Time for a breather. Vanderpump Rules star Tom Schwartz admitted during a new interview that he’s stepping back from his formerly tight friendship with his reality hit co-star and business partner Tom Sandoval. “Listen, he made a big mess, and you know, he left it for us to clean up back at the business, you know?” Schwartz said during a Wednesday, June 7 appearance on the podcast When Reality Hits with Jax and Brittany. “It’s hard not to be resentful of him. I’m taking a break from Tom right now, I haven’t seen him in awhile.” The Toms famously share a restaurant in Los Angeles called Schwartz & Sandy’s.
Schwartz also noted that while he’s “happy” for Sandoval as he plays venues with his band Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras, he’s concerned about the “optics” following his messy affair with Raquel Leviss and split from longtime love Ariana Madix. “People see that he’s up there, he’s singing his heart out and he’s got his shirt off. It just looks like he has no contrition,” Schwartz said in part, adding that he knows Sandoval is “very passionate” about his band. “It looks like he just doesn’t give a f*** and he’s living out his rock star dreams.”
Schwartz continued, saying that people “just don’t understand” the apparent “lack of remorse” over the affair and the subsequent drama. “I know he f****** regrets it, but he doesn’t do a good job of showing that,” he explained in part. “I’ll say it again, he’s gotta drop the ego, man.” There’s also a practical reason why the duo hasn’t spoken of late. “He’s been on tour nonstop, so I haven’t seen him or talked to him in a long time. I mean he’s been on tour for like, months.”
For the uninitiated, Sandoval’s relationship with his girlfriend of nine years imploded in March when Ariana reportedly found a sexually explicit video from Raquel on Tom’s phone. The resulting drama rocked the cast of Vanderpump Rules, with Raquel filing and then dropping a restraining order against Scheana Shay over an alleged altercation, and most cast members siding with Ariana as details unfolded. Sandoval and Raquel have also reportedly parted ways.
Schwartz and Raquel made waves back in August of 2022, when they were caught kissing at Scheana’s lavish wedding in Mexico ahead of the scandal. Details of the affair and its fallout continue to trickle out amid the jaw dropping three-part Season 10 reunion.