#Katie Maloney Explains Why It Was Important To Her To Open Up About Her Abortion & Fertility Journey On Vanderpump Rules

As VPR viewers may recall, the 34-year-old reality star previously revealed in an October episode that she got an abortion about 10 years ago when she and now-husband Tom Schwartz first started dating. And despite it being a difficult discussion for Maloney, she wouldn’t take talking about it back. In an interview on the podcast Reality Life with Kate Casey, Maloney explained why she decided to open up about her past decision and even other traumatic events on the Bravo show, saying:

“It’s something that I still am trying to unpack and understand. The brain is very complicated … it’s very hard to understand how it works, and how trauma to the brain impacts … mood, personality, emotions. So it’s something that I’m just still trying to understand and navigate. It’s just been challenging … I wanted to share it not to gain sympathy, but to just open up a part of my past that maybe would have people connect with me a little bit more on what I’ve like been through.”

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Although she was happy to share her experience with everyone, it still didn’t come without a little worry about how fans would react to the news:

“I was a little nervous, a little bit like, should I have done this? But I’m really glad I listened to my heart on this one.”

The You’re Gonna Love Me podcast host then admitted that she and Schwartz have wanted to be open about every aspect of their fertility journey since the start, explaining:

“And the beginning it’s not a happy story. But it was what we went through. And we have to be honest about it. I don’t try to paint a perfect picture of my life, of my relationship. Obviously. I just want to paint it as honest as possible and hope that people appreciate that. We all make mistakes, but we all do the best we can with what we’re getting.”

Ultimately, Maloney said the couple “choose what’s best for ourselves” as they “were not in that position to become parents” nearly a decade ago. She then added after falling 25 feet through a skylight in 2009, which broke her jaw, broken her collarbone, and caused a minor brain injury, she was too “f**ked up emotionally” to also become a parent:

“I was not ready, at that point, to become a mother, especially in a new relationship. … I think that’s what a lot of people are missing in this whole discussion that we’re talking about women’s rights to their body. Their choice when it comes to abortion is that it’s not always about a financial position … it’s also about mental health as well. And people are not mentally capable and mentally stable enough to have children.”

We have so much appreciation for Maloney’s continued candid conversations about her story!