Ariana Madix, 37, reflected on one of the biggest problems in her relationship with Tom Sandoval, 39, as the cover star of Glamour’s June 2023 interview. In the interview, which was published the day after part 3 of the Vanderpump Rules reunion aired, Ariana talked about how she and Tom weren’t intimate with each other leading up to their March 2023 split due to his affair with Raquel Leviss, 28.
“I feel like I’m someone who craves intimacy outside of just penetrative sex, and that was something that I was deprived of for so long,” Ariana told Glamour. “As women, we might bring something up a bunch of times and then we just stop. That’s where I was at. I was like I cannot keep nagging this man to want to come home and spend time with me.”
Ariana continued, “The way that so many men act like they are entitled to your body and entitled to sex because you’re in a relationship with them. I am not your Fleshlight. I spelled out what I needed, but hello. It’s a two-person situation.”
Ariana and Tom, who were together for 9 years before they broke up, have both said they were barely intimate with each other towards the end of their relationship. At the time, Ariana had no idea that Tom was sleeping with Raquel for months. She discovered the affair on March 1, and in the Glamour interview, admitted that she was in total “shock” at first.
“I think the shock prevents you from being sad immediately,” Ariana explained. “It was like the air was sucked out of my lungs. It was shock, disbelief on some level, but then also anger… When you’ve been caught red-handed like that, there’s no denying it. It’s cold, hard evidence. So I think he was struggling. I think he was really mad that his little house of cards was crumbling.”
Since the ‘Scandoval’ broke, Ariana has made it clear that she’s done with her ex-boyfriend and her ex-friend. In May, Ariana told The New York Times that she won’t film with Tom and Raquel on the next season of the show. “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.
While Ariana’s thriving in the spotlight, Tom and Raquel are still facing major hate for their affair. Tom has not retreated from the public eye, and has been out and about on his tour with his band in the last months. Raquel, meanwhile, entered a mental health treatment center in Arizona in April, to work on her “patterns of codependency and addiction to being and feeling loved.”