Tom Schwartz is walking back his “love of my life” comment — and making jokes — after gushing over his new girlfriend during a BravoCon 2025 panel.
“That was a little melodramatic,” Schwartz, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, November 14, after calling model Kiana Carroll the love of his life during the “Peaks and Valleys” panel in Las Vegas earlier that afternoon.
Schwartz also confessed at the time to being “under a love spell” while dating Carroll, 27, which he told Us isn’t that far off.
“I meant to just say, ‘I love her. I’m so happy right now,’” he explained to Us after the fact. “The ‘love of my life’ [line] was a little over the top.”
The former Vanderpump Rules star joked, “Sorry if she sees that, [that’s] probably gonna scare her away.”
Schwartz clarified, “I do love her, and she’s amazing. It just came out wrong. I guess I was nervous.”
Schwartz’s The Valley castmate Jesse Lally chimed in, calling his romance “puppy love for our golden retriever over here.”
Schwartz confirmed in October that he was dating someone new while appearing on former Vanderpump Rules costar Lala Kent’s “Untraditionally Lala” podcast.
During the episode, Kent, 35, recalled shutting down rumors that she and Schwartz were dating by posting a “soft launch” photo via Instagram in September.
“Soft launch. Like, so soft it’s not even real type soft,” she captioned the snap at the time, teasing that she and Schwartz would never be a couple.
Schwartz hinted at his romance with Carroll during the podcast, noting that while he “liked” Kent’s soft launch joke, he didn’t repost it “out of respect for someone I’m dating.”
“But, she is in on the joke and she totally gets it,” Schwartz said of his partner.
Schwartz opted to keep Carroll’s identity a secret at the time, but Kent revealed she had met the mystery woman and she had “a very hot face.”
“Some would call it a supermodel stunning face,” Kent teased. “I, like, kind of couldn’t put words together when I saw her.”
One month later, Schwartz hard launched his relationship with Carroll by reposting a cuddly photo with the model to his Instagram Story on November 9. The pair were cozied up at a booth in a bar and gazing into each other’s eyes in the snap.
Schwartz has since let fans in a little more on his budding romance with Carroll, featuring her on his “Detox Retox” podcast earlier this month.
To tease the November 11 episode, Schwartz referred to Carroll as “one of my favorite humans in the world,” sharing several photos from their time together via Instagram.
“Shes got charisma, moxy and is as funny as she is beautiful,” he added. “With Cold beer in hand, we riff on the current state of the modeling biz from her chic high-rise apartment. Here’s your peek behind the curtain into the glamorous, gritty, and unpredictable world of professional modeling.”
Prior to his relationship with Carroll, Schwartz was married to VPR costar Katie Maloney. The pair tied the knot in 2016, but due to lost paperwork the union wasn’t legal, so Schwartz and Maloney, 38, had a second wedding in 2019. The couple announced their divorce in March 2022.
In the wake of their split, fans have kept up with Schwartz on VPR and The Valley. After making cameos on the spinoff, Bravo announced during BravoCon that Schwartz is officially joining The Valley’s season 3 cast.
“I’m so back,” Schwartz told Us on Friday. “There’s been moments where I’m like, ‘Am I having a midlife crisis?’ But it feels like a midlife comeback. I’m in the midst of a midlife comeback. I’m feeling good.”
He teased that he and his former VPR costars have “matured, we’ve grown, we’ve moved over the hill” for The Valley.
“It’s been really fun because I’m friends with everybody, but it was fun for me just getting to know them on a deeper level and learning the inner workings of their relationships and how their brains work,” Schwartz added.
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