“Not denying anything… but he freaked out” — Katie Maloney finally spills on her secret night with Love Island USA’s Connor Newsum that set tongues wagging, sparked frantic damage control... - suong

Katie Maloney set the record straight about her past relationship with Connor Newsum.

The pair sparked dating rumors roughly a year ago after they were spotted together at the Laurel Tavern in Studio City, California. Katie addressed the whispers in an August 2024 episode of Disrespectfully, a podcast she co-hosts with her good friend and fellow Vanderpump Rules alum Dayna Kathan.

“Do you wanna confirm or deny that you were on a date with someone?” Dayna asked. “You can plead the fifth.”

“Was I on a date? Listen, I didn’t obviously choose to put that out there,” Katie said, referring to the news reports about her and Connor’s outing. “I’m not going to deny anything… I don’t think it’s fair to be yapping about it.”

Katie Maloney theorizes why Connor Newsum "freaked out" after their date

Fast-forward to the July 15 episode of The Viall Files podcast, where Katie shed more light on her and Connor’s brief fling. At one point during the broadcast, host Nick Viall jokingly referred to Connor as Katie’s “ex,” which prompted the Utah native to clarify the nature of her and Connor's relationship.

“We went on one date. I didn’t even categorize it as that,” Katie said, referring to the “ex” label. “I did clock when he said — he was talking [in an interview] about someone that he was seeing. He’s like, ‘I’m not gonna say who it is… It got some attention.’”

Katie didn’t provide specifics, but indicated Connor wasn’t pleased with all the headlines surrounding their date.

“Somebody told on us at the bar we went to,” she said. “He definitely freaked out about it.”

Connor, who appeared in Love Island USA Season 6, recently confirmed his relationship with fellow Love Island-er Carmen Kocourek (Season 5). Connor dropped the news in a July 2 Instagram post, which he simply captioned, “an update.” The carousel featured various date night photos, including one of Connor kissing a smiling Carmen on the cheek.

Katie Maloney enters a relationship with rock musician Nick Martin

Katie Maloney posts an image of herself with her boyfriend, Nick Martin, to her Instagram account.

Photo: Katie Maloney/Instagram

Months after her date with Connor, Katie revealed she was romantically involved with Nick Martin, the guitarist for Sleeping with Sirens. Katie addressed the ongoing relationship in the April 14 episode of Humble Brag, hosted by The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Cynthia Bailey and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Crystal Kung Minkoff.

The former SUR-ver said she met Nick during a 2024 trip to Las Vegas, and immediately hit it off with the musician.

“We just became friends, and we went [for] coffee one day,” she said. “He had just started going through a divorce, and then started kind of seeing someone else. But we maintained friends through that and really got to know each other.”

Why Katie Maloney was "nervous" to start dating Nick Martin

Katie Maloney posts an image of herself and Nick Martin together at Disneyland to her Instagram on February 19, 2025.

Photo: Katie Maloney/Instagram

It wasn’t long before the relationship went from platonic to romantic; however, Katie admitted she was hesitant to tell Nick her true feelings as she didn’t want to ruin their friendship.

“You know when you’re nervous when somebody that you’ve only ever seen platonically and only been friends with, then your feelings maybe start to change, you don’t wanna ruin the vibe by crossing any lines?” she said. “So that’s kinda how we both were. We were both tiptoeing things.”

The pair eventually shared their first kiss in late 2024 and have been going strong ever since.

“I just really loved the person that he is,” Katie continued. “I’ve actually never told this [story]… It worked out for me.”

Learn more about Katie’s romance with Nick, and what her ex-husband, Tom Schwartz, thinks of her new beau.