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Tom Sandoval Reveals He Wanted to Craft the ‘Perfect Breakup’ Before Cheating Scandal Was Revealed
Tom Sandoval said he regrets his affair with Raquel “Rachel” Leviss, but the reason isn’t likely to garner much sympathy. The Vanderpump Rules star claimed the one thing he would have done differently is curate a more amicable breakup with girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix.
During the Thursday, October 5 episode of his “Everybody Loves Tom” podcast, the reality star, 40, admitted, “I would have gotten out of my relationship, ripped the Band-Aid off, not delayed. I think I got caught up in trying to create the perfect breakup, but it was way beyond that.”
After seeing the bitterness play out between best friend Tom Schwartz and wife Katie Maloney in their divorce, Tom wanted viewers to see him and Ariana, 38, split in a more pleasant light, even though she was unaware there were any issues in their relationship and was planning on spending the rest of her life with him.
“I saw what Tom and Katie went through and I wanted to do it better, do it smoother,” he revealed, adding, “We were a different relationship than Tom and Katie, Ariana and I.”
During season 10 of Vanderpump Rules, Sandoval admitted to Schwartz that he wanted to end his relationship with Ariana and be with Raquel, 29, but he never got up the nerve to do it. He even had his sperm tested for the possibility of starting a family with his longtime girlfriend after she froze her eggs.
Instead, Ariana was completely blindsided when she found evidence of him cheating on her with her best friend on his phone, which led to the former couple’s March 3 breakup.
Tom said that he doesn’t want to be in that position ever again, as his costars and fans completely turned against him.
“I fully f–king regret it,” he admitted. “I feel bad about it. I hate that I hurt people. I, for the most part, have been pretty f–king miserable and I don’t ever, ever, ever want to go through what I went through again. And I don’t ever want to be responsible or the cause for ever hurting people like that and causing that kind of s–t ever again. I’m going to do everything in my power to never do that again and to never get lost and caught up in a situation like that.”
Not only did Tom destroy his relationship with Ariana, his seven-month affair with Raquel didn’t lead to a relationship after his split from the Buying Back My Daughter star.
After doing her first post-mental health rehab interview with Bethenny Frankel, Raquel responded to a Bravo fan who said she should have “respected” not only Tom and Ariana’s relationship but herself as well. The former SUR waitress confessed to reverting to “magical thinking” before slamming Tom in an August 28 Instagram comment.
“He had a million and one reasons why they hadn’t broken up yet and it was easier to stay in that fantasy then to face the fact that the social anxiety and isolation was not worth it,” Raquel wrote. “So yes, absolutely you’re 100% right. It was MY responsibility to remove myself from that situation … now I know better.”
The Tom Tom club owner tried to send Raquel birthday wishes in the comments of her September 12 Instagram post, showing her enjoying a flower farm, writing, “Happy Birthday Rachel. I really hope ur finding peace and happiness. Miss u friend.” While she didn’t respond to his comment, two days later Raquel blocked Tom on Instagram. She even shared a screenshot showing a red “cancel” circle over his profile picture as well as a pink and white GIF reading “ok bye!”
