LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 22: Reality TV Personality Ariana Madix attends the Give Them Lala & Friends VIP launch and viewing party at Shopify LA on February 22, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)

Vanderpump Rules’ Ariana Madix Knew All Along That Tom Sandoval Slept With ‘Miami Girl’

Wow! Kristen Doute must be feeling all kinds of vindicated today.

Bombshell alert! After nearly a decade of defending Tom Sandoval against rumors that he had cheated early in their relationship, the truth is finally out. On May 17 Ariana Madix finally admitted to Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she knew the story was true the whole time.

She lied for love

Tom and Ariana had still been in the honeymoon stage of their relationship when Kristen flew Annemarie Kunkel (aka “Miami Girl“) to LA to confront the Schwartz and Sandy’s owner about his cheating with her. While the new couple vehemently denied to everyone that anything had happened in Miami, Tom had already come clean with Ariana. She helped him hide the truth because she loved him.

Answering a caller’s question about what really happened with Miami Girl, Ariana admitted, “They slept together. It was before [Tom] and I were exclusive.”

“I didn’t want people to think the absolute worst of the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with,” she added. “So I defended him.”

Another caller asked Ariana if she thinks Tom will cheat again or if his affair with Rachel Raquel Leviss is just a “mid-life crisis.” The Something About Her owner answered simply, “Both,” getting a good chuckle from the studio audience — and me!

“Do you regret not listening to Katie [Maloney] and Lala [Kent] sooner when it came to their perception and misgivings of Raquel?” asked a viewer via email, which Andy read aloud to Ariana.

“Yes and no,” the Fancy AF Cocktails co-author replied. “I definitely think that … their intuition was clearly ‘on.’ … At the time, I was [trying] to be the best friend to Rachel that I could be, so I don’t regret doing that.”

“Clearly they were right,” she concluded. Clearly.

So Ariana lied to protect Tom. I’m sure I’m not the only one who bought her story and was 100% on her and Tom’s side at the time. I get why she did it, but why would she stay so long with a guy who cheated on her?

I guess she thought she could change him. But a man is not a fixer-upper. If he’s broken when you first get him, he’s probably always gonna be broken.

On the lighter side, Ariana’s free now. I hope she and Katie’s sandwich shop is a huge success. Already living her best life, Ariana’s filming a Lifetime movie and has a hot new guy. She went to the White House Press Correspondents’ Dinner. And she’s rumored to be joining the cast of Dancing With The Stars in the Fall of 2023. I can’t wait to see where life will take her now that she’s free of the ‘Stache.

TELL US – ARE YOU SHOCKED ARIANA KNEW TOM CHEATED ON HER WITH MIAMI GIRL? DO YOU THINK SHE SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM YEARS AGO?

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