Tom Sandoval is SUR-ving up his side of the story.
The Vanderpump Rules star, who broke up with Ariana Madix earlier this year after his months-long affair with Raquel Leviss was exposed, defended himself during the Bravo show's May 24 reunion episode. While speaking about the couple's fallout, Sandoval claimed that he and Madix weren't always on good terms during their nine years together.
"Ariana and I kept our relationship pretty private for many years," the 40-year-old explained. "We had issues. I felt like I was her gay BFF. We put on a front when we were filming and I even talked to our showrunner. For us to be having these issues and keeping it from people, I just didn't think it was fair to the rest of the cast."
A never-before-seen flashback from September 2022 showed Sandoval telling a VPR producer, "I feel guilty, people put themselves out there, man. It's not fair. I feel like it's important for us to, like, talk about this s--t and not pretend like it's all amazing."
As for Madix's take on the situation? "I feel like I always showed everything, from my point of view," she said during the reunion. "He's framing it now as something else. Because he has to, he's desperate. He will throw anything at the wall right now hoping that it'll stick."
And, indeed, Madix did not hold back when calling out Sandoval's infidelity during the cast's sit-down. After Sandoval tearfully apologized, saying that he still loves Madix, the 39-year-old snapped back, "He has victim-blamed me 100 percent of the way, so I don't believe anything that just came out of his mouth."
She added, "I think he's f--king full of s--t and he can f--k off."
The scathing sentiment echoed Ariana's heated words for Sandoval during VPR's season 10 finale, which documented the fallout from the TomTom co-owner's cheating.
"I regret every moment that I stood up for you, defended you, supported you," she told Sandoval when he came clean about the affair. "You're worth nothing and I want you to feel that deep in your soul. I want you to hear those words coming from the mouth of the woman who f--king stood by you and loved you and was ready to build the rest of my life around you."
During the explosive confrontation, Madix also called Sandoval and Leviss' secret romance "bulls--t" and "disgusting."
"I had her back," she said of Leviss, who she's been friends with for years. "The fact that she's continued to smile in my face is one of the most god-awful, disgusting things I've ever heard of."
For her part, Leviss previously issued an apology to Madix when the drama—now dubbed by fans as "Scandoval"—imploded.
"There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret hurting Ariana," the former beauty queen, who is currently seeking treatment at a mental health facility, wrote in a March 8 statement. "I am learning things about myself such as my patterns of codependency and addiction to being and feeling loved. I have sought emotional validation through intimate connections that are not healthy without regard for my own well-being, sometimes negatively affecting others and often prioritizing the intimate connection over my friendships."
Keep scrolling to find out what else went down during the reunion.
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