Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval’s Relationship Timeline: When Did Their Affair Start?

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Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval's Relationship Timeline: When Did Their Affair Start?

Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval sparked a romance in summer 2022 while he was still dating Ariana Madix — and the fallout has been messy to say the least. Vanderpump Rules fans learned Sandoval had a connection with Madix during season 2 of the Bravo hit when his then-girlfriend, Kristen Doute, alleged he cheated with the fellow bartender. Sandoval and Madix denied having an affair at the time, with Sandoval later admitting that they kissed once in Las Vegas. Following Sandoval's split from Doute, he and Madix started seeing each other. They confirmed their relationship at the season 2 reunion, which aired in 2015. The couple moved in together, eventually buying a home in 2019. Sandoval and Leviss crossed the line for the first time in August 2022, hooking up at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies' wedding. (Leviss also hooked up with Sandoval’s business partner and close friend, Tom Schwartz, at the event.) As his feelings for Leviss developed, Sandoval claimed he wrestled with ending things with Madix, but cited his and Madix’s respective mental health issues — and various business ventures — as reasons he delayed the split. He claimed he tried to officially break up with her in February 2023. Less than a month later, she learned about his secret romance with Leviss. Sandoval and Leviss — who declared their love for each other during the Vanderpump Rules season 10 three-part reunion — also apologized to Madix for the affair. Scroll through for a more in-depth breakdown of the timeline:

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Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval's Relationship Timeline: When Did Their Affair Start?

Raquel Leviss and Tom Sandoval sparked a romance in summer 2022 while he was still dating Ariana Madix — and the fallout has been messy to say the least. Vanderpump Rules fans learned Sandoval had a connection with Madix during season 2 of the Bravo hit when his then-girlfriend, Kristen Doute, alleged he cheated with the fellow bartender. Sandoval and Madix denied having an affair at the time, with Sandoval later admitting that they kissed once in Las Vegas. Following Sandoval's split from Doute, he and Madix started seeing each other. They confirmed their relationship at the season 2 reunion, which aired in 2015. The couple moved in together, eventually buying a home in 2019. Sandoval and Leviss crossed the line for the first time in August 2022, hooking up at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies' wedding. (Leviss also hooked up with Sandoval’s business partner and close friend, Tom Schwartz, at the event.) As his feelings for Leviss developed, Sandoval claimed he wrestled with ending things with Madix, but cited his and Madix’s respective mental health issues — and various business ventures — as reasons he delayed the split. He claimed he tried to officially break up with her in February 2023. Less than a month later, she learned about his secret romance with Leviss. Sandoval and Leviss — who declared their love for each other during the Vanderpump Rules season 10 three-part reunion — also apologized to Madix for the affair. Scroll through for a more in-depth breakdown of the timeline:

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August 2022

After Leviss left a girls’ trip with Katie, Lala Kent and Kristina Kelly early — seemingly on August 4 or 5 — she crashed a guys’ night at the Mondrian hotel in Los Angeles.

“We literally talked ’til the sun came up the first night with my friend Brett,” Sandoval told Mandel.

After a See You Next Tuesday event at SUR, Sandoval and Leviss found themselves “locked out” of his house with Madix, leading to their first hookup.

“We just kissed. It was magnetic. We were talking, moving closer, and as we were talking, as time went on, we would just start talking closer and closer, and then all of a sudden, we’re kissing,” Sandoval alleged. "That's what started something. … And then we backed off, but then … we have a fire pit and a thing. Yeah. And it was kind of … yeah.”

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August 2022

Shay and Brock Davies wed on August 23, 2023. One day earlier at their welcome party, Leviss and Schwartz kissed. Sandoval claimed that he was "a little jealous,” but happy his friends were standing up to their castmates as he felt Leviss and Schwartz had "been crucified like they were in a full-blown relationship by Katie and Lala."

"I was not questioning our connection and I was more proud of them for saying, ‘F-k you,'" he told Mandel.

After learning that Schwartz had no intentions of dating Leviss, Sandoval informed his BFF about his feelings.

“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. Which is still inappropriate but I didn’t think it was linear,” Schwartz said on WWHL. “[Then] in January, he came to me and told me that he was in love with Raquel.”

Leviss later admitted that she and Sandoval had sex several times in Mexico. 

"I was like, ‘We can't see each other. This isn't going to be a thing.' But then that first night in Cancun, he was, like, drunk and trying to find his room and I heard him talking in the hallway and there was somebody working there and he was, like, asking which direction the elevator was. And I was like, ‘Wait, just come inside. Sorry, sir he's really drunk.' That was the second time we were physical, intimate with each other,’” she said in a confessional that aired in June 2023.

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August 2022

Fans learned during an April 2023 episode of Pump Rules that Ally Lewber was the first one to address Sandoval and Leviss’ connection on camera in an episode filmed shortly after Shay’s wedding.

"Last night at Lala’s apartment, I was grabbing my stuff and we were leaving and chatting. That is when I mentioned that I saw Sandoval and Raquel dancing together at The Abbey after [a] See You Next Tuesday [event at SUR]," Lewber said in a confessional. "I personally wouldn't be comfortable to have my boyfriend out at 1 a.m. with girls. But everyone is different. I thought it was kind of weird that it was 1 a.m. and we were like, 'Where is Ariana?'"

During that same episode, Lisa Vanderpump questioned why Sandoval was smiling so much during a scene with Leviss. 

Credit: Courtesy of Raquel Leviss/Instagram

September 2022

The twosome slept together when Madix was out of town for her grandma’s funeral. 

"This is the one story that we've agreed on getting straight and I know the reason why Tom wanted to lie about it is because it's a really bad look to hook up with someone's boyfriend in their own house when they've gone out of town, especially for like a funeral of all things," Leviss said on part 3 of the reunion. "So, I don't know, this has f--king killed my soul, like I am so sick of lying. I hate it. I hate being deceitful. It's horrible."

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Fall 2022

After wrapping season 10, Sandoval and Leviss continued to see each other. Several of their cast members have retroactively called out red flags and signs of their close relationship, including the duo attending a Labor Day party sans Madix in September 2022 and Leviss quietly attending a Tom Sandoval & the Most Extras show without sharing social media footage in November 2022.

Sandoval, meanwhile, began therapy and accused his then-partner of ignoring the signs.

"I was seeing Raquel as often as I could. I know that sounds horrible," Sandoval told Mandel of his affair. "And FaceTiming her all the time. And Ariana didn't even notice because that's just how separate our lives were. I had to actually tell her, 'How have you not noticed how distant I've been lately?'"

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December 2022

TMZ reported that Sandoval brought Leviss to his hometown of St. Louis. The outlet published a photo — allegedly taken on December 29 — of the pair in front of the Apotheosis.

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January 2023

Sandoval and Leviss joined Schwartz and his rumored girlfriend, Jo Wenberg, in Big Bear.

“Just for the record, that trip was mine and Tom’s trip. I told Jo to come up later and he smuggled Raquel in. What was I to do at that point?” Schwartz told Andy Cohen about the trip. “I knew that they were in love. … At that point, also, I was under the impression that he was more or less broken up with Ariana, and he was in love with Raquel.”

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February 2023

Sandoval claimed that he ended things with Madix on Valentine’s Day.

"Obviously, she was very upset. She freaking punched me and all this s–t," he told Mandel. "A couple days later, I sit down and talk with her again, and she's like, 'I'm not letting you leave me. You're gonna have to force me out of this relationship.' I was like, 'Ariana, I don't think I could be faithful in a relationship with you right now.' I hadn't told her about Raquel yet. She's like, 'If you break up with me, you will effectively be ending my life.'"

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March 2023

Madix discovered a graphic video of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone on March 1. According to the TomTom co-owner, she allegedly brought up freezing her eggs earlier that day. 

Three weeks later, the group got together to shoot the season 10 reunion on March 23.

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April 2023

Both Sandoval and Leviss have claimed they are taking a break amid the fallout from the scandal.

“We’re really good friends. We’re not putting any label on it,” Sandoval said on the April 11 podcast, denying that they were “friends with benefits.”

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May 2023

Hours before the season 10 finale aired, reports surfaced that Sandoval and Leviss “broke up.” While a rep for Sandoval slammed The Messenger's reporting about the apparent split, noting, “They don't even know how old Tom Sandoval is,” Madix told Cohen that she doesn’t believe it’s over.

"I don't buy that at all. She was sending letters to my house, like, four days ago,” she said on WWHL, adding that she didn’t open the note. When asked whether she believes that they are “in love,” Madix noted: "I don't really know that either of them knows what that word means."

Other reports noted that Leviss and Sandoval never defined their relationship to begin with.

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August 2023

Sandoval admitted sneaking in photos of Leviss while in training for Fox reality show Special Forces.

“I was definitely not, like, showing it as a badge of honor,” he told TMZ. “I think I was more, just, like, you know — you’re very lonely at that place, there’s no phones or nothing.”

His Special Forces costar Nick Viall had his own take on what happened.observed, “[Sandoval] came across as a guy who cared about her, and I’m just saying that objectively,” the season 21 Bachelor said on his “Viall Files” podcast at the time. “There seemed to be some real reluctance about [whether] the public would allow them to be together, but he came across — to me — as someone who had feelings and cared about [Raquel].”

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August 2023

Leviss spoke out about her relationship with Sandoval for the first time since filming the season 10 Pump Rules reunion, revealing on iHeartRadio’s “ReWives” podcast she initially “believed” she was “in love” with Sandoval. However, Leviss has since changed her tune after seeking treatment at a mental health facility.

“I now look back on it and see that I was not in love with him,” she told host Bethenny Frankel. “I also don’t believe that he truly was in love with me either.” Leviss said that at the beginning of her months-long affair with Sandoval she “felt seen and heard by him.”

She confessed that after “filming in a tumultuous environment,” she was “needing some validation and somebody to hear” her, which is where Sandoval came in. “Here comes along Tom, who really gave me that time of day to share my side of the story in a non-judgment zone. That’s exactly what I needed in that moment,” Leviss added, claiming that she would “not be involved in this affair” had she seen a future between Sandoval and his ex Madix.

Leviss alleged that Madix and Sandoval had become more like “business partners” before she and Sandoval began hooking up. “The people closest to them could see that their relationship hasn’t been what they portray on camera,” Leviss claimed.