the show since it premiered in 2013, told her listeners she was ready for something new after more than a decade on the show.

"It had been a long time. I lived many lives and went through so much on that show," she continued. "It just got to a point where I don't know that I can live and grow and be the version of myself I want to be on this show any longer."

While Vanderpump Rules was hugely popular on Bravo since its premiere, things took a turn following Tom Sandoval's affair with Rachel Leviss, when the cameras picked up immediately to document season 11. While the show saw huge ratings the season prior, the episodes that followed were met with mixed reactions and ultimately the show was put on pause amid major cast tension.

"The group and the dynamic and what makes the show that show would be hard to do because it was so fractured at the end there," Maloney noted. "And many of us don't hang out. There might be some people that talk to this person or these people hang out or these two hang out. But as far as it being like a cohesive unit, it just doesn't exist anymore."

Maloney wasn't surprised by the cast shakeup either, and despite her plans to exit the show, she said she's still mourning the experience after spending so much of her life on screen.

"The finality of it is surreal. It's knowing that it's just going to be no more. It's final. It's out there that it's final," Maloney added. "That it is done is still a weird feeling. It is sad. It's like that closing of a chapter is sad no matter what."

Bravo made the announcement last month, announcing that Vanderpump Rules had been renewed for Season 12, but will no longer star the original cast.

The network says the show will now still feature Lisa Vanderpump, however, "and a new group of close-knit SUR-vers." Sources say Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, Brock Davies and Tom Schwartz will appear on spinoff The Valley next season, while they could possibly appear on Vanderpump Rules and elsewhere in the Bravoverse going forward.

As for the future of the rest of the cast, including James Kennedy, Tom Sandoval and others, that remains unclear.