“I learned in late August [2022] about the affair,” Vanderpump Rules star Tom Schwartz told Andy Cohen on the April 5 episode of Watch What Happens Live, when asked about his knowledge of Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss‘ affair. Schwartz said that at the time, his best friend told him he and Raquel had a “one-night stand”. However, Schwartz didn’t make it clear whether Tom’s then-girlfriend, Ariana Madix, knew about the hookup.
“Then it became — from my point of view — an emotional affair … But I didn’t think it was a linear thing,” Schwartz, 40, said. Schwartz went on to explain that he wasn’t aware the relationship was “steadily progressing” throughout the fall. At least not until January 2023, which is when Tom Sandoval told Tom Schwartz that he was “in love” with Raquel. “I was flabbergasted but not surprised because, I think, there’s a lot of people out there who kind of knew it was an open secret,” Schwartz claimed.
When Andy asked him what he meant by the affair being an “open secret,” Tom Schwartz said Tom Sandoval became “flagrant” and “brazen” about the affair between January and March, when Ariana found out.
So why didn’t Tom Schwartz tell Ariana about the affair? Well, Schwartz said Sandoval was “placating” him by telling him he was in the process of breaking up with Ariana. “I’m being fed a narrative that he has broken up with Ariana or attempted to many many times — that he’s not happy, they’re not healthy, they’re not intimate, blah blah,” Schwartz said. “All of that’s inconsequential now in light of the way he handled it.”
Schwartz said Sandoval planned on coming clean about his relationship with Raquel after the season 10 reunion, but that changed when Ariana found a sexually explicit video of Tom and Raquel on Sandoval’s phone. Ariana broke up with Tom just hours after finding the video and discovering the affair.