EXCLUSIVE: 'It's been a rocky road, but married life is nice': Vanderpump Rules' Katie and Tom revel in domestic bliss after cheating and ultimatums... and admit they DID get a prenup

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Vanderpump Rules stars Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz have opened the doors to their West Hollywood love nest four months after tying the knot.

Since exchanging vows near Lake Tahoe, Northern California, in a ceremony officiated by their boss Lisa Vanderpump and filmed for what will be the finale of the Bravo show’s current season, the pair have been on a luxurious honeymoon to French Polynesia and are still basking in the glory of their glass-floor overwater bungalow.

But life’s not always been blue sky and sail boats for TomKat. There’s been cheating (Tom’s ‘drunken sloppy make-out’ with a girl in Vegas), ultimatums (Katie threatening to leave Tom unless she got a proposal), and furious bust-ups.

And based on teasers for the wedding day itself it was nearly a case of ‘I don’t’ - in a promo for the finale Tom declares he's 'done with Katie' and 'not going to marry her.'

Now though, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com at their stylish West Hollywood apartment, newlyweds Tom, 34, and Katie, 30, declare they are happier than ever as they snuggle on the couch wearing Christmas jumpers with their pooches Butterboy and Gordo perched beside them. 

Just married: Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz opened the doors to their West Hollywood love nest four months after tying the knot

They moved in a year ago, hired an interior designer and now have their own customized living space, complete with high ceilings, rugs and wall art, for ‘informal schmoozing and entertaining’.

Katie says she's loving married life so far: ‘The pressure’s off, all the insecurities about “where is this going?” that just exist until you do get married... it’s really nice, it feels more relaxing, especially as we’ve had a rough go at a relationship the entire time.’ 

Despite declaring their love, Katie and Tom are both unashamed about their decision to sign a prenup - a topic which they discussed on the show in the months before their wedding.

‘We got a ton of s**t for that. But it seemed like the sensible thing to do,’ Tom told DailyMail.com. Describing it as a ‘worst case scenario’ and ‘catastrophe insurance,’ Tom continued: ‘As we were approaching the wedding it was more or less the happiest moment of our lives, even though the road to the wedding was rocky, so we figured, let’s deal with the prenup while things are good, just in case.’ 

Home sweet home: The couple hired an interior designer and now have their own customized living space, complete personalized wall art inspired by their nicknames for each other 

Planning for a family: The pair are wanting to have children eventually. They currently  have two fur babies; Butterboy and Gordo

No doubt the couple’s family background played a role in the decision; Katie’s parents separated four years and Tom’s parents also ‘tentatively separated’ but are now back together.

‘It’s not romantic to talk about [getting a prenup],’ Katie explained. ‘But we realize that divorce is an unfortunate but common thing that happens. I don’t think you get married thinking, “oh we could just get divorced” but I think if you can accept that that’s reality and s**t happens...

‘It’s like, you don’t have insurance because you anticipate getting into a car accident or getting severely ill, but thank god you have it.’

Indeed Katie and Tom’s fellow co-stars Scheana Marie and Mike Shay recently announced they are to divorce after two years of marriage just weeks after reports Mike - who battled addiction issues during their relationship - had cleaned out their bank account and gone AWOL. 

Domestic bliss: The reality TV stars say they are happier than ever and already feel like an ‘old married couple’

Katie and Tom are hoping to avoid the reality TV marriage curse, though, and are planning a bright future together.

They revealed they are both keen to have offspring at some point, but Minnesota-born Tom is still warming Katie up to the idea of just how many. Coming from a large family (four siblings including triplet brothers and three half-siblings) seems to have rubbed of on him.

‘If money wasn’t an issue, and obviously it’s not just up to me, I would wanna have like five kids. If I was independently wealthy, I would have 10 dogs, llamas, five cats, pigs. I just wanna live on a farm and have a bunch of kids,’ he said with a laugh.

Utah-born Katie, the middle child between two brothers, agreed but just not on the numbers: ‘Yea I wanna have a bunch of dogs and animals and then a couple of kids. Two kids and like 40 dogs.’ 

'Sensible': The waitress and model, who have both been earning Bravo paychecks since the hit show Vanderpump Rules started in 2013, signed a pre-nup before exchanging vows

Of course to fund any notions of an utopian family farm dream they’re both aware they’ll need to keep the dollars rolling in and know they can’t rely on their Bravo paychecks forever.

Katie is working hard on building her Pucker & Pout brand - a beauty and lifestyle website with tutorials and product reviews - and is looking into the possibility of launching a lipstick line in the future. ‘We’re in the process of testing the market and seeing if people would be interested in Pucker & Pout beauty products,’ she said.

Tom, meanwhile, says he is at crossroads in his career; he has a portfolio of commercial modeling under his belt and has dabbled in acting over the years (‘I was a glorified extra on True Blood’) but admits he’s found Hollywood tough.

‘The competition is fierce in LA,’ he said. ‘It’s like so discouraging, you walk in [to a casting] and there are like 40 people who are better looking than you and probably more charming and you’re like f**k maybe I should just go.’ 

Oh Christmas tree: The pair are enjoying their first festive season together as a married couple

But right now, things are going well for them and with their wedding storyline front and center, Katie and Tom have bagged the leading roles for season five of Vanderpump Rules. After marrying in August in an elegant woodland affair at Twenty Mile House in Northern California, the pair whisked themselves off on an idyllic honeymoon to French Polynesia.

Tom explained: ‘We started in Mo'orea, warmed up there, absolutely stunning, would have been content just staying there, and then we went to Bora Bora, just when we thought it couldn’t get anymore gorgeous.’

After five days of blue waters and serenity, Katie and Tom were keen to liven things up. So in Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux style, they invited their friend and bridesmaid Stassi Schroeder to join them.

'The pressure’s off': Katie says she feels more secure in her relationship now they are married

Katie explained: ‘It was like a joke that she was going to come on our honeymoon. We’d already been there for five days or something like that and we were having a group chat with all our friends and we were like “Stassi, it’s not too late.”’

The Vanderpump trio certainly got a few strange looks from fellow honeymooners though: ‘The problem was, we didn’t realize how couples intensive it was going to be in Bora Bora,‘ Katie said. ‘And then [Stassi] got there and it was like Noah’s Ark, just twos... we definitely got a lot of weird looks. Sometimes I was like, “wait, you’re making us look weird, just walk behind.”’

The pair stayed at the Manava resort in Mo'orea and at the Intercontinental then they moved on to Bora Bora. ‘Both times we stayed in overwater bungalows with the glass-bottomed floors,’ Tom recalled. ‘Not to brag... I have to boast a little bit because it was an experienced like any other... you walk out on the dock and then you walk right out onto the ocean... oh man.

‘It was probably one of the best times of my life.’

A space to 'schmooze': Katie and Tom  love hosting guests - including their co-stars - in their apartment 

Wedding memento: A photograph from the pair's big day takes pride of place in their home

If anything, Stassi showing up on their honeymoon points to the close bond the co-stars have in real life. Indeed Vanderpump Rules was born out of the relationships between the staff at Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd’s West Hollywood restaurant and bar, SUR.

Recalling how it all began, Katie said: ‘I’d been working at SUR for like two years, Kristen [Doute] and Stassi became my two best friends there. Kristen introduced Stassi and Jax [Taylor] and they started dating. She introduced me to Tom, he was living with Tom [Sandoval] and Jax had just moved out and was living with Stassi.

‘We’d been seeing each other for a couple of years, so we had this little group and all the drama that comes with that. So [the producers and Lisa Vanderpump] called us to a meeting and said we’re going to do a pilot... they had us pick numbers out of a hat and they just went down the line, and after they had spoken to me, Stassi and Kristen she was like, “wait a minutue... you are all this group?” They had no idea they were going to be getting all of that.’

Five years on and the gang still all meet up on a Monday night and either have a viewing party or, if the show’s not on, just hang out together. ‘It can be dangerous if we all get drunk together, just having to relive the dramatic moments, even though we all have thick skin now,’ Tom said: ‘I mean the show’s real so sometimes it’s difficult to relive it together when you’re drinking, but I have to give everybody credit we handle it pretty well now.’ 

Honeymoon in paradise: Katie and Tom visited Bora Bora on their romantic getaway 

Not on the invite list are relative newcomers and young-guns James Kennedy, 24, and Lala Kent, 26, who, as viewers will be aware, have hardly ingratiated themselves with the group.

In the first episode of season five, resident SUR DJ James (who has since been fired from his post for drunken antics) and hostess Lala approached the group while they were out drinking and derided them over their lack of ‘summer bodies’. James even asked Katie, ‘Are you pregnant?’

Responding to the comments, Katie said: ‘I think body shaming a woman, it’s just wrong on many levels. I don’t know who makes anyone the judge to figure out what’s sexy, or what’s “quote unquote” fat or what’s pretty. It’s amazing that some people think that they’re entitled to those opinions.’

Tom added: ‘He [James] has the cockiness only a fool could have... It’s actually a reflection of their character, Lala saying “oh I see you have your winter bodies,” it’s a reflection of how shallow her thought process is.

‘This is a person with very little dimension, I hate to say it, it’s kinda harsh because she’s young, but this is a person who’s very insecure, who leads with her sexuality because she doesn’t have a personality to fall back on. It’s harsh but it’s true.

Pumped up: Tom and Katie attended the DailyMail.com and Elite Daily holiday party on December 7 with their friends and co-stars Stassi Schroeder and Jax Taylor 

Katie and Tom say that filming of season five is pretty much wrapped now, with just a few pick-up shots left to do. Their wedding will air in the season finale episode next year.

Next on the agenda is a trip to New York to promote the show before the Christmas break. The pair - who affectionately call each other ‘Bubba’ - are planning a Vegas trip with Katie’s mom, grandmother and brothers and then Tom will fly solo to Florida - where his family is now based - for Christmas day. Then they’ll reunite in Cabo, Mexico, with fellow members from the Vanderpump crew for New Year’s celebrations.

Then it will be back to their West Hollywood pad to resume married life. The say they are definitely fast turning into an ‘old married couple’ and that matrimony has tamed them somewhat. The perfect day is snuggling up in their moo-moos, ordering take-out and watching Chopped on the Food Network.

‘I love what we do, it’s so cute and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,’ Tom mused.

Katie: ‘See, romantic AF!’