Scandoval: Ariana Madix Drags Cheating Ex Tom Sandoval on ‘WWHL’
Following the Vanderpump Rules Season 10 finale, Ariana Madix appeared on Watch What Happens Live alongside Andy Cohen and spoke out for the first time since news broke that Tom Sandoval, her ex-boyfriend of nearly a decade, had a months-long affair with their friend and fellow cast member Raquel Leviss.
“I’m looking forward, not looking back,” Madix told Cohen.
The highly anticipated season finale depicts the immediate fallout of the cheating scandal, which people have named “Scandoval.” In the first few minutes of the episode, Madix and Sandoval have a confrontation on screen in their living room days after she discovered he was cheating on her with Leviss. The exchange ranges from heated to tearful, with both of them yelling and crying at different points.
Watch What Happens Live typically features two guests per episode, but Madix was Cohen’s sole guest on Wednesday night.
Madix told Cohen she thought Sandoval’s apology tour on the finale was “laughable.” She also said she thought the most cringeworthy moment in the season was the “fabrication of the narrative that was being formed the entire time without my knowledge,” referring to scenes Sandoval filmed with Tom Schwartz talking about their relationship behind her back.
The reality star said she was a little suspicious of her ex-boyfriend of nearly ten years and would ask him to see his phone and look through his texts, but she didn’t suspect a full-blown affair. She also said he was good at “hiding evidence.”
When Cohen asked Madix if Sandoval actually did try to break up with Madix multiple times, she said, “No.”
The former couple are still living in the same house together in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. They’re not communicating or “interacting on any level,” according to Madix.
“My plan is to sell the house,” Madix said. “I want my money out of that house as soon as possible.”
“Are Tom and Raquel in love?” Cohen asked Madix, to which she replied, “I don’t really know that either of them knows what that word means.” But she did say that a few days ago, she found a letter addressed to Sandoval in Leviss’ handwriting in her mailbox, alluding to the fact that Leviss has tried to get in touch with Sandoval.
As far as her ex is concerned, Madix said she thinks he’s “loving the attention,” despite the fact that it’s not necessarily good attention.
“I honestly think there’s something about him that’s really loving the attention that this has brought him and I feel as though as long as people continue to give him that attention, he will be happy about it,” she said.
The infamous “Miami girl” situation also came up in the finale episode. In earlier seasons, Sandoval was accused of cheating on Madix at the beginning of their relationship with a woman in Miami. Sandol’s ex, Kristen Doute, even brought the Miami girl to SUR to confront Sandoval in front of Ariana. He denied the accusations and Madix supported him through the entire storyline on camera. In tonight’s episode, Sandoval said that Madix knew the truth the whole time.
“They slept together,” Madix said on WWHL. “It was before he and I were exclusive and I didn’t want people to think the worst about the man I thought I was gonna spend the rest of my life with, so I defended him.”
When asked if she thinks her breakup from Sandoval has been a positive thing in her life, Madix told Cohen, “So far I think it has been in a lot of ways. There’s definitely a lot of healing and a lot of things I need to work through. I hope it ends up being ultimately super positive.”