Credit: Brandi Benton/startraksphoto.com, MBS/MEGA
Tom Sandoval claims he and Rachel “Raquel” Leviss thought about committing suicide after their months-long affair was exposed in March.
While appearing on Tamra Judge, 56, and Teddi Mellencamp‘s podcast on Thursday, the Vanderpump Rules star, 41, looked back on the moments that followed the eruption of “Scandoval,” reacted to the news of Raquel’s upcoming podcast, and offered an update on where he stands with co-star and business partner Lisa Vanderpump, 63.
On the December 7 episode of Two Ts in a Pod, Sandoval discussed the “resentment and anger” he has after being exposed for cheating on his former girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix, with their close friend, Raquel, 29.
“I do harbor a lot of resentment and anger because of being with somebody and them looking at me like I’m a serial killer, that I’m this sleeper cell from f*cking Russia, that I’d been like scheming for eight years for this moment,” he explained. “[They’re] wishing death upon me… Creating a climate that like pushes most people to f*cking suicide.”
According to Sandoval, the backlash he faced after “Scandoval” was so bad that he and Raquel actually both considered ending their lives.
“I was on the phone with Rachel, and literally debating on f**king killing ourselves, and that’s not f**king cool,” he shared.
While both he and Raquel seem to be in better places today, Sandoval feels that Raquel has still not taken accountability for what they both did.
“I’m not [concerned about her podcast]. I just think it’s a really bad look on her part to just keep pushing blame on everybody else. She’s a 29-year-old woman. She’s not 16,” he noted.
During the finale episode of Pump Rules season 10, viewers watched as Sandoval and Raquel awkwardly exchanged “I love yous.” But, looking back, Sandoval isn’t 100 percent sure Raquel actually loved him.
“I hope she did. I don’t know,” he confessed. “The way she just like shoo’ed me away. I don’t know. I’m not in her head. I think a lot of people that are in her head were not in her life during this whole period of time. She really came into her own.”
“She came into her own and she got this confidence and she went too far, and got herself in a position. But she did that herself. She didn’t have to come on to a guy in a relationship like she did… I was depressed. I had no confidence. So low self-value,” Sandoval continued.
While Raquel walked away from her relationship with Sandoval shortly after news broke of their affair, choosing to enter treatment for mental health concerns, Sandoval attempted to maintain their romance.
“I fought so hard for Rachel. I stopped drinking. I stopped smoking cigarettes because she went away to a facility. And I’m like she can’t drink. She can’t smoke. I’m gonna quit… And I stopped for her. And I was there in any way she needed me,” he revealed. “I was at her beck and call… Of course [I miss her]. We were best friends… And it’s heartbreaking to go through [split from Raquel]… I was fully in love with her. She’s not just some hot girl… It’s deeper than that.”
Recalling the start of their affair in 2022, Sandoval confirmed it was Raquel who “made the first move.”
When Sandoval was then asked about the lack of apology to his co-stars at the season 10 reunion, he explained he didn’t feel it was called for.
“There’s this thing too where it’s like when [Lala Kent] and [Randall Emmett]’s relationship, or like when she hooked up with [James Kennedy] while he was with Raquel, was I like, ‘Lala, can I get an apology for you doing that?’ I don’t feel like I need to apologize to f**king Lala or like people for this,” he stated.
According to Sandoval, even if he hadn’t cheated on Ariana with Raquel, the two of them wouldn’t have lasted.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I had been really sort of coming to a point. I mean we were just really starting to live like separate lives… We weren’t sexually active for years, really at all.”
Also on the podcast episode, Sandoval revealed why he’s gotten so much more hate than other castmates who’ve cheated.
“I honestly don’t know. I think people are still trying to work that out,” he reasoned. “I think it could have been just a slump in the news or whatever… But also I think it had to do with the fact that our show was like, we were only on like episode four or five of last season. So people are watching the show. They’re hearing this unfold and then it’s like the next episode is coming on in a week and everybody is just like swarming to the TV to see like did they look at each other?”
“I know the editors definitely went back and edited things differently after that,” he added.
As for where he stands with Lisa, Sandoval applauded his former boss for offering him support amid “Scandoval.”
“I love Lisa as well. This season, you’ll see, she was really there for me when nobody else would be. We talk to her often. I have a great relationship with [Ken Todd] as well… She gave me a lot of advice [going into this season],” he revealed.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 will premiere on Bravo sometime next month.
