Ariana Madix says there are some things about her ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval’s shocking cheating scandal that will remain a secret.
The “Vanderpump Rules” star spoke out about her ex’s seven-month affair with her former friend, Raquel Leviss, during a February 2024 interview on “Good Morning America.” And while she acknowledged that fans knew many of the details of her very public breakup, she also hinted that some things will never be known.
Madix told GMA that fans “don’t actually” know the whole story of what went down with Sandoval. “There’s a lot that they’ll never know,” she said. “They definitely, you know, feel like they do know everything and to be fair they do know a lot. But there’s a lot they’ll never know.”
Madix also noted that the season 10 reunion was shot just three weeks after the scandal “blew up” so a lot was left unsaid. In addition, the currently-airing 11th season was filmed back in June 2023 and didn’t debut until February 2023.
“So things air so much longer after and you know you do get people who are saying like ‘Well why haven’t you done this and that and the other thing?’ And like well it’s February this was June so…” she explained,
Madix also admitted she is not “special” when it comes to finding a partner has been unfaithful, but she noted that there is “a certain camaraderie found when things are public like that because you meet people who have stories that are similar and then you connect with those people.”
Tom Sandoval Claimed He Broke Up With Ariana Madix Before She Found Out About His Affair
Getty GettyTom Sandoval and Ariana Madix.
There are two (or three ) sides to every story, and Sandoval is sticking to his. He previously told the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast that he broke up with Madix before she found out he was involved with Leviss.
“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,’” Sandoval alleged om Mandel’s podcast in April 2023. He also claimed Madix was “in denial” about the split and told him she wouldn’t allow the breakup.
“I sit down to talk with her again, and she’s like, ‘I’m not letting you leave me, you’re gonna have to force me out of this relationship,’ and I was like, ‘Ariana, I don’t think I can be faithful in a relationship with you right now,’” the bar owner said. “She’s like, ‘If you break up with me, you will be effectively ending my life.’ I didn’t know what to do. She was in complete denial and not accepting it.”
He then alleged that Madix just “showed up” at his Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras show on March 1, 2023. When his phone fell out of his pocket, she found evidence of his affair with Leviss. “She sees it and, obviously, was the most upset and angry I’ve ever seen her,“ Sandoval told Mandel. “But we were broken up. She knew we were broken up.”
Raquel Leviss Told a Different Story About Her Relationship With Ariana Madix
Bravo BravoAriana Madix and Raquel Leviss.
The story has been that Leviss was best friends with Madix, but Leviss has said that is not true. While she considered Madix a friend, the former beauty pageant contestant said they were not besties and barely ever hung out off-camera.
Speaking on the “Just B With Bethenny Frankel” podcast in August 2023, Leviss said the narrative was that she slept with her best friend’s man. Yes, that is the narrative that is being written for me,” she told Frankel. “It is more salacious that way.”
“Ariana and I were not best friends,” she continued. “We were acquaintances who became friends through the show. She’s always been somebody who’s been very sweet to me. She would stand up for me… But, we never had a deep conversation that I would have with a best friend.”
Leviss added that it’s “painful” to think she hurt Madix so deeply. “I wasn’t trying to be a malicious person. I just got wrapped up in this and wasn’t thinking clearly,” she explained. “But we were not best friends.”
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Ariana Madix Hints There’s More to the Scandoval Story Than Fans Realize