A Complete Breakdown of the 'Vanderpump Rules' Cheating Scandal
#Scandoval.
If you’re anything like us, you’ve likely found yourself rewatching old episodes of Vanderpump Rules, searching for early signs of Tom Sandoval‘s infidelity.
The news heard around the Internet broke last week as former reality TV power couple Sandoval and Ariana Madix parted ways as Sandoval continued the show’s incestuous history and cheated on Madix with costar Raquel Leviss — former girlfriend of James Kennedy, a DJ and the show’s designated British rebel.
For those unfamiliar with the complete landscape of Bravo TV shows, Vanderpump Rules is a salacious spin-off of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, following the impossibly chic Lisa Vanderpump‘s ventures as she owns the West Hollywood hotspot SUR. The pink-themed restaurant and bar is essentially a breeding ground for SUR’s unbelievably attractive staff — who are really models and actors — often serving as a reluctant backdrop to fist fights, thrown cosmos and arrests.
Longtime fans will know that the cast is absolutely and contagiously dysfunctional. While Jax Taylor was known as the show’s resident bad boy — cheating on nearly all of his girlfriends, including former ice queen and costar Stassi Schroeder — Ariana and Tom were the only remotely stable couple in a sea of toxic ones. Their relationship even outlasted Tom Schwartz and Katie Mahoney‘s marriage, proving that at least one half of TomTom could go the distance. Guess not.
The seven month affair initially started with Schwartz as rumors began circulating in April 2022 that Raquel made out with him at Coachella. That same month, Raquel posted a hands-on selfie with Sandoval, captioning the sunny picture with a now-suspicious, “I’m on an island.” Fast forward to August, Us Weekly alleged that Leviss and Tom Schwartz locked lips at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies‘ Cancun wedding.
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When the brunette beauty made the switch to Tom Sandoval is a bit unclear, but things got a bit spooky around October 2022 as Sandoval made the odd choice to dress up as Leviss for Halloween. Gross. To make matters worse, a now-deleted Reddit thread suspected there was something in the air as Raquel and Tom Sandoval began wearing matching lightening bolt necklaces.
This past January, Ariana found herself dispelling the myth that she and Sandoval were in an open relationship in a tweet, saying she’s “really not that cool.” Trust us, cheating is a lot lamer. Adding insult to injury, in February, Leviss regarded her former bestie’s ex as her “best friend” in an interivew with E! for the upcoming season ten premiere, sharing, “He is just in touch with himself and is fully accepting of who he is .. I feel like he looks at me like a little sister.”
Yikes.
On March 1, 2023, Ariana found an intimate video of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone — it’s important to note that Leviss asserts the video was recorded without her consent and revenge porn is never okay, regardless of fidelity. Naturally, Madix confronted Raquel, who reportedly sat down with Andy Cohen that very day and admitted that she found Sandoval more attractive than Schwartz. As Leviss was joined by costar Scheana for her taping, she confessed the affair to the former aspiring singer, sparking an altercation between the two and resulting in Shay changing her flight home.
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Sandoval issued a lackluster apology on Instagram on March 4, mentioning everyone but Madix and primarily focusing on his true bromance, TomTom, asking fans to leave Schwartz out of it. Things came to a head on March 7 when Raquel’s legal team issued a letter to Sandoval and cast members , warning them against sharing the explicit video, but unfortunately, cast members are forbidden from suing one another. Raquel has since issued a statement, revealing that she is entering her healing era, posting, “Knowing how many people we hurt, I need to understand my choices and learn to make better ones. I need to take care of my health, work on self-growth and take time to be okay with being alone.”
We respect honest and accountability.
Sandoval makes an attempt at a second, more sincere apology on March 8, writing, “I want to first and foremost apologize to everyone I’ve hurt through this process. Most of all, I want to apologize to Ariana, I made mistakes, I was selfish and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love. No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly.
We agree. A new episode of Vanderpump Rules premieres on March 15.
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