Ariana Madix is keeping her awkward cohabitation arrangements with ex Tom Sandoval under lock and key.
Even though nearly six months have passed since the Vanderpump Rules star, 38, and Sandoval, 40, abruptly ended when Madix discovered his months-long affair with their friend and costar Raquel Leviss, the exes are still living in the Los Angeles area home they purchased back 2019.
On Friday episode of the Scheananigans podcast, Madix gave her longtime friend and costar Scheana Shay some insight on the stop-gap solution she’s landed on while she and Sandoval disentangle the complicated finances and community property from their nine-year relationship.
Madix reflected on the growing stress around her and her ex’s different lifestyles, especially during the months she now knows Sandoval was in a secret relationship with Leviss, 28.
“I have to say, him staying out late all the time was always something that really made my anxiety super, super bad — never knowing when he was going to come in the door, never knowing how late he’s going to stay out,” she told Shay, 38. “He’d say he’s going to be out until 12 and then its two or three and he’s still out. I couldn’t sleep.”
But now, having literally put up boundaries, Madix said, “I sleep a lot easier at night not giving a f — — about when he’s coming in that door. … Yes, we’re in the same house but I don’t have to think, ‘He’s coming in my bedroom’ — because he’s not.”
She adds, “I sleep with my door locked, just in case.”
Madix also responded to Leviss’s implication on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast that her living situation with Sandoval should be seen as proof that the Scandoval was drummed up for drama on Vanderpump Rules.
Calling the accusations “so incredibly hurtful,” she denied Leviss’s claims that VPR was “on the chopping block” after a few lackluster seasons.
Madix also made it clear that she made the choice to tell producers about Sandoval’s infidelity. This revelation came after months of suspicions and secrecy about Sandoval’s growing closeness to Leviss. (Producers have insisted they were unaware of the affair during filming for season 10, which wrapped in the fall of 2022 — months before cameras picked back up the day after Madix discovered an intimate video of the former SUR waitress on her then-boyfriend’s phone.)
“I’m the one who made production aware when I found out,” said Madix, “like the next day actually I said something to them.”
She continued, “I would not do that because I wanted to save the show. I love the show, I love our crew, I love our production company, but that is certainly not my motivation in life — like, ‘Let me save the show by my whole life falling apart, blowing up, having to start over.’”
Pushing back against chatter than fans are “harassing my ex to get the f — — out of the house he wrecked,” Madix explained she’s still in the five-bedroom Valley Village house with Sandoval because neither of them is “rolling in money right now.”
She explained, “I pay a mortgage right, it’s expensive. I have lot of places that money has to go before I get to just be like Scrooge McDuck. I am not rich, I do not have millions of dollars and I’m also not going to squander my financial future and stability by putting myself in a position to f — — myself over for the rest of my life because somebody else f — -ed up.”
She noted, “I have a pretty decent little set up: I stay in my room or I go in the kitchen if I have to. My room is kind of like a little apartment right, I don’t see him, I don’t interact with him and I stay in my own little zone. I’m busy, I’ve got a lot going on.”
Noting that she’s also staying in one place to provide stability for her senior cat Kitty and her dog Mya, Madix emphasized, “I am not f — -ing around with my life, and I am not letting somebody else’s horrible decisions ruin my future. I’m taking care of myself.”
Back in May, Madix confirmed during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that she is intent on offloading her home with Sandoval.
“My plan is to sell the house,” she told host Andy Cohen, 55. “I want my money out of that house as quickly as possible and I want to move on.”
Vanderpump Rules can be streamed in full on Peacock.
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