Heavy/Getty/NBCUniversal Tom Sandoval's ex spoke out.
Tom Sandoval’s ex spoke out about why she stayed with him so long – and why his “Vanderpump Rules” co-star, Raquel Leviss, may be just what he’s looking for.
During a March 16, 2023 appearance on “The Viall Files,” Sandoval’s ex-girlfriend, Kristen Doute, spoke out about her broken relationship with the bar owner and his shocking cheating scandal with his co-star Leviss.
Doute and Sandoval dated for nearly six years and their breakup was featured on the second season of “Vanderpump Rules” in 2013. Sandoval began dating Ariana Madix immediately.
While speaking with Viall, Doute said she was in awe of Madix, who was able to put up with his selfish behavior during their nearly 10-year relationship.
“I mean I was with him for almost six years we should have broken up after year two,” Doute admitted. “Obviously we were just young and broke and it was a relationship of convenience. And once Ariana and I became friends… I like worshipped the ground she walks on for being able to deal with someone so narcissistic and someone is so attention-needy and spotlight-thriving.”
Doute previously complained about Sandoval in her 2020 book, “He’s Making You Crazy.” In one chapter, she wrote that while he was “charismatic,” he was also in love with himself. “We would get ready together at his vanity, and when he said ‘you’re beautiful’ I wondered if he was talking to me or to himself. His flat iron, oh, his f***ing flat iron. It was his most prized possession. Would he ever look at me the way he looked at it?” she wrote.
Kristen Doute Said Tom Sandoval ‘Never Grew Up’
GettyTom Sandoval and Kristen Doute.
During “The Viall Files” interview, Doute described Sandoval as “a narcissist.” “I think he’s just very self-centered and very selfish,” she said.
But when Viall asked her what it is about Sandoval and his bestie, Tom Schwartz, that attracted women to them in the first place, she went back to the fact that they were young when they all first met.
“Katie [Maloney] started dating [Schwartz] 12 years ago. Ariana started dating Tom 10 years ago and I started dating Tom six years before that. So at that time there, it’s charming, it’s cute, it’s fun, it’s light, it’s funny,” she said. “The problem is they never grew up.”
Doute also referenced Bravo superfan Jerry O’Connell’s remarks on the topic during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live” earlier in March 2023. “Tom Sandoval — he’s not a man,” O’Connell said, per Yahoo Entertainment. “He’s a little boy and this is what little boys do. Tom Schwartz is a little boy. …I want to tell Katie and Ariana, ‘Find some men. Some real men. Men want the both of you, trust me.'”
On Viall’s pod, Doute said the immaturity “doesn’t stick anymore” now that Sandoval and Schwartz are in their 40s. “You need to start maturing and the problem is they just chose to never grow up,” she said. “[It’s like] the Peter Pan syndrome. They refused to go to therapy, they don’t want to better themselves. They think that they’ll just get away with this forever because there is going to be some dumb fans and younger girls who will fall for it and who will give them the attention that they want. Someone like Raquel.”
Kristen Doute Said Raquel Leviss ‘Validates’ Sandoval
GettyRaquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval of “Vanderpump Rules.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, Doute said she can see why Sandoval cheated with Leviss, whom she described as ”just so dumb” with “no personality.”
“Now in hindsight, I can see why Tom is, I guess, into her or why they’re doing this. Because Ariana has a backbone. Raquel does not. Raquel validates everything that Tom needs to be validated. How cool he is, how talented he is, his stupid band and his sequined pants and his nail polish and his dumb haircuts and the pedophile mustache, for f***’s sake.”
Doute isn’t the only one who thinks Leviss acts like a fan around the Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras frontman. Maloney previously described Leviss as “a fan girl” of both Sandoval and Schwartz, who are partnered together in the bars TomTom and Schwartz and Sandy’s. After Leviss was photographed wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the TomTom logo on it while at BravoCon in October 2022, Maloney reacted by writing, “She’s a fan girl. Started as a fan of the show and now a fan of the toms.”
Leviss has also been photographed wearing a lightning bolt necklace similar to one that Sandoval wears, and there have been rumors that the matching necklaces were the duo’s secret sign of their love for one another, according to Page Six.
During a March 15, 2023 appearance “Watch What Happens Live,” Maloney was also asked about Leviss’ fandom, and she said she believed the lightning bolt necklace was a part of her fan behavior. “She wants to emulate what he does,” Maloney said of the former pageant queen’s necklace that matches the jewelry that Sandoval had already been wearing.
Host Andy Cohen also asked Maloney if she thinks Sandoval and Leviss are in love. “At this point, they better fall in love because who’s going to date them,” she said.