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Andy Cohen Defends Tom Sandoval Over ‘Out of Control’ ‘Pump Rules’ Fan Hatred: He’s ‘a Real Person’
Andy Cohen is coming to Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval‘s defense after fans have continued to pile on hate towards the the reality star after he cheated on girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix, by having a seven-month affair with costar Raquel Leviss.
“Tom Sandoval made a mistake he’ll probably regret for the rest of his life,” Andy, 54, explained on Tuesday, May 30, episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, adding “He is still a person.”
“It’s out of control, I hope it’s kind of dying down for his sake,” the Watch What Happens Live host continued about the fan backlash towards the club owner.
“He’s a real person. He did something really stupid and hurtful and asinine … [but] he didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t commit a crime,” he said about Tom’s affair with Raquel. It completely blindsided Ariana as she was best friends with the SUR waitress and so serious with Tom that they bought a $2.2 million home together in 2019 and she had her eggs frozen in case the couple wanted to start a family.
Andy isn’t the only one who has seemed to ask for fan mercy towards Tom after Ariana discovered on March 1, 2023, that he and Raquel had been involved for months. His boss and business partner, Lisa Vanderpump, has come to his defense after Ariana and other cast members were critical of his betrayal.
“Everybody else was chastising him. I didn’t feel like joining the pack. I mean, it seemed so kind of slanted. Everything was against him, you know?” Lisa, 62, told Us Weekly at the Vanderpump Dogs Gala on May 18, of how she was criticized by Ariana during a May 17 appearance on Watch What Happens Live for being “was a little too nice to” Tom during the season 10 finale that same evening.
“I’ve known him for a long time. Of course, I’m condemning what he did. That’s why I said, ‘You’re not a bad person. You just did a bad thing.’ And my heart was always with Ariana. Maybe I didn’t kind of, you know, scream at him and lambast him, but everybody else had done that,” she continued.
“The man that was sitting in my living room, it felt like a broken man. So, I just didn’t want to pile on, to be honest,” the SUR owner explained. “Have I had conversations and held ’em accountable? Yes, I mean, I felt the same way, absolutely, that everybody else did. But at some point, they’re like my children in some way.”
