Credit: Milla Cochran/startraksphoto, Instagram
Ariana Madix shared details of a text message Raquel Leviss sent to Tom Sandoval before the news of their affair broke during a podcast appearance on Wednesday.
As she addressed rumors of an open relationship between her and Sandoval and a hookup between Sandoval and Billie Lee, the Vanderpump Rules star revealed the text, shared her thoughts on the reunion bomb, and gushed over new man Daniel Wai.
“I’m really, really enjoying myself,” Ariana gushed on the May 24 episode of the Call Me Daddy podcast. “I am seeing someone. They live across the country in New York. So obviously, you know, it’s kind of there’s that whole aspect to it, but I would say it’s like, really, really great.”
Ariana and Daniel met in Mexico, where they were attending the wedding of mutual friends, a week and a half after “Scandoval” broke. And, while some have felt that Ariana moved on too soon, she confirmed they did not start dating right away.
“I met him at this wedding, and all we did was talk. We stayed up all night just talking. It’s literally all I wanted. I was like, ‘Quality time! What is this?’ And then he flew to where he lives and I flew her to where I am and then we just FaceTimed and talked and talked and it was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, like I’m getting to know this person and the conversations we were having were like so amazing,’” Ariana revealed after noting that quality time was something she was lacking with Sandoval.
As she continues to spend time in New York “every couple of weeks,” Ariana said she’s been “[loving] life.”
“And honestly, having someone that literally will be like… ‘Hey, can we just get like five minutes where we just like, have like quality time on the phone.’ I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I’m like, ‘Ok great. This is great,’” Ariana stated.
Then, when asked about Billie, who has been spotted with Sandoval at their shared home in the months since their breakup, Ariana said she does “not think that anything happened there.”
“I understand that this sounds crazy because Raquel was someone I loved and trusted, but I do trust that Billy would not do that. We’ve talked about it,” she explained.
Although Ariana and Sandoval are still living together, in separate rooms, Ariana does not speak to him at all. And, when asked if she thinks he misses her, Ariana said, “Yeah, I do.”
“I just feel like as someone that he would go to for advice on mostly everything up until like that moment, I just think that there’s no way that he doesn’t because he’s been making a lot of like very questionable decisions over the last two months and he doesn’t have that like sounding board, or that advisor anymore,” she reasoned.
As for his former mistress, Raquel, Ariana said she’s a “lost” human.
“I realize now I never knew her, but I certainly don’t know her now, and I don’t know anyone who does know her and so it’s hard to say,” she explained. “But based on what I’ve seen, lost and empty. Some of the behavior has at times seemed sociopathic, but at the same time, I’m not really sure, like, what is the real deal?”
As rumors swirl in regard to the status of Sandoval and Raquel’s relationship, Ariana said the two of them simply don’t make sense “unless he has changed everything that he’s ever said that he’s looking for in someone.”
While Ariana certainly had a relationship with Sandoval’s family over the course of their nine-year relationship, she still has not heard from them.
“I guess I would just think they’d be like ‘Hey, this sucks.’ Just that. ‘Wish you the best,’” Ariana noted.
Not only did Sandoval’s family not reach out, but they may have been in the know about Sandoval’s affair. After all, he took Raquel to St. Louis for visits.
“[It was] apparently more than once. It’s hard to say what exactly they knew, or when they knew, I think they, at one point, they knew. But they were definitely not condoning, and he wasn’t… He was putting her up in a hotel,” she revealed.
And, according to Ariana, Raquel wasn’t his first infidelity.
“There was one years and years ago… I got a DM that was like, ‘Tom hooked up with my friend in San Diego.’ And I brought it up over and over and over and over again… And it was like ‘No, absolutely not. No, no, no.’ [But] now I’m like, ‘No, I think that was a yes,’” Ariana explained. “And then there’s specifically the one that he said, ‘Oh yeah, there was one other time.’ And I’m like 99.9% sure I know exactly who that is also.”
While Ariana denied being in an open relationship with Sandoval before the affair was uncovered, she now believes Sandoval was responsible for the false reports.
“I think it came from him… Back when this stuff started coming out, and rumors were rumbling…. Rachel told a mutual friend that she thought me and Tom were in an open relationship because apparently, he told her that,” she revealed. “And then when that got brought up, he was like, ‘Absolutely not. I never said that.’ And I was like, ‘Well, you should probably take that up with your little f-cking girlfriend because she’s the one who told that to someone else.’”
Raquel also told someone that she’d “rather hook up with Ariana than Tom,” according to Ariana, who suspects she said that “because she was talking to a guy and she thought it [was] hot to say that.”
In recent weeks, after producer Alex Baskin hinted at new information that would be dropped on the Pump Rules reunion and said he did not want to go into production on season 11 until everyone was made aware of it, rumors have swirled about what that bomb could be.
“I think I know what the deal is, but I’m not entirely sure… I kinda have an idea,” Ariana admitted. “I don’t think it’s something that crazy or that wild, but I don’t know because… I haven’t seen it.”
Although the controversy known as “Scandoval” has been absolutely devastating to Ariana, who thought she would grow old with Sandoval before he engaged in a months-long affair with her best friend, one particular aspect stood out as the most hurtful.
“It was the way that he weaponized any struggle I’ve ever had with my mental health that to me was like the most hurtful,” she revealed, giving the nod to Sandoval’s suggestion that she threatened to harm herself when he tried to break up with her.
As for Raquel’s text, Ariana said that after uncovering Sandoval’s cheating, she came across a text from Raquel to Tom, which read, “I just talked to a mutual friend… and they said that you should be honest with Ariana, maybe not so much about all the details, like sleeping in the house together, but that she deserves to know about this.”
“And then it’s like, ‘I love you, you got this,’” Ariana revealed.
Also, on the podcast, Ariana shared her hopes for the future.
“I want independence on every level,” she declared. “I want to be able to be completely financially independent and successful. I want to open my sandwich shop with Katie and have that be a total hit, which I think it will be. I’m very excited about all of that. I just want to be independent, independent and successful. And I want to be a solo homeowner. I want to own my own home, with no one else on the deed.
Part two of the three-part Vanderpump Rules season 10 reunion airs next Wednesday, May 31, at 9/8c on Bravo.