Scheana Shay’s wedding is a day that will live in Vanderpump Rules infamy. Maybe it’s a good thing that she and Brock Davies exchanged wedding vows a year prior. Who would want a season’s worth of VPR mess associated with your big day?
At first, it was the kiss between Raquel Leviss and Tom Schwartz that made headlines. Tom’s ex-wife Katie Maloney was understandably upset that he hooked up within the friend group. But besides Katie’s achy-breaky heart, the kiss made less of an impact than Scandoval.
Yet, Raquel’s true feelings were with Tom Sandoval. The fact that he was in a nine-year relationship with Ariana Madix didn’t deter her. The pair had been “communicating inappropriately” since July 2022. And Schwartz claimed the illicit duo had had a “one night stand” at or around this point.
News of the affair has rocked the cast. And more and more information is coming to light. Apparently, the wedding was a breeding ground for their illicit romance. Raquel and Sandoval were seen in a “disgusting” photo hanging out by the pool together. Scheana has gone so far as to edit Raquel out of her wedding photos. Unfortunately, she had asked the former beauty pageant contestant to be in her bridal party.
According to Page Six, Scheana’s wedding dress designers, Patrik Simpson and Pol’ Atteu, claimed to have seen Sandoval and Raquel kissing during the wedding getaway when “nobody was around.” The duo was invited to share their experience on Sirius XM’s Jeff Lewis Live . Patrik said, “I get off the elevator and I see Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss kissing off to the side.”
“Off to the side” as well were a couple of Pump Rules producers. Patrik doesn’t know if they saw the kiss.
But Patrik admitted he wasn’t sure which Tom he spotted. Once Scandoval news broke, he was convinced it was indeed Sandoval. He told Jeff Lewis he could “never tell [Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz] apart.”
The Schwartz and Raquel kiss happened the night before. Which added to the confusion at the time. Though Patrik and Pol knew that it “was fake” after VPR producers asked them to move so they could set up the shot.
“We knew it was fake because hello, we got kicked out of our seat,” Pol’ Atteu said. He described Raquel as never “engaged” and “very removed” socially from what was going on. The designer admitted to getting a negative vibe from her. “Her motives were so skewed that when you’re in it, you’re not going to see it,” Pol’ Atteu added.
Raquel’s “skewed” priorities led to a terrible betrayal of Ariana. She found out about the affair after a sexually explicit video of Raquel came up on Sandoval’s phone on March 1, 2023.
However, during his interview on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, Sandoval claimed Ariana was in denial after he broke up with her in February. Both Tom and Raquel issued apologies to Ariana in the wake of public backlash. Raquel also checked into a facility to deal with “mental health and trauma therapy.”
“Raquel and her family decided months before the relationship was discovered that she needed mental health treatment and ultimately decided she would enter a voluntary facility for mental health counseling,” a rep for the disgraced reality TV star told Page Six.
Reps for Tom Sandoval, Scheana, and Raquel did not respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
TELL US- WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE NEWS THAT SANDOVAL AND RAQUEL WERE SPOTTED KISSING? HOW FAR DO YOU THINK THEIR AFFAIR HAD GONE BY THEN? WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO RAQUEL SEEKING HELP FOR HER MENTAL HEALTH?
[Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]
