Tom Schwartz is finally sharing his thoughts on the scandal surrounding his best friend and business partner Tom Sandoval, whose affair with Vanderpump Rules costar Raquel Leviss led to the breakup of his nine-year relationship with Ariana Madix.
"[Sandoval's] okay, I think. Relatively speaking, 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, 40, told TMZ at the airport Saturday. "But he knows he f---ed up, and the whole thing is just really sad."
"Luckily, Ariana has a really good support system, and she's with her friends," Schwartz added. "I hope she's living a good life, just indulging. Hope she goes on a living spree. I'm just hoping this whole thing blows over."
He noted he was "worried about Ariana," but acknowledged she has "lots of friends and family who love her."
As for Leviss, Schwartz told TMZ that he hasn't talked to her since the news broke of the affair, adding that it is "really unfortunate." He also said he hasn't spoken to Scheana Shay about allegedly assaulting Leviss.
He also clarified whether he kissed Leviss to cover up the affair between her and Sandoval. "No, that's not true. Unless I was a pawn in the game," he stated.
On whether or not he knew about the affair, Schwartz merely said, "You'll see it play out on the show."
"It's f---ing complicated. That's the understatement of the year. I think Tom's okay," he noted. "Really I'm just sad about the negative impact it's having on our business, but I think cooler heads will prevail, and I'm just gonna keep on keeping on."
The stars, both 40, are co-owners of two Los Angeles businesses: Schwartz & Sandy's, which they launched in late 2022, and TomTom, opened in 2018 in partnership with Lisa Vanderpump and husband Ken Todd.
After news of Sandoval's affair with Leviss, 28, Schwartz & Sandy's receiving an "outpouring of outrage," according to a statement posted on the cocktail lounge's official Instagram.
Sandoval also shared his own statement about the business and the people his actions had impacted.
"Schwartz & Sandy's might have my name on it, but also there are 3 other partners and 20 employees, who especially rely on the restaurant for income for them and their families," he wrote on March 4. "Just like TomTom, I'm a small part of a much bigger thing. Please direct ur anger towards me and not them. They did nothing wrong."
"We appreciate you may feel a certain way, but please understand that the livelihoods of others also depend on this business," the statement reads in part. "There are far more people involved in this venture than just Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz. Our staff, from the waitresses and bartenders to the cooks and dishwashers, all have nothing to do with this unfortunate situation."
Sandoval also asked his nearly 1 million Instagram followers to "please leave Schwartz my friends and family out of this situation," noting that Schwartz "specifically only found out about this very recently, and most definitely did not condone my actions."
"This was a very personal thing," he added.
But not everyone believed Sandoval's statement — Vanderpump, 62, told Andy Cohen on the March 8 episode of Watch What Happens Live that she "never really trusted" Sandoval and speculating that Schwartz was privy to more than his friend has admitted.
"I think they are so close," she said. "I do think he knew something."
As for Sandoval and Leviss, she said, "I think they had a game plan, I think it was to get through the reunion, then to let the bomb drop and if there was another season, then have a few weeks, a few months to get used to it."
"I thought he was in love with Ariana," she went on. "This is breaking up a couple that's been together for [nine] years. I mean, the deceit — [Raquel] is a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Thickening the plot — both on and off the friends' Bravo reality show — Schwartz was also accused of kissing Leviss last April at Coachella during his divorce proceedings from costar Katie Maloney, 36. He denied the rumor at the time but went on to kiss Leviss during Scheana Shay's August 2022 wedding in Mexico shortly before his divorced was settled last September.
PEOPLE confirmed that Sandoval and Madix, 37, had split on March 3. According to sources, she discovered he was cheating on her with Leviss after she discovered an intimate video of the former pageant queen on his phone.
According to an insider, the couple "had been having problems for a while, but this was the final straw for Ariana. She put up with a lot over the years, but she won't sit back and be disrespected this way."
With so many past and present players from the Vanderpump Rules universe involved, cameras naturally picked back up filming the weekend after the news broke, and the fallout of the "Scandoval" will play out as season 10 airs.
Vanderpump Rules airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
