Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss. Getty Images (2)
Tom Sandoval claimed that former Vanderpump Rules costar Raquel Leviss wasn’t “just some hot girl” to him during their affair.
“I fought so hard for Rachel,” Sandoval, 40, said during the Thursday, December 7, episode of “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast, calling Leviss, 29, by her birth name. “I stopped drinking. I stopped smoking cigarettes because she went away to a facility.”
Us Weekly confirmed in March that Ariana Madix and Sandoval split after nine years together following news that Sandoval had cheated with costar Leviss. As the affair continued to make headlines, Leviss checked into a mental health facility in April, which Sandoval said on Thursday was something he tried to help her through.
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“I’m like, ‘She can’t drink, she can’t smoke. I’m gonna quit,’” he said on the podcast. “I haven’t gone this long without drinking since I was 16. It’s been eight months. I stopped for her. I was there in any way that she needed me.”
Sandoval confessed that “of course” he still misses Leviss after their romance fizzled out earlier this year. “We were best friends. It’s heartbreaking to go through,” he said. “I was fully in love with her.”
Raquel Leviss, Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix. Nicole Weingart/Bravo
The Tom Tom cofounder quipped: “She’s not just some hot girl. I was a model for 15 years, it’s deeper than that. It’s more than that.”
Sandoval noted that he “would have loved to go away to a mental health facility” like Leviss did and reboot, but he claimed he had prior work engagements he had to handle.
Looking back, Sandoval said he “doesn’t know” whether Leviss loved him or just wanted fame. He said, “I hope she did [love me],” confessing he felt hurt that she “just shooed me away” after the scandal broke.
Us previously reported in September that Leviss and Sandoval had “not spoken” in months. A source exclusively told Us at the time that there had been “zero contact” between the pair “since sometime in June.” The insider claimed to Us that Leviss “made the decision that it was healthier to cut Tom out of her life completely” while she was in treatment, despite Sandoval’s “attempts of writing and calling.”
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Despite all the trauma he’s experienced since the affair, Sandoval alleged on Thursday that his and Leviss’ hookup was “definitely not” for the “thrill” of it. “You get caught up. You get lost in your emotions,” he added. “Love makes you do really stupid things. Throw logic out the window and that’s exactly what happened.”
Leviss, for her part, chose not to return to Pump Rules after the scandal played out on season 10 of the Bravo series. She has since announced that she will tell her side of the story on her upcoming “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast, which premieres on January 8, 2024.
Madix, meanwhile, found love again with boyfriend Daniel Wai. She revealed on Wednesday, December 6, that she was recently cast as Roxie Hart in the Broadway rendition of Chicago after competing on season 32 of Dancing With the Stars.
