Tom Schwartz revealed his “terrified” to begin Vanderpump Rules season 11 – which just began filming – following his best friend Tom Sandoval‘s cheating scandal with Raquel Leviss.
The 40-year-old star, who was accused of overly defending his buddy, said he’ll be more “stoic” this year, explained how he’s changed since season 10 wrapped, and called the cast a “volatile crew.”
Speaking with Us Weekly, Schwartz revealed his headspace going into season 11.
“I’m always slightly terrified when we start a new season. We’ve been through so much with this group, and we’re a volatile crew,” he claimed. “We’ve always been a volatile group of friends. I don’t think I’ve ever had an argument outside of this group, to be honest. We have a lot of history together, and there’s been trials and tribulations, but it comes from a place of love.”
Though Schwartz said he’s “scared” to begin filming, he believes the cast’s drama is always “earned.”
He also shared how he plans on handling things – in comparison to last season. “I feel like I’ll be a little more stoic moving forward, Maybe I waffled a little bit at the beginning of [Scandoval],” said the bar owner. “I retreated within.”
The star claimed he’ll have more “pride” in his “appearance.”
“I feel like I’ve rocked Mumus for half of the duration of Vanderpump Rules, you know? I’m kind of a scrub by nature. I like to be cozy. But maybe now that I’m single I need to polish … my act a little bit,” Schwartz quipped. “I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna step my game [up] and try to be a little more suave. A little more debonair. … I’m gonna get the makeover that I intended to do last year.”
Schwartz indicated that his stint on Fox’s Stars on Mars helped him grow. “I think I have my rose-colored lenses back on. I think this was a reoccurring theme last season, last year, last few years, is trying to get my Schwartz back,” said the star. “I think I learned doing the show going to ‘Mars,’ that it was always there. I just needed to, like, dig it out, refine it, and I kind of am doing what I set up to do, which is falling in love with myself all over again.”
Another thing he learned on ‘Mars’? “I did shovel a lot of s—t and we ended up having to repurpose that for fertilizer,” said Schwartz. “And I don’t know, maybe there’s a metaphor there. Maybe there’s something I can glean heading into the next season. I’ll leave it at that.”
He went on to say, “I needed a good dose of levity and adventure … I guess from, like, the past few years, I floundered a little bit and I kind of feel like I fell apart, but coming up here, it gave me a fresh perspective on everything. It gave me the overview effect.”
The star added, “It’s like when astronauts go up [into space] and they look back down on Earth and all of a sudden they get this, like, cognitive shift. They look at the world differently. I needed to just reset my mind and I accomplished that up there. I really did. I was stuck in my own little sad story, kinda wallowing a little bit for the past year. And, [Stars on Mars] snapped me out of it, and I feel like I’m myself again.”
Schwartz then addressed his new self. “I feel like Tom, what version of Tom is this? Maybe let’s say 5.0,” he explained. “I feel like I am refined, maybe a little more stoic. I feel just a little bit more ready to take on whatever life throws at me, you know? I haven’t been necessarily proud of how I’ve responded to some adversity in the past year.”
Stars on Mars airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
