Lisa Vanderpump allegedly has more of a “soft spot” for Tom Sandoval than Ariana Madix after the fallout from his affair with their “Vanderpump Rules” co-star Raquel Leviss last year.
During Tuesday’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” Scheana Shay said that she believes Vanderpump prefers Sandoval to Madix.
She teased that viewers would see the favoritism more as the current season of the Bravo series continues to air.
The months-long affair between Sandoval and Madix’s close friend Leviss — which has been dubbed Scandoval —shocked fans and “VPR” co-stars alike.
While angry fans took to social media to slam Sandoval and Leviss when the news broke in March 2023, Vanderpump was quick to stand by Sandoval.
“I’m not saying we should let them off the hook. Condemn their actions, but don’t condemn the people,” she said on “WWHL” a week after the scandal broke.
“All this aggression … it can have serious ramifications. I really mean that. I think everybody should be careful with that. I don’t like it and I don’t want to see it,” she added.
Fans later slammed Vanderpump, 63, for comforting Sandoval, 41, during the Season 10 finale, which aired in May.
“You’re not a bad person. You just did a bad thing,” Vanderpump memorably told the restaurant owner during the episode.
Madix later told Cohen on a “WWHL” episode that she thought Vanderpump was “a little too nice” to her ex.
“I didn’t take sides with Tom,” Vanderpump told E! News at the time, adding, “You know, I can’t write him off as a person because he had an affair. The way he handled it, yes, of course.”
She noted that she often feels like a “mother” to some of the cast members.
Though Vanderpump claimed it’s hard for her to pick sides, she then doubled-down on her support for Sandoval during the Season 10 reunion last May.
Vanderpump justified her sympathy for Sandoval because of the poor mental state he was in at the time.
“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,” she previously told Us Weekly.
“Have I had conversations and held him 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.”
However, Vanderpump later showed support for Madix by attending the Season 32 finale of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Following the scandal, Leviss, who’s real name is Rachel, left the show and checked into a mental health facility in Arizona, while Madix and Sandoval filmed Season 11.
The exes have been fighting over their $2 million home, in which they both still live, while Leviss has been busy giving her own side of the story on her podcast “Rachel Goes Rogue.”
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