Sounding off. Tom Sandoval’s fellow Bravolebrities didn’t shy away from sharing their thoughts on his tell-all interview with Howie Mandel.
The Schwartz & Sandy’s entrepreneur sat down with the former Deal or No Deal host for an episode of his “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast that aired on April 11. During the conversation, Sandoval claimed that his split from Ariana Madix was “inevitable” even before she learned of his affair with their costar Raquel Leviss.
“I made it pretty clear in therapy that I wanted to, like, take the steps to break up,” the TomTom cofounder said, claiming that he initially ended things with Madix on Valentine’s Day, two weeks before news broke of his infidelity. Us Weekly confirmed on March 3 that the couple had called it quits after nine years of dating.
Sandoval also claimed that the pair had been drifting apart for a while.
“Like many relationships, it felt like it became more of like a best friends, family [thing] — sometimes roommates,” he said. “There were a lot of ways where the relationship was just lacking the intimacy, the connection. We would travel more by ourselves than we would together. I would go to weddings by myself.”
The Missouri native’s former costar Jax Taylor slammed the interview in an April appearance on Access Hollywood’s Housewives Nightcap.
“He hasn’t owned up to anything, he’s justifying everything,” Taylor said, accusing Sandoval of “playing the victim” rather than taking responsibility for his actions. “I mean, that’s not a man in my opinion. If you are man enough to do what you’ve done, you should be man enough to own up to what you’ve done and at least have some empathy and apologize to Ariana.”
Sandoval, for his part, accused his fellow Pump Rules stars of using the scandal for their own benefit.
“Using all these things as content for their podcast. Fellow cast members are asking me all these questions, but you don’t want to know because you care about Ariana, you want to know so you can have more content for your podcast,” he told Mandel. “It is f—king disgusting to me. It is so gross. You are not someone who gives a flying f—k about Ariana. You are doing this for your own personal gain.”
The comments didn’t sit right with Lala Kent, who took to social media to slam the restaurateur.
“I profited off of me saying funny s—t, OK?” she said via her Instagram Story, alluding to her “Send it to Darrell” merch, which is based on a statement she made via Instagram in March, directing Leviss to send any legal notices directly to her attorney, Darell Miller.
Kent continued, referencing her split from ex-fiancé Randall Emmett: “And also, by the way, I profited off my own f–king heartbreak. What makes you think I ain’t about to profit off yours?”
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Keep scrolling to see all the Pump Rules stars who reacted to Sandoval’s bombshell interview with Mandel:
