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Tom Sandoval looked back on the moment Rachel “Raquel” Leviss ended their relationship amid a months-long stint in a mental healthcare facility after this week’s episode of Vanderpump Rules.
After he was seen struggling with his estrangement from his former mistress, Sandoval, 41, revealed why he believes Raquel, 29, stopped talking to him as he explained how he empowered and supported her throughout her treatment. Plus, his ex Ariana Madix, 38, revealed the one mutual friend of her and Tom’s who failed to cut ties with him following the reveal of his and Raquel’s secret romance.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons,” Tom said of why Raquel cut ties on the February 13 episode of the Pump Rules: After Show. “It hurts me to hear the things that she says because I was always such a champion of her and being empowered by herself and making her own decisions. I was always the one to push her up and tell her what a smart, powerful woman she is and is becoming.”
While Tom didn’t know for sure why Raquel ceased communications amid her treatment, he suspected her parents — and her publicist — were involved.
“I think a lot of it had to do with her parents not liking me and being mad that she ended up in the situation and blaming me for that. Obviously, it’s partly my fault. It’s partly her fault. I’m definitely not blameless but her publicist would just constantly say ‘optics, optics, optics,’” he recalled. “And I think the optics of the situation became the priority over everything else.”
According to Tom, Raquel stopped talking to him “shortly before [he] did Special Forces” last summer, despite the efforts he made to support her as she sought treatment post-affair.
“[It was] really hard. It was so defeating,” he said of losing touch. “I was doing everything I could to be in there with her. That’s why I quit drinking. That’s why I quit smoking. Because I knew she couldn’t do that. I wanted her when she got to be like, on the same page. Like, maybe we could have our first drink together.”
In her own Pump Rules: After Show segment, Ariana was asked about her decision to cut ties with anyone who was still friends with Tom.
“I go back to the night that was dubbed The Funeral. Everyone was at my house and everyone was just there kind of sitting and holding space for each other,” she revealed of the moments that followed the reveal of Tom and Raquel’s affair. “We had The Office on the TV because all I could watch was reruns of The Office and I finally, it was like 9 o’clock, I finally fell asleep on the couch. It was the first time I’d slept in days and basically, all the people that were there that night [are] who I’m like, these were all the mutuals.”
Although the majority of her and Tom’s mutual friends ended their relationships with Tom as soon as they learned of his infidelity, there was one person who did not: Billie Lee, 39.
“I think about, ‘Was there anybody there that night that hangs out [with Tom]?’ And Billie is the only person,” Ariana stated.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
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