Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix is trying to figure out her new normal. Her life has changed substantially since Scandoval blew up her world in March 2023.
In a sneak peek at tonight’s Pump Rules premiere, Ariana explains how she’s feeling to her new boyfriend, Daniel Wai. She’s nervous about walking back into TomTom, her ex Tom Sandoval’s bar. She hasn’t been there since she discovered her partner of nine years was cheating on her with Rachel Leviss.
The night her life changed, Tom was on stage with his band, The Most Extras, when his phone fell out of his pocket. Picking it up, Ariana scrolled through the phone’s contents and exposed Tom and Rachel’s affair.
Ariana’s returning to TomTom: The scene of the crime
“I haven’t been there since, like, that night that all of that transpired,” Ariana confesses. “Part of me was like, ‘Should I just not go?'”
“[But] then I was like, ‘No, if I don’t go, then it’s like, that wins,'” she continues.
“I shouldn’t have to make my life smaller because Tom messed everything up,” Ariana adds in a confessional. “If I can go there and make new memories, maybe it won’t have power over me anymore and I’ll just be able to look at it as some bar.”
Daniel assures Ariana that he’ll always be in her corner to “cheer you on from the sidelines.” He lives in New York, so theirs is a long-distance relationship. They met last summer at a mutual friend’s wedding in Mexico, just a few months following Scandoval. The question of whether Ariana jumped into another relationship too soon will be addressed in Season 11 of VPR.
“I didn’t jump into another relationship,” she said at the premiere party earlier this month. “I met a guy, and we were having a good time, I got to know him, and things evolved.”
Thankfully, empathetic showrunners have kept her Season 11 interactions with Tom to a minimum.
“Everyone on production is so supportive, and they never put me in a position where I feel super uncomfortable, so it’s fine,” Ariana said. “I’ll be OK.”
The silver lining
As painful as it was at the time, Scandoval had a massive silver lining. Not only was Ariana instantly free from the dead weight of her stagnant relationship with Tom, but so many previously unimagined opportunities opened up for her.
A part in a Lifetime movie came her way. Commercial partnerships and endorsements were offered. She competed on Dancing with the Stars, finishing a respectable third place. Best of all, last night (January 29) Ariana opened as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago in New York.
Ariana’s definitely winning. Thanks, Tom.
Vanderpump Rules Season 11 premieres January 30 at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PREMIERE OF PUMP RULES? DO YOU THINK ARIANA WILL BE ABLE TO PUT THE BAD MEMORIES OF TOMTOM BEHIND HER?
