As Lizzo said, it’s about damn time!
If you somehow missed the Vanderpump Rules drama, fans of the Bravo reality series were shocked last week when Ariana Madix broke up with her long-term boyfriend, Tom Sandoval, after she discovered he cheated on her with their co-star (and close friend) Raquel Leviss. As for how she found out about his seven-month affair? The 37-year-old saw an intimate video of the former pageant queen on his phone during one of his cover band’s shows. Ugh, awful!
Ever since the news broke, many of their current and former castmates have spoken out about the situation. But there was one person who was noticeably silent over the past week: Sandoval’s longtime best friend and business partner, Tom Schwartz. In fact, their former co-star Kristen Doute called him out for sharing his “honest” thoughts behind closed doors but not taking a stand publicly. She said:
“Tom Schwartz is a f**king p***y, and he needs to man up. Enough is enough. He’s just burying his head in the sand and thinks that things will just go away and things will happen. It’s like he can be honest with us in real-time and texting, ‘I don’t stand for this’ or ‘I really feel this way,’ but he doesn’t do anything about it.”
Related: Scheana BLASTS Raquel For Trying To ‘Shift The Blame’ With Restraining Order!
Well, it looks like Schwartz caught wind of Doute’s criticisms because he finally gave his thoughts on the Scandoval! Speaking with TMZ at the airport on Saturday, the 40-year-old reality shared that Sandoval feels “a sense of profound sadness” about the situation:
“[Sandoval’s] OK, I think. Relatively speaking. I mean, he has a sense of profound sadness, rightfully so. I think he feels like a piece of s**t, and to some extent, maybe he is. But he knows he f**ked up. The whole thing is just really sad.”
As for Ariana, Schwartz expressed his concern for the cocktail book author – but noted that she has had a ton of “support” around her right now:
“Luckily, Ariana has a really good support system, and she’s with her friends. I’m not sure where she is. I hope she’s living a good life, just indulging. I hope she goes on a living spree. I’m just hoping this whole thing blows over, you know?”
We bet – especially since the whole debacle has been bad for their business Schwartz & Sandy’s.
And thickening the scandal plot, Schwartz was just taking the heat for hooking up with Raquel in August of last year – long before the Sandoval’s affair was exposed. Considering how close he is with the bartender, many fans believed Katie Maloney’s ex-husband was covering up for the months-long affair. Even Lisa Vanderpump and Stassi Schroeder believe Schwartz must have known about it! However, Sandoval shut down the rumor, claiming his pal “only found out about this very recently.” Kristen even noted on her podcast earlier this week that he “found out a month ago” and “told him to tell Ariana before it blew up in his face and humiliated the hell out of her.” However, viewers were not buying it and ran with the theory that the kiss with Raquel was a cover-up!
So what does Schwartz have to say about this? Well, the Minnesota native would not either confirm or deny the rumors that he knew about Raquel and Sandoval’s scandalous relationship, teasing that everyone will “see it play out on the show.” Considering that cameras are rolling to cover the aftermath of the affair, we get the cast is limited on what they can say at this time! Nevertheless, he couldn’t just give us a simple yes or no answer?! But Schwartz did deny the theory that he only kissed Raquel to help keep her affair with Sandoval a secret, saying:
“No, that’s not true. Unless I was a pawn in the game.”
That would be pretty s****y if they did use him. He then added:
“It’s f**king complicated. That’s the understatement of the year. I think Tom’s OK. Really, I’m just sad about the negative impact it’s having on our business, but I think cooler heads will prevail, and I’m just gonna keep on keeping on.”
So there you have it, folks! As LVP previously mentioned on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Schwartz “sits on the fence” and “tries to placate everything and play both sides.” And that’s basically what he did with his first statements about the scandal. Classic, Schwartz. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Bravo/YouTube, MEGA/WENN, Raquel Leviss/Instagram]
