An open secret? Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss reportedly took a couple’s trip to his hometown months before their affair made headlines.
Sandoval, 40, and Leviss, 28, were seen posing in front of the Apotheosis of St. Louis in a snap taken in December 2022, according to TMZ. The outlet alleged that the visit to Missouri didn’t go well when Sandoval’s family declined to meet Leviss.
Even though the TomTom co-owner claimed he was planning to call it quits with long-term girlfriend Ariana Madix, his loved ones weren’t thrilled that he brought Leviss.
Three months after Sandoval and Leviss’ trip to Missouri, Us Weekly confirmed his split from Madix, 37, due to his infidelity. “They were having problems for a while,” a source told Us in March, noting that things “only came to a breaking point” when the Florida native found out that her then-boyfriend was unfaithful with Leviss.
The bar owner broke his silence on his personal life by defending his businesses when Vanderpump Rules fans shared negative comments about the establishments. He later issued a separate statement apologizing to Madix.
“I want to first and foremost apologize to everyone I’ve hurt through this process. Most of all, I want to apologize to Ariana,” he wrote via Instagram. “I made mistakes, I was selfish and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love. No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly.”
More recently, he admitted to Howie Mandel that he kissed Leviss for the first time during summer 2022. “We just kissed. It was magnetic,” he said during the Tuesday, April 11, episode of the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. “I felt something that I hadn’t felt in so long emotionally.”
Meanwhile, Leviss took to social media to address where she and Madix stand now. “I want to apologize for my actions and my choices foremost to Ariana, and to my friends and the fans so invested in our relationships,” she wrote via Instagram that same month. “There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret hurting Ariana.”
Sandoval recently admitted that he had regrets about how his connection with Leviss came to light. “Hindsight’s always 20/20,” the reality star told TMZ on March 27. “Like, if you look back at a situation, you think of all the things you should have, would have done better.”
The Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras band member’s friend Tom Schwartz also offered more insight into when he found out about the affair. “I learned about the affair in August. The one-night stand was in August and then it became, from my point of view, it became an emotional affair,” Schwartz, 40, who hooked up with Leviss in August 2022 after his split from Katie Maloney, said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Wednesday, April 5. “Which is still inappropriate, but I didn’t think it was linear. [Then] in January, he came to me and told me that he was in love with Raquel.”
The Minnesota native continued: “He’s not realizing the negative impact this has had on his other ventures. Businesses, bars, the band. … He’s addicted. It’s an infatuation of all infatuations. … Raquel is Tom’s heroin.”
According to Schwartz, he doesn’t expect Sandoval and Leviss to go the distance.
“I think it’ll be a miracle if they make it,” he concluded. “Their relationship is, you know, I know they care so much about each other but, like, even in the short time that they’ve been ‘in love’ or whatever you want to call it, it’s become toxic. And I just I don’t know if it’s sustainable. It’s already toxic as it is and then you add in, you know, the entire nation thinking you guys are scumbags. I think it’s too much, but we’ll see if love prevails.”
Us Weekly reached out to Sandoval’s rep for comment.
