Photo: Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty
Tom Schwartzwas bracingly real about hisVanderpump RulescostarTom Sandoval’s affair withRaquel Levissduring a sit-down withAndy Cohenon Wednesday’sWatch What Happens Live.
“Tom was having, like, a midlife crisis,” the 40-year-old Schwartz & Sandy’s co-owner said bluntly.
“I learned in August, in late August about the affair, the one-night stand — allegedly,” he said, later adding that “there was a lot of grey area there” as to how deep the infidelity ran.
He added, “From my point of view, it became, like, an emotional affair — which is still inappropriate.”
Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss.Amanda Edwards/Getty; Emma McIntyre/WireImage; Charles Sykes/Bravo/Getty
Cohen, 54, noted that at theVanderpump Rulesreunion filminglate last month, Schwartz claimed he didn’t know about the affair until early this year.
Schwartz explained, “In January, Tom came to me … and he told me that he was in love with Raquel. I was flabbergasted.”
Once he’d come clean to his best friend, Sandoval’s cheating had become “an open secret.”
“After that, I mean, Tom kind of got flagrant — he was brazen,” said Schwartz. Saying the relationship “was a release for him,” Schwartz also confirmed rumors about a boys' trip onto which Sandoval, 40, “smuggled” Leviss, 28.
As for why he didn’t tell Madix, 37, about the affair, Schwartz claimed he was “being fed a narrative that [Tom] has broken up with Ariana, or attempted to multiple times — many, many times. And he’s not happy, they’re not healthy, they’re not intimate, blah blah blah.”
He continued, “He did a good job of placating me. … And he told me he has a game plan, he’s gona do the right thing — and then he just kind of continued to kept procrastinate.”
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
When Cohen asked if Schwartz was also angry with Leviss, he admitted, “I’m more upset with Sandoval because he took advantage of my kindness. And he put a lot of people, not just myself, in very compromising situations where our integrity was at stake.”
Schwartz said Sandoval “became obsessed” with Raquel, that she had become “his heroin. He’s addicted. It’s an infatuation of all infatuations. Raquel is Tom’s heroin. … Man, he got lost in the sauce.”
“Is he still lost in the sauce?” asked Cohen.
Schwartz affirmed, “I think he is.”
Schwartz’s fellowWWHLguestJohn Owen Lowe, the son ofRob Lowewho co-createdNetflix’sUnstablewith his dad, asked Schwartz is he had been too complacent while knowing about his friend’s infidelity.
“Yes, admitted Schwartz. “By necessity, though. I was going through some real-life, high-stakes stuff.I was in the middle of a divorce,I was going bankrupt, my dad almost died, my brother got cancer….”
“I’m not morally bankrupt,” he insisted. “I was consumed in my own little world. And maybe I should have been more proactive about it. In my defense, I did tell Tom exactly what he needed to do. He agreed, and then he didn’t do it.”
Nicole Weingart/Bravo (3)
Nearly three weeks after theVPRreunion filming, Schwartz said Sandoval is “in shock … he’s like a shell of himself. He’s not realizing the impact this has on other ventures — his business, his band, first and foremost Ariana. … It’sbad, man.”
Reflecting on the"very loud, very enraged"castmates Sandoval had to confront on March 23, Schwartz recalled, “I have never seen such a ruthless denunciation of two human beings in my life.Ariana had a fire in her.I mean, she eviscerated those two. I didn’t knowshe had it in her. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Tom [got more heat], for sure. Raquel took some blows, but, yeah, Tom got just eviscerated.”
RELATED VIDEO:Vanderpump Rules: Ariana Madix Confronts ‘Stranger’ Tom Sandoval After Split and Says She Wants Him ‘to Die’
Schwartz did make a point to clarify, “I’m not trying to evoke any sympathy for Tom, he knows what he did was disgusting. He knows he could not have handled that affair any worse.”
Speaking to fans, he added, “[Tom] knows he’s a monster for what he did. If you see him, give him a hug. Maybe he doesn’t deserve it, but give him a huge. He’s downbad.”
Schwartz told TMZ in mid-March that Sandoval had beendoing “OK"after Madix and the world found out about his affair with Leviss.
“I mean, he has a sense of profound sadness, rightfully so, that he’s a piece of s—. And to some extent, maybe he is,” Schwartz said. “But he knows he f—ed up, and the whole thing is just really sad.”
Five days after that, Schwartz’s ex-wifeKatie Maloneysaid onWWHLthat if she found out Schwartz had been covering up Sandoval’s affair,she “would light him on fire.”
Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney.Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
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Vanderpump Rulesairs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET.
source: people.com
