'Vanderpump Rules' star Ariana Madix breaks silence about Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss affair in first TV interview

Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix has broken her silence in her first TV interview since "Scandoval," when Tom Sandoval's shocking affair with their friend and co-star Raquel Leviss made headlines.


Tom and Ariana, who dated for nearly a decade, appeared to break up in early March after Tom's six-month affair with Ariana's former best friend, Raquel, came to light.

Vanderpump Rules fans watched a heated confrontation between Ariana and Tom about his infidelity on the show's Season 10 finale on Wednesday, May 17 in which Ariana said she regretted ever loving him.

And viewers also witnessed Tom and Raquel -- who essentially gushed about their sex being life-altering -- say, "I love you," to each other.

During a May 17 appearance on NBC's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Ariana spoke about Tom's betrayal and whether she ever suspected he had been cheating on her with Raquel.


"When he would not come home or he would be out super late, I would ask him things," Ariana explained to Andy Cohen.

"And I would say, 'Where were you? What were you doing?' And he would say, 'I was at [Tom Schwartz's],' and I would say, 'Really? Let me see your phone.' And he would say, 'Sure, here you go.'"

Ariana said Tom was crafty and great at sneaking out to see Raquel.

"So I would look at his texts, I would look at his phone, and he was very good about concealing the double life and hiding all of the evidence," Ariana said.

She continued, "I wasn't suspicious about an affair or about [Raquel], but something was clearly going on with him mentally and that's what I was picking up on."


When Ariana finally found out what her boyfriend and best friend were doing behind her back, she called Raquel on the phone.

Ariana recalled the conversation being "odd" because Raquel "didn't want to tell" her anything.

"I had to beg. I was screaming, crying, throwing up, [and] begging for some sort of something," Ariana confessed.

"I said, 'If you've ever given a crap about me, if you've ever cared -- even just as [another] woman -- tell me something.' And all I could get out of her was that there was a kiss, and of course she framed it as [happening] after the girls' trip, which is just insane."

Ariana eventually found out that Raquel and Tom had sex in Raquel's car while Ariana was grieving the imminent death of her dog Charlotte.


But that wasn't even the most cringeworthy moment of the scandal for Ariana.

She said Schwartz's role in the cheating scandal really bothered her and "the fabrication of the narrative that was being formed the entire time, without my knowledge, behind my back, by not just my ex-boyfriend but his little flying monkeys as well."

Ariana shared of Schwartz not coming forward about Tom's affair, "I don't think it was just covering; I think it was actively participating in my downfall."

Ariana pointed out how her co-stars Lala Kent and Katie Maloney were dead on with their intuition about Tom.

"At the time I was doing my best to be the best friend to [Raquel] I could be, so I don't regret [not listening to their warnings], but clearly they were right," Ariana confessed.


Ariana said she "didn't know" if Tom and Raquel are together now, but she claimed Raquel had sent letters to her and Tom's shared home.

"She was sending letters to my house like four days ago but it was addressed to him and it was her handwriting," Ariana shared.

Ariana also confirmed her family now "hates" Tom and he's "dead" to her brother. She thinks Tom is having a mid-life crisis and that he'll cheat again on a future girlfriend.

And Ariana said of Raquel, "I don't know her, and none of my friends know her anymore."

Raquel and Tom both issued public apologies for their actions in March, although they were spotted together several times after filming the Vanderpump Rules' reunion on March 23.


And then in mid-April, Raquel checked into a treatment facility to check her mental health, and not for substance abuse issues.

"Raquel had planned to admit herself before the [Vanderpump Rules Season 10] reunion was taped," Raquel's representative explained.

"She was scheduled to go in pre-reunion but decided she wanted to finish her filming commitment. Bravo and production were aware and in support of her journey towards better mental health."

Ariana told Andy that Tom's affair with Raquel wasn't the first time he had hurt her terribly.

Ariana claimed Tom and "Miami Girl," formally known as Annemarie Maldonado, had "slept together" during his trip to Florida before they were exclusive.

Ariana admitted she had lied about the hookup because she "didn't want people to think the worst about the man I was planning to spend the rest of my life with."


But Ariana seemed happy on the show and is moving on.

Ariana has been spotted, multiple times, packing on PDA with fitness coach Daniel Wai in the aftermath of her breakup with Tom. Ariana and Daniel apparently began seeing each other in mid-April.

A source recently told Us Weekly that Ariana is "definitely open to seeing where things go" with Daniel but she "isn't totally ready to jump into a serious relationship."

Lala Kent said of the potential new couple, "[Ariana's] like 'Heartbreak what? Like, I'm solid. I'm banging a fine-looking man.'"

Meanwhile, Tom told TMZ in late April that he was "really happy" to see Ariana doing well.

An insider source told Us on March 3 that Tom and Ariana had been "having problems for a while." The insider claimed the pair's relationship "only came to a breaking point" the day prior to their split on March 1.


But Tom claimed he officially broke up with Ariana on Valentine's Day in February.

Tom also shared on the April 11 episode of the "Howie Mandel Does Stuff" podcast how his romance with Raquel started with a kiss in August 2022 that felt "magnetic."

"I felt something that I hadn't felt in so long emotionally," Tom explained. "The feelings were something very, very strong."

Tom claimed that he had attempted to break up with Ariana once he realized he had strong feelings for Raquel.

"Like many relationships, it felt like it became more of like a best friends, family [thing] -- sometimes roommates," Tom continued.

"There were a lot of ways where the relationship was just lacking the intimacy, the connection. We would travel more by ourselves than we would together. I would go to weddings by myself."


Tom said he was seeing and FaceTiming with Raquel "as often" as he could," even though that "sounds horrible."

"And Ariana didn't even notice because that's just how separate our lives were," Tom claimed. "I had to actually tell her, 'How have you not noticed how distant I've been lately?'"

Vanderpump Rules' multi-part Season 10 reunion will kick off Wednesday, May 24 on Bravo.

Ariana joined the cast of Vanderpump Rules in November 2013, and then she and Tom announced they were officially dating during the Season 2 reunion that aired in February 2014.

Raquel began dating James Kennedy in 2016, and the pair got engaged in May 2021. However, the couple broke up in December of that year.

Raquel proceeded to go on dates with Peter Madrigal in Summer 2022 before hooking up with Schwartz, who had split from Katie during August of that year.







About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski