Tom Sandoval revealed that he contemplated suicide after facing backlash from friends and fans for his bombshell affair with Raquel Leviss.
The “Vanderpump Rules” star recalled running into Linkin Park band member Chester Bennington just a few days before he died by suicide in July 2017, and he said he “never understood” his thought process until he went through Scandoval.
“There were some times where I felt very, very close [to suicide],” Sandoval said on the first episode of his “Everybody Loves Tom” podcast on Thursday.
The bar owner explained that he got into a “headspace” where his thoughts turned into a “domino effect.”
“Your world just starts collapsing itself and you cannot see outside of your feelings,” he explained. “Your peripheral goes away, your sense of thinking about future, about like, ‘Oh come on,’ like, you’re ability to snap out of it goes away.”
The Bravolebrity added that he was “so, so glad” he had friends who were there for him.
His morbid thoughts occurred on one particular day after he arrived at the home he still shares with ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix. At the time, she was filming a commercial for Duracell batteries that specifically made fun of Sandoval criticizing her for not buying batteries.
“That was rough,” he recalled.
Elsewhere in the episode, Sandoval, 41, revealed that he has continued living a sober lifestyle after he initially said he decided to quit drinking in May.
“I haven’t drank since — I believe it was April 4th or 5th,” he said. “I didn’t really tell a lot of people during the process. I think that kind of helps. I also quit smoking cigarettes. I was kind of at the point where I was just chain-smoking cigarettes all day, every day.”
The TomTom co-owner even recalled a time in the midst of the Scandoval backlash when if he “wasn’t working out,” he was “drinking.”
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“Honestly, I think that, you know, quitting the drinking and going on tour like, it might have actually saved my life,” he said, referring to his band, Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras, hitting the road last spring.
Around the same time Sandoval got sober, Leviss, 29, checked into the Meadows trauma center to seek treatment for her mental health.
The former beauty pageant contestant checked out of the treatment center in July and has since returned to social media — where she blocked Sandoval — and spoke out about the backlash for the first time on several episodes of Bethenny Frankel’s podcast.
Leviss confirmed that she quit “Vanderpump Rules” after Sandoval had begun filming alongside his former friends and ex.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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