Tom Sandoval of Vanderpump Rules is now claiming that he had broken up with his long-time girlfriend Ariana Madix two weeks before she found out that he had cheated on her with another co-star, Raquel Leviss.
In what is now known as “Scandoval”, the 40-year-old attempted to clear the air in an interview on a recent episode of comedian Howie Mandel’s podcast.
Sandoval claims he had ended his nine-year-long relationship with Madix two weeks before she found out about his months-long affair with Leviss, on Valentine’s Day of this year.
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“I had already broken up with her two weeks earlier, and I told her, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t have to post anything on social media, like, let’s talk through this,'” he claimed.
Sandoval said he wanted to keep the breakup under wraps so they could “figure out a way to navigate this that helps us both out and makes it easier.”
He said he had multiple conversations with her, the second of which he claims Madix told him, “I’m not letting you leave me, you’re gonna have to force me out of this relationship.”
He responded with “Ariana, I don’t think I can be faithful in a relationship with you right now.” At this point, he had still not disclosed his affair with Leviss, 28, who was a close friend to Madix.
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“She’s like, ‘If you break up with me, you will be effectively ending my life,'” Sandoval recounted, “I didn’t know what to do. She was in complete denial and not accepting it.”
Sandoval took off to a food and wine festival over the next weekend in Miami soon after that conversation, during which Madix did not speak to him, he said.
The next time Madix interacted with him, it was in public during a gig he held with his cover band Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras’ at the bar he manages with titular restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, TomTom, on March 1.
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“We’ve never been PDA unless it’s for a photo or for press or whatever, [but] she, like, in front of all these fans, she grabs me and knows that I’m not gonna push her away in front of people, and she kisses me,” he claimed.
He also disclosed how Madix found out about the affair, soon after the Miami trip.
“My phone falls out of the pocket, she sees it and, obviously, was the most upset and angry I’ve ever seen her, but I think she went through the phone just to see if anything happened with somebody in Miami,” he recalled.
“But we were broken up, she knew we were broken up.”
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