VPR’s Katie Maloney Recalls Brief Romance With Love Island USA’s Connor: ‘He Definitely Freaked Out’

Connor Newsum’s comments on Love Island: Beyond the Villa about dating people in the public eye sounded familiar to Vanderpump Rules’ Katie Maloney after their brief romance.

During the Tuesday, July 15, episode of “The Viall Files,” Maloney, 38, clarified that she “went on one date” with Newsum, 28, after his time on season 6 of Love Island USA.

“I didn’t even categorize it as that,” she said after host Nick Viall referred to Newsum as her ex-boyfriend. “[Our date] became [a news story] and he definitely freaked out a bit.”

Us Weekly broke the news in August 2024 that Maloney and Newsum were seen at Laurel Tavern in Studio City, California. The couple got a table in the corner and weren’t joined by anyone else. The eyewitness also noted that Katie “looked amazing” during the low-key outing.

Vanderpump Rules fans speculated at the time that Maloney’s costar — and business partner — Ariana Madix played a role in matching the pair up. Madix, 40, crossed paths with Newsum while hosting season 6 of Love Island USA, where he had brief connections with JaNa Craig and Leah Kateb before being dumped from the villa.

Newsum told Us in July 2024 that he was in contact with costar Cass Laudano after they were both home from Fiji.

“She got out and I was like, ‘Hey, so what’s up?’ We’ve been texting and, maybe, potentially making some light plans,” he shared at the time. “We got along really well. We had a lot in common. We had a few conversations that were just really easy and we work in the same career field. … We just had a lot of similar interests, love for animals. I think everyone saw that weird fishing conversation we had when I was making her grilled cheese. Just random stuff like that. She’s really easy to talk to, she’s gorgeous and just fun to be around.”

Since then, Newsum became Instagram official with Carmen Kocourek. Maloney, for her part, surprised fans in October 2024 when she confirmed she was seeing someone new.

“I have a boyfriend,” Maloney told her cohost Dayna Kathan during an episode of their “Disrespectfully” podcast. “Yeah, I’m in love, everybody. I’m really happy.”

The reality star explained why she preferred to keep the identity of her significant other private, adding, “This weekend, I went to go see my boyfriend. He has to travel for work, so I went to go meet up with him and hang out with him and spend some time. It was really amazing ’cause I hadn’t seen him in a few weeks and just being able to, like, spend some quality time and just be around him was really necessary and really nice.”

Maloney continued: “He’s the most wonderful person I’ve ever met. He’s very lovely and he just makes me feel really special and he’s really special and, yeah, I’m just really happy.”

Maloney has since confirmed her romance with Sleeping With Sirens guitarist Nick Martin. Her relationship with Martin, 42, came two years after her split from Tom Schwartz. The former couple were married for six years before their 2022 divorce.