Ariana Madix: The Vanderpump Affair (Full Episode)

TL;DR

Ariana Madix describes discovering her boyfriend Tom Sandoval's 7-month affair with her best friend Raquel by finding a video on his phone.

Key Points

• 1.Ariana found out about the affair at Tom's concert at TomTom bar when she held his phone and felt a sudden instinct to check it.
• 2.She went into a bathroom stall, used his known passcode, found nothing in messages, then opened his camera roll and discovered a FaceTime sex recording with Raquel.
• 3.She immediately confronted Tom outside, and he grabbed her phone fearing she'd tweet about it, then chased her down Santee Alley in heeled boots to get it back.
• 4.Ariana called Raquel directly from the street demanding the truth; Raquel said the affair started "after the girls trip" — which was when Ariana's dog Charlotte had just died.
• 5.All four people — Ariana, Tom, Raquel, and friend Sheena — ended up on a chaotic group phone call in the Uber ride home, with the driver witnessing everything.
• 6.They fought until 6 a.m. that night; Tom was largely dismissive and defiant rather than remorseful, essentially gaslighting her through the entire night.
• 7.Cameras arrived at the house just 48 hours later, on Friday morning, two days after the Wednesday night discovery.
• 8.Tom had initiated couples therapy during the affair, which Ariana now knows was reportedly part of his plan to eventually end the relationship — yet he told the therapist he did NOT want to break up when directly asked.
• 9.Their couples therapist explicitly told Ariana the sexual disconnection in their relationship was "a him problem, not a you problem."
• 10.Tom bought Ariana flowers on Valentine's Day, took her to dinner with a special bottle of wine from their first trip together, and they were having sex in January — making his claim that he repeatedly tried to break up with her hard to believe.
• 11.Ariana confided her body insecurities and lack of sexual confidence directly to Raquel — not knowing Raquel was sleeping with Tom at the time — making the betrayal especially painful.
• 12.Ariana connected her pattern of chasing unavailable men to her father, who would skip out on family time for dive bars, mirroring Tom's habit of never coming home.
• 13.Their relationship began while Tom was still with Kristen Doute; Ariana acknowledges she trusted Tom's version of events then, and sees a pattern in how he operates.
• 14.Ariana filled the emotional void of Tom's absence with close friends, particularly her best friend Logan, which Tom resented — while he was secretly with Raquel.
• 15.When Ariana's grandmother died and she was in Florida, Tom and Raquel were allegedly together at their house; the next morning all three FaceTimed Ariana together as if nothing had happened.