Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval is finally getting vulnerable about the emotional fallout following his now-ended affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.
The 40-year-old shocked his fellow castmates and the Pump Rules fandom last season when it was revealed he had been having an ongoing affair with Rachel while still in a long-term relationship with then-girlfriend Ariana Madix.
Tom and Ariana had been together for nearly a decade when the bombshell dropped, and by the Season 10 reunion, they had called it quits.
Since news of the affair became public, there has been an onslaught of real-life consequences for everyone involved.
Rachel admitted herself into a mental health facility where she stayed for three months after receiving significant backlash for her part in the scandal — or Scandoval as it has been dubbed.
As for Tom, he recently launched his new Everybody Loves Tom podcast, and in a recent episode, he took a moment to reflect on the pain Scandoval caused.
Tom Sandoval shares his regrets over the Scandoval drama
The October 5 episode of Everybody Loves Tom featured a guest appearance from actor Jerry O’Connell.
The Bravo superfan actor sat down with Tom, and the two discussed his affair. As it turns out, Tom has plenty of regrets from that time in his life.
“I fully f**king regret it,” he shared. “I feel bad about it.”
He continued to admit that he hates knowing that he “hurt people.”
In addition, the seven months since rocking everyone’s world with the scandal has also seemingly increased his self-awareness.
“I, for the most part, have been pretty f**king miserable, and I don’t ever, ever, ever want to go through what I went through again,” he added. “And I don’t ever want to be responsible or the cause for ever hurting people like that and causing that kind of s**t ever again.”
Tom also elaborated that he commits to doing “everything in [his] power” to not cause a situation like that in the future.
Tom says he should have ended his relationship and not cheated on Ariana
Another lesson Tom seems to have taken away from this past year is his regret for cheating on his now ex-girlfriend.
The TomTom owner told his guest star that if he could have done one thing differently, he wouldn’t have cheated at all. Instead, Tom says he wishes he would have “ripped the Band-Aid off” and not “delayed” ending his relationship with Ariana.
“I think I got caught up in trying to create the perfect breakup, but it was way beyond that.
As previously reported by Monsters and Critics, in that same conversation, Jerry himself admitted he had second thoughts about appearing on the podcast for fear that he would be seen as “condoning” Tom’s bad choices.
And by his own admission, Tom’s life wasn’t in a great place when he started his affair, but that’s all changed. He’s now six months sober and has no plans for letting himself fall back into old habits.
Vanderpump Rules is currently on hiatus.