Vanderpump Rules fans have likely been glued to social media and blogs as everyone reacts to the Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix surprise split. Under normal circumstances, the breakup of Tom and Ariana would be pretty shocking to most. They’ve been together for 9 years and bought a house together. They seem relatively low-drama when it comes to their partnership.
But these aren’t normal circumstances. The break-up allegedly stems from Tom having a 7-month-long affair with castmate Raquel Leviss. Days after the drama unfolded, Tom is finally apologizing for his actions.
As reported by Us Weekly, Tom typed out a note and posted it to his Instagram account. He wrote, “Hey, I fully understand an deserve ur anger & disappointment towards me, but please leave [Tom] Schwartz, my friends and family out of this situation. Schwartz specifically only found out about this very recently, and most definitely did not condone my actions. This was a very personal thing.”
Thanks to Sandoval’s betrayal, Schwartz & Sandy’s Lounge, which he owns with Schwartz, has been overrun with bad reviews. Yelp even temporarily paused the ability to write reviews of the bar due to the high level of angry fans bashing the establishment.
Sandoval also reminded fans that he isn’t the only one who has a stake in the bar. “Also, Schwartz & Sandy’s might have my name on it, but also there are 3 other partners and 20 employees, who especially rely on the restaurant for income for them and their families. Just like TomTom, I’m a small part of a much bigger thing. Please direct ur anger towards me and not them,” he pleaded. “They did nothing wrong.”
The VPR star and original cast member then issued an apology to his partners, saying that he would be taking a leave of absence. Tom wrote, “I’m so sorry that my partners, Greg, Brett, and Schwartz and our employees have to suffer for my actions. I will be taking a step back & taking a hiatus out of respect for my employees & partners.”
As far as the biggest apology of all? You know, the one to his girlfriend of almost a decade that he betrayed and humiliated? Yeah, if you were hoping to see it, you would be disappointed.
Tom concluded his post by writing, “I need some time to address everything else. Sorry for everything.” Wow, ok. As if we needed more reason to start considering Tom as one of the worst Pump Rules villains of all time. To likely avoid another Yelp incident, Tom turned off comments on the post.
At the center of this sh– storm of a cheating scandal is Raquel, who isn’t looking so great herself. Obviously. Her prior controversy surrounding the Toms revolved around Schwartz, who she hooked up with at Scheana Shay’s wedding.
Raquel recently said of the fling with Schwartz, “It was more of, like, a fun makeout.” She then added, “I feel like I’m not in the place right now to have a serious relationship — coming out of a five-year, serious relationship. I met [ex-fiancé] James [Kennedy] when I was 21 and now I’m 28, so I feel like I only have two more years of my 20s left and I kind of wanna live it up.”
For her part, Ariana has yet to speak out. But sources say she was “blindsided” and “heartbroken” after learning of the affair by seeing inappropriate text messages between Tom and Raquel. She has since deactivated her Instagram account.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF TOM’S APOLOGY? SHOULD HE HAVE FOCUSED MORE ON APOLOGIZING PUBLICLY TO ARIANA? WHO IS WORSE – JAX OR TOM?
[Photo Credit: Ralph Bavaro/Bravo]