Scheana Shay isn’t sure that Ariana Madix will ever know how hard “Scandoval,” which saw Ariana being cheated on by Tom Sandoval with their friend and Vanderpump Rules co-star Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, was on her.
During a recent podcast, Scheana, 38, admitted that she struggled to stay loyal to Ariana, 38, amid filming on season 11 due to the “inner struggle” she faced with her friendship with Sandoval, 41. She also complained about the drama being “only about [Ariana],” revealing it caused her to lose weight, and explained why she was in Sandoval’s hotel room at BravoCon.
“The season that we just filmed, it was trying to figure that out, for me personally, trying to see, do I just stay Team Ariana and say F Tom forever? Do I try and work towards a path towards forgiveness for me personally? Do I try to be his friend again? Is that me being disloyal to her? And it was this whole inner struggle all season long,” Scheana said on the December 12 episode of Bravo’s Hot Mic podcast. “I’m like, ‘I have things that I need to work through so I can sleep at night, so I can be a present mother.’”
After breaking down and starting to cry, Scheana said season 11 was “so hard” to navigate.
“I don’t know that Ariana will ever understand how hard this was on me personally,” Scheana stated. “Yes, it didn’t happen to me. I wasn’t cheated on. But there was a lot that he did do personally to me, and I’m someone who always tries to work towards a path of forgiveness because that’s just who I am. And so it has been such a struggle to try and stay loyal while working on putting myself first.”
Scheana then pointed out that, aside from Ariana, she was the most impacted by Sandoval’s months-long affair with Raquel, 29.
“I was the person next mostly directed by all of this, but I’m not allowed to feel anything because it’s not about me, because it’s only about her,” she complained. “And so it’s me struggling with, ‘How can I tell my story while still keeping it about her because it’s not about me, but it kind of is about me?’ And just that whole struggle where it’s like, I always put everyone else first, and I feel like it’s the first season where I’m like, ‘I have to do what’s best for me first and hopefully everyone understands.’”
“I’m still figuring out what that is. But I lost weight after the scandal,” she continued. “I was in court after the scandal [due to Raquel’s temporary restraining order], I was fighting rumors online about my own husband [Brock Davies] after the scandal. I mean, it really did a number on me that I don’t think a lot of people realize.”
Continuing on about why she was in Sandoval’s room, Scheana said she ended up there due to a chat she was having with Captain Jason Chambers, 50.
“I was having a great convention with Captain Jason about his charity and what he does to help children all over the world, and the bar closed, the lights went on, as we’re walking down the hall, that’s where everyone else continued to go and we’re like, ‘We’re having a great conversation. Let’s just go,’” she recalled. “We sat on the couch. As you see in the Story that Sandoval posted, I‘m literally sitting in the corner, talking to Captain Jason.”
Following her discussion with Jason, Scheana pulled Sandoval aside to give him a piece of her mind.
“I told him I did not like the things that I heard he said about Ariana that day on the carpet,” she revealed. “I said, ‘I don’t care if you’re saying she did this. You deserve what happened to you. I don’t like that you’re continuing to bring things up. You’re picking the scab. I need you to let her heal. Stop talking about her. Talk about your band. Talk about Special Forces. Talk about anything else in your life, but let her be.’”
“I literally put him in his place and Captain Jason can attest to that. He was there for part of the conversation where I’m like yelling at Sandoval in his room,” she added.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 premieres on Tuesday, January 30, at 8/7c on Bravo.
