Ariana Madix wants to be nowhere near her ex, Tom Sandoval, or her former bestie, Raquel Leviss, following their months-long affair that made headlines in March. She’s so done with them that she stated she refuses to film with them for Vanderpump Rules during an interview with The New York Times that was released on Thursday, May 18. “I have nothing to say to either of them. Our show is very real and follows a real group of friends, and neither of them are in the group of friends, so, good luck,” she said.
Anything that Ariana, 37, had to say to Tom, 39, and Raquel, 28, was likely already said at the reportedly intense Vanderpump Rules Season 10 reunion that was filmed on March 23. The trailer for the highly-anticipated reunion dropped on May 11 and showed several cast members dragging Tom and Ariana through the mud. As seen in the below trailer, Ariana called her ex and former friend “rats” and labeled Raquel as “diabolical, demented, and sub-human.”
Luckily for Ariana, she seemed to be pleased with how the reunion went and said she felt supported by her castmates. “It was kind of a weird day because I feel like most of the time in any other reunion, we go through the whole season. But in this reunion, it was really just everybody against one or against two [cast members],” she noted to the NYT. “We’ve never been united like that ever.”
At the moment, it’s not clear how Bravo will handle filming Season 11, but Alex Baskin, the executive producer of Vanderpump Rules, said there seems to be interest from potentially the entire cast. “No one’s saying no, I’ll say that,” he told Variety, “but I think it’s hard for anybody to say yes right now, because they feel like they haven’t gotten any reprieve.” He added that the cast will have “a minute down” while things cool off.
Ariana’s interview with The New York Times dropped the same day she confessed that she hates Tom and Raquel nearly equally during her appearance on The View. “It’s pretty neck and neck, but I would say him,” she told co-host Joy Behar after she asked who she “hated” more.
She also explained that she’s taking her healing process day by day. “I think it’s a slow process to get there, but I think I’m just one day at a time, moment-by-moment, getting more and more to that place, and watching the episode last night, it really brings you back to that anger, that gut feeling, that anxiety that I felt,” she recalled.
Ariana’s remarks echoed the mindset she had when she broke her silence after she found out about the affair. Speaking out almost two weeks after the news broke via a March 16 Instagram post, she wrote, “to say i have been devastated and broken is an understatement. however, i know that i am not in this alone. so many of my closest friends are also grieving this loss right now and reeling from this betrayal on so many levels. i am so f****** lucky to have the best support system in the world and i hope i can repay every single person for the love you have shown me.” She concluded, “what doesn’t kill me better run.”