Photo:Frazer Harrison/Getty
Frazer Harrison/Getty
“I had this sort of mounting urge to just pack up my stuff and move, I don’t know where — not run away, but just move,” he tells PEOPLE of a tumultuous period before he signed up for Fox’s outer space reality series.
It’s no surprise he was itching to hit the reset button. Schwartz, 40, was still processing hisdivorcefromKatie Maloneyand multiple family health scares when he (and all of theVPRcast) were swept up in theScandovalcheating drama involving his friends and costarsTom Sandoval,Raquel LevissandAriana Madix.
Amid that tumult, Schwartz was “yearning to just disconnect, to take a break from the internet, my phone, social media.”
Brook Rushton/FOX
Temporarily decamping to Mars gave him that opportunity (“and it couldn’t have come at a better time,” he says) — albeit at a slightly scary cost for an elder Millennial.
“I had romanticized this idea,” he says of disconnection, “but once it came time to sort of part ways with my phone, it was scary. … I’m scared of how dependent I am on my cell phone in every facet of life. So it was nice to take a little break from that. And yeah, it felt rejuvenating and restorative.”
He adds, “I got a massive infusion of levity and an adventure, and it was kind of just what the doctor ordered.”
As Schwartz looks ahead to a new season of filming forVanderpump Rules, which typically begins in the summer, he tells PEOPLE: “I feel more optimistic. I feel myself again, and I just feel better equipped to handle whatever life throws at me.”
He affirms, “I feel more me. I feel like myself again. … [I have] a fresh perspective, I guess. Yeah, I guess the word is, I feel like I recalibrated. I feel like I just lost my way. I lost my way a little bit. I really did, lost my way and now I’m found.”
Additionally, the Bravolebrity acknowledges, “It’s not like I have it all together. I’m a constant work in progress, let’s be honest. I’m clearly a flawed dude. I feel more optimistic heading into this next year and excited. I’m excited. I feel giddy again, a little lighter on my feet.”
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty
And though Schwartz insistsStars on Marswasn’t a form of “running away from my problems,” he is hopeful the step back will help him break some old patterns.
He adds, “I need to take every day and be grateful for it, every moment, stop living in the future — Tom. Right now. Be present.”
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Stars on Marsairs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, andVanderpump Rulescan be streamed in full on Peacock.
source: people.com
