Tom Schwartz is breaking his silence amid allegations of a months-long affair between his best friend and business partner, Tom Sandoval and Vanderpump Rules Co-star, Raquel Leviss.
Schwartz, who throughout Season 10 was identified as the guy Leviss had his eye on after calling off his engagement to James Kennedy, said he was shocked to learn of Sandoval’s alliances with Leviss and saddened to seeing his nine-year relationship with fellow co-star and friend, Ariana Madix come to an end.
In video obtained by TMZ, Schwartz said Sandoval was “relatively well” and felt deep sadness. That being said, Schwartz says Sandoval “feels like a piece of shit, and to some extent he is. But he knows he screwed up.”
As for Ariana, Schwartz is adamant she has a great support system.
“She’s with friends,” he said. “I hope she lives a good life and lets go. I hope she lives a crazy life.”
Schwartz insists he hasn’t seen or spoken to Leviss since the so-called “Scandoval” broke out.
As to whether he knew about the affair all along, Schwartz deflected, saying he’d rather not talk about it.
“You’ll see him perform on the show.”
The statement from Schwartz and Sandy’s co-owner follows two public apologies from Sandoval, who mentioned his business partner in his first post about the scandal.
“Hey, I completely understand and deserve your anger and disappointment with me, but please keep Schwartz, my friends and family out of this situation…” Sandoval wrote, asking fans to leave his best. friend and business partner, Tom Schwartz, out of this situation. the drama. “Schwartz only discovered this very recently and certainly did not condone my actions.”
“It was a very personal thing,” Sandoval said.
The 39-year-old reality star also urged fans to leave their bar out of it and stressed that his business partners and employees had done nothing wrong.
“I am so sorry that my partners, Greg, Brett and Schwartz and our employees have to suffer for my actions,” he wrote before signing. “I will take a step back and take a break out of respect for my employees and partners. I need time to sort out everything else. Sorry for everything.”
On their official Instagram page, Schwartz and Sandy’s also posted a message asking fans to take a step back. “In light of the latest news, we appreciate the many words of support, but we also understand the outpouring of outrage that has been directed at our company,” their message read. “However, those of us who are not famous have poured their time, heart and money into making this restaurant a reality.”
The message included kind words for Madix. “We too are disappointed with the current situation, as Ariana has always been a good friend and a great supporter of the restaurant”, can we read.
“We appreciate that you may feel a certain way, but please understand that the livelihoods of others also depend on this activity,” the post read. “There are many more people involved in this place than Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz. Our staff, from waitresses and bartenders to cooks and dishwashers, have nothing to do with this unfortunate situation. Please take into consideration that the One-time negative comments don’t just affect the person you might be mad at.”
“Our goal has always been to create a place where our community can come and enjoy a fun atmosphere with great food and friendly service and we intend to continue to focus on that effort,” the statement concluded.
Speaking again on Wednesday, Sandoval shared a second personal message on his Instagram account, in which he apologized to “everyone I’ve hurt.”
He then focused his apology on Madix, writing, “Mostly I want to apologize to Ariana. I made mistakes, was selfish and made reckless decisions that hurt someone. who I love. No one deserves to feel this pain so traumatically and publicly.”
News of Sandoval and Leviss’ affair first broke earlier this month, with a source telling ET that there were “too many instances where Ariana felt like she missed Tom. of respect and that she finally ended things”.
“The Tom and Raquel incident created a major split in the group with almost everyone against Tom and Raquel,” another source told ET. “The band feels like Tom went through some sort of midlife crisis, with his band forming and acting out sometimes. The girls rally around Ariana, but know that over time , she’ll be fine.”
In the meantime, Vanderpump Rules resumed production with plans to include the breakup and its spinoff in season 10, a source told ET. This split, another source told ET, is final as neither Madix nor Sandoval want to get back together.
“Ariana has no plans to get back together with Tom after what he did to her and Tom is ready to move on,” the source said. “Ariana is devastated and feels betrayed, something she won’t be able to recover from for a long time.”
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