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Tom Sandoval revealed that his brother, Brian Sandoval, attempted to disassociate from him after “Scandoval” broke in March of this year.
While chatting with guest Jerry O’Connell, 49, the Vanderpump Rules star, 40, shared that Brian requested he delete his photos from his social media pages as he also admitted to plotting the “perfect breakup” from Ariana Madix, 38, before his affair with Raquel Leviss, 29, was exposed.
“I fully f*cking regret it,” Sandoval said of his infidelity on the October 5 episode of Everybody Loves Tom, via E! News. “I feel bad about it. I hate that I hurt people. I, for the most part, have been pretty f*cking miserable and I don’t ever, ever, ever want to go through what I went through again. And I don’t ever want to be responsible or the cause for ever hurting people like that and causing that kind of sh*t ever again. I’m going to do everything in my power to never do that again and to never get lost and caught up in a situation like that.”
After noting that he shouldn’t have cheated to begin with, Sandoval said that if he could go back in time, he would’ve called it quits with Ariana sooner.
“I would have gotten out of my relationship, ripped the Band-Aid off, not delayed. I think I got caught up in trying to create the perfect breakup, but it was way beyond that,” he explained.
Looking back, Sandoval said he was inspired by the amicable 2022 divorce of Katie Maloney, 38, and Tom Schwartz, 40, to make his split from Ariana picture-perfect.
“I saw what Tom and Katie went through and I wanted to do it better, do it smoother,” he shared. “We were a different relationship than Tom and Katie, Ariana and I.”
In addition to doing things all wrong with Ariana and Raquel, Sandoval said he picked up some bad habits in 2022.
“I was on a path that was not great,” he revealed. “I was drinking all day, every day, chain smoking, cigarettes, going out constantly, chasing the dragon, running away from everything, hiding, hiding, hiding. And, when this happened, I was forced to take a really hard look at my life, really analyze and say, ‘Dude, what the f*ck are you doing?’ You know what I mean? Like, this is not a path that leads to a long, healthy life.”
Now six months sober, Sandoval said “Scandoval” served as a wakeup call.
“It did help me or cause me to change my habits,” he said. “And really also to put in perspective certain things that are important, like, also see what relationships were more meaningful.”
“I just got to try to move on and make the best out of the situation, continue to try to do positive things, be a positive person, be a positive influence on a situation, bring fun and happiness to people as much as I can,” he went on. “That’s what I love doing. That’s what I feel like I’m on this earth to do, is to bring positivity and happiness to people, to make people better off than they were when they met me. And I love doing that. I feel like a lot of my friends have experienced that over the years, and that’s one of the reasons why everybody didn’t leave me. But I realize why a lot of people did.”
During another segment of the podcast, per Page Six, Sandoval revealed how Brian attempted to distance himself from him post-affair.
“My brother, like, told me, he’s like, ‘Tom, you need to delete photos of us on Instagram,’” Tom recalled. “My actual blood brother said that to me.”
According to the outlet, Sandoval and Brian seemed to be quite close prior to “Scandoval,” with Sandoval giving him a shout-out in May 2021 in honor of National Brother’s Day.
“Love You Brian! …excuse me, Dr. Brian Sandoval,” he wrote at the time.
Meanwhile, after guest Jerry pointed out that he was “anxious” about coming on Sandoval’s podcast due to the possibility of it appearing that he was somehow approving of his behavior, Sandoval shot down the idea.
“I don’t think you’re condoning my behavior by showing up here,” he replied.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 is expected to premiere on Bravo later this year or in early 2024.