Pump Rules’ Tom Sandoval claims he “fought so hard” for Raquel Leviss

Tom Sandoval the former claimed Vanderpump Rules Co-star Raquel Leviss was not ‘just a nice girl’ to him during their affair.

“I fought so hard for Rachel,” Sandoval, 40, said during the Thursday, December 7, episode of “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast, which calls Leviss, 29, by her birth name. “I stopped drinking. I stopped smoking cigarettes because she went to an institution.

We weekly confirmed this in March Ariana Madix and Sandoval split after nine years together following news that Sandoval had cheated with costar Leviss. As the affair continued to make headlines, Leviss entered a mental health facility in April, where Sandoval said Thursday tried to help her.

Related: Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval’s relationship timeline

Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval sparked a romance in the summer of 2022, while he was still dating Ariana Madix — and the fallout was messy, to say the least. Vanderpump Rules fans found out that Sandoval was hooked up with Madix during season 2 of the Bravo hit when his then-girlfriend, Kristen Doute, claimed he cheated with […]

“I’m like, ‘She can’t drink, she can’t smoke. I’m going to quit,” he said in the podcast. ‘I haven’t been without alcohol for so long since I was sixteen. It’s been eight months. I stopped in front of her. I was there in whatever way she needed me.

Sandoval admitted that he still misses Leviss “of course” after their romance ended earlier this year. “We were best friends. It’s heartbreaking to experience this,” he said. “I was completely in love with her.”

The Tom Tom co-founder joked: “She’s not just a pretty girl. I have been a model for fifteen years, it goes deeper than that. It’s more than that.”

Sandoval noted that he would have “loved to go to a mental health facility” like Leviss did and restart, but he claimed he had previous work commitments that he needed to handle.

Looking back, Sandoval said he “don’t know” if Leviss loved him or just wanted fame. He said: ‘I hope she did [love me]’, confessed that he felt hurt because she ‘just chased me away’ after the scandal broke.

Us reported earlier in September that Leviss and Sandoval had “not spoken” in months. A source said this exclusively Us at the time there had been “zero contact” between the pair “since sometime in June.” That’s what the insider claims Us that Leviss “made the decision that it was healthier to cut Tom out of her life completely” while she was in treatment, despite Sandoval’s “attempts to write and call.”

Related: Everything You Need to Know About ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Season 11

Vanderpump Rules has officially been renewed for season 11 – and viewers are in for a messy return in the wake of Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval’s cheating scandal. Us Weekly confirmed in March 2023 that Sandoval and Ariana Madix had called it quits after nearly a decade of dating due to his infidelity. If […]

Despite all the trauma he has experienced since the affair, Sandoval claimed Thursday that his and Leviss’ relationship was “absolutely not” because of the “thrill” of it. “You get trapped. You get lost in your emotions,” he added. “Love makes you do really stupid things. Throw logic out the window and that’s exactly what happened.”

For her part, Leviss chose not to return Pump rules after the scandal played out on season 10 of the Bravo series. She has since announced that she will tell her side of the story on her upcoming podcast “Rachel Goes Rogue,” premiering January 8, 2024.

Meanwhile, Madix found love again with his boyfriend Daniel Wai. She revealed on Wednesday, December 6, that she was recently cast as Roxie Hart in the Broadway rendition of Chicago after participating in season 32 of Dancing with the stars.