Heavy/Getty/NBCUniversal Ariana Madix responds to Raquel Leviss going in the hot tub with Tom Sandoval.
In a preview for the upcoming May 3, 2023, episode of “Vanderpump Rules,” fans see Ariana Madix’s surprising response to finding out that her then-boyfriend Tom Sandoval was in the hot tub alone with co-star and then-friend, Raquel Leviss.
At the time the scene was filmed, no one in the group knew that Sandoval and Leviss were having an affair. Thinking that the interaction between Sandoval and Leviss was completely innocent, Madix actually defended the two when the hot tub conversation came up.
“After Beach Day, Schwartz, Raquel and I all took a car back to my house, jumped into the jacuzzi, hung out, had some drinks, listened to music. We went in the jacuzzi,” Sandoval said during a confessional interview. At the time, Madix was out of town due to the death of her grandmother.
When the group was altogether, Leviss shared that she had gone in the jacuzzi at Sandoval and Madix’s home, to which Madix replied, “Yeah, which is something we always do,” totally defending what she believed to be a platonic relationship. However, months later, Madix learned that something very different had been going on.
Here’s what you need to know:
Raquel Leviss Slept at Tom Sandoval & Ariana Madix’s Home When Madix Wasn’t There
Before the group sit-down, Sandoval had told friends — and Madix — that Leviss had “dipped out” after the hot tub, suggesting that she did not sleep over. However, Leviss told Madix that she did end up crashing at the house, though she claims to have slept on the couch.
Madix still didn’t seem to bat an eye at Leviss’ confession, saying that Leviss could have slept upstairs in the guest room.
“On the heels of, you know, the open relationship rumor and obviously, Schwartz and Raquel making out in Mexico, we just thought maybe it’d be better if everyone didn’t know that little detail,” Sandoval said in the confessional. “I fully was going to tell Ariana but we should’ve just told the truth. Like, stupid,” he added.
When chatting with the group, Sandoval claims that he technically wasn’t lying. “Like, she did dip out. She went and passed out,” he said.
In March 2023, Madix found a questionable video of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone. In the time that followed, Madix learned that her longtime boyfriend had been cheating on her for at least six months.
Ariana Madix Confronted Both Raquel Leviss & Tom Sandoval at the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Reunion & Has Been Thriving Ever Since
Just a couple of weeks after Madix’s life was flipped upside down, she was forced to film the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 reunion with her co-stars, including her ex-boyfriend and Leviss. While details of what happened at the reunion have been sparse, Schwartz said that Madix let her ex and Leviss have it.
“Ariana had a fire in her. I mean, she eviscerated those two and I’ve never seen anything like that. I didn’t know she had it in her,” Schwartz told Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” in April 2023. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my entire life,” he added.
Meanwhile, Madix has been leaning on her friends to get her through and she appears to be doing just fine. Between a public hook-up with personal trainer Daniel Wai at Coachella to an invitation to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — and rumors that she’s going to be on “Dancing With the Stars” — Madix appears to have already landed on her feet.
“[I’ve learned] that I can do anything. I can handle anything,” Madix told Entertainment Tonight at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 2023.
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