Ariana Madix opened up about a moment in which she seemingly caught Tom Sandoval cheating on her with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss in their home in an excerpt from her new cocktail book, Single AF Cocktails: Drinks for Bad B*tches, which hits stores on Tuesday.
Looking back on the telling encounter in her “Smoke & Mirrors” recipe, the Vanderpump Rules star, 38, recalled running into Sandoval, 41, outside of their guest room, where Raquel, 29, who he was later caught having a months-long affair with, was spending the night.
“[It is] honestly really disgusting. I mean, that’s the bottom line — it is really disgusting behavior,” Ariana told PEOPLE of her ex-boyfriend’s cheating.
Although much of Sandoval and Raquel’s romance was exposed on Pump Rules season 10, Ariana said there’s still a lot fans don’t know.
“The majority of my life is off camera, so that’s, I think, something that people will never see,” she noted. “We’re talking 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 30, 31 days a month of day in, day out, moment-to-moment, lies, deception and gaslighting and horrible treatment.”
“There’s plenty of people who don’t know me or know my life who have declared it over or have declared it as old news, but it’s mine, and I’m living it. And so, sorry to those people who wanted to avoid it and couldn’t, but I certainly am still unable to avoid it, because it is my life,” she continued.
In Ariana’s “Smoke & Mirrors” recipe, she tells readers that one of the “most difficult things” about infidelity is learning “about the multiple points of deception that took place — the countless times smoke and mirrors were put in front of you.”
She then details what went down between Sandoval and Raquel on one of the many nights Raquel slept over.
“One night we hosted a party at our house with a bunch of friends. It was late, everyone was drinking, so she stayed in the guest bedroom to avoid having to drive home. In the middle of the night, I woke up and couldn’t find him anywhere, so I went downstairs and checked almost every single room. As I was walking down the hallway I saw him leave the guest bedroom,” she recalls.
While Ariana confronted Sandoval in the moment, he didn’t admit to wrongdoing.
“He said he heard her walking around and just wanted to check if she needed water or anything,” Ariana shares. “A part of me instinctively knew that wasn’t the truth. I told him I believed him anyway and we all know what came next.”
Moving on to the “firecracker” ensemble she wore to the Pump Rules reunion earlier this year, Ariana said in her “Revenge Dress” recipe, which includes “a fiery red Negroni,” that she wanted to make a “bold statement.”
“It wasn’t planned. I just wanted to have something that I felt good in, that I felt strong in,” Ariana explained to PEOPLE. “The word ‘revenge’ has never come out of my mouth. It’s something that was said by [Andy Cohen] in the moment and was a really nice thing to say. … And yeah, it was a moment that it helped me feel like I had some sort of armor.”
In the book itself, Ariana shares the thought process she went through in the weeks leading up to the taping.
“Before the taping of the Vanderpump Rules reunion show, I got together with my amazing stylist Emily Men to figure out what to wear for the episode,” she explains. “For most reunion shows, I would wear something simple, like a little black dress, but I knew this time around my outfit needed to make a bold statement.”
“When she pulled out an amazing red top and skirt combo, we were both immediately obsessed,” Ariana continues. “During the taping, Andy Cohen mentioned how it reminded him of Princess Diana’s iconic revenge dress after Prince Charles confessed his infidelity on national television. Turns out the best way to get revenge on an ex is to simply remind them of how you’re a total firecracker, with or without them.”
Vanderpump Rules season 11 will premiere on Bravo in January 2024.
