Credit: Rich Polk/Bravo
Ariana Madix believes Bravo covered for Tom Sandoval amid his controversial interview with the New York Times, during which he compared “Scandoval” to the media attention surrounding the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020.
Following Sandoval’s controversial remarks, Ariana, 38, weighed in on Bravo’s response to the comments while also sharing how much he really offered her for their $2 million house, reacting to her potential fall from grace on Vanderpump Rules season 11, and revealing what would make her walk away from the reality show.
“I was just blown away by how anybody could say something so awful,” Ariana said during a February 29 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “[And] it was interesting how much Bravo was trying to cover for him.”
In the New York Times cover story, after it was noted that Sandoval had said “the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd” were “a little bit the same” as “Scandoval,” the writer revealed that their interview was left incomplete as Bravo seemingly dodged their efforts to reschedule.
As the writer shared, their interview with Sandoval was supposed to continue the next day, but he claimed to be ill. Then, after a series of communications with Bravo employees, including Pump Rules executive producer Alex Baskin and a network publicist, the concern was clear.
Although Sandoval ultimately completed his interview, it wasn’t until weeks later that it reconvened, and this time, he was joined by a Bravo publicist and a senior executive from NBCUniversal.
While the L.A. Times reporter mentioned to Ariana that having a publicist present to restrict certain comments could be considered standard practice, Ariana refuted the idea.
“Are they doing that right now with me and you?” she asked.
Once she wraps up her run in Broadway’s Chicago, which was recently extended through April, Ariana will likely return to her and Sandoval’s home, which remains a source of contention between them.
According to Ariana, who filed for a partition of sale, which would require them to sell the property and split the earnings, Sandoval does not want to leave the home and sent her a letter of intent, saying he’d pay her $600,000 for her portion of the home, which he based on a $3.1 million estimate.
“No formal offer was made. He didn’t get an appraisal,” she clarified after Sandoval claimed on Nick Viall‘s podcast, The Viall Files, that he “gave her an offer of $3.1 million.”
While season 10 ended with everyone at odds with Sandoval, season 11 has hinted at a fall from grace for Ariana.
“It gives me tall poppy syndrome a bit. The tallest poppy has to get cut down. There’s a lot of eyes on me, so it’s like, ‘Let’s cut this girl down to size,’” she explained. “I feel like I’m working, living and being pretty f*cking quiet about everything while also putting my life back together and trying to find a way to set myself up for a decent life as a middle-aged woman who now has to take everything on herself.”
Some have even accused Ariana of being “rewarded” for “Scandoval” and others have complained that they’re “over” her story.
“I’ve had eyeballs on me that were not on me before. That gave me an inch, and I said, ‘OK, let me prove to you that I can do the mile. I can run this marathon because it’s what I’ve been preparing for this whole time,’” she declared. “They say that all the time — ‘I’m over it.’ But them saying that feels a little bit like, ‘Oh, you own my life? You’ve decided that you’ve consumed enough content?’”
Despite the backlash she’s received from some, Ariana has no plans to quit Pump Rules.
“The only way I could ever see myself moving away from the show is if I had another job,” she shared.
And while certain fans feel as if Pump Rules is nearing its natural conclusion, Ariana doesn’t think the show would be canceled if the ratings are still high.
Still, she admitted, “I always feel like the show thrives when it’s at its most authentic, and if it feels like everyone’s stories have been told, I certainly don’t think it would be wise to just try to drum things up to keep it going.”
On the heels of Scandoval, as she coped with heartbreak over her then-partner’s months-long affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 29, Ariana was bombarded with partnership deals and other offers, which she felt obligated to take.
“I was like, ‘I’m not OK.’ There’s no one here about to bail me out. I don’t have rich parents. I don’t have an inheritance from anybody who’s passed,” she noted. “My team would be like, ‘This is a really great offer from Bic, look at it.’ And I’d say, ‘It is a fantastic offer, but even if it wasn’t, I’m not in a position to say no right now, because I have to make myself financially stable from now until kingdom come.’”
As for those who’ve criticized her as a “walking billboard,” Ariana stated, “Those people don’t want women to work.”
“I think those people are confused about what it is that I do for a living. Those are acting jobs. I’m doing the same job I have done for many years; I’m just working more,” she explained. “And that’s why I signed up for Vanderpump Rules in the first place — to work more … Maybe my path is different than the one I initially wanted, but it’s still great.”
Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
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