Tom Sandoval claims ex Ariana Madix “belittled” him during their nearly 10-year relationship before he cheated on her with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.
“If you want me to be f–king honest, I loved, I love Ariana. I do. I really care about her,” he said on Nick Viall’s “The Viall Files” podcast Tuesday.
“But like, this person — f–king throughout our relationship — talked to me like I was down here, all the f–king time,” the “Vanderpump Rules” star added.
“And it’s unfortunate that like, my way of acting out against that was like, me also like, just getting belittled, belittled, belittled all the f–king time.”
Sandoval, 41, said he “acted out” because he had such “low self-worth.”
“Somebody like Raquel — somebody who’s in her 20s doing the whipped cream bikini thing — I was like, ‘Wow. I’m attracted to somebody,'” he explained.
While the reality star clarified that he wasn’t blaming his cheating on Madix, 38, he also said that the “Dancing With the Stars” alum wouldn’t have sex with him for a year.
“But I loved Ariana. I really f–king did. And the whole process of breaking up with her, this happened over four months,” he said.
Madix ended her relationship with Sandoval last March after she found an explicit video of Leviss, 29, in his phone.
Follow Pvnew’s coverage of ‘Scandoval‘
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The scandal — which became known as Scandoval — rocked the Bravoverse and the TomTom bar co-owner seemingly became public enemy number one.
However, Leviss claims Sandoval is far from a “victim.”
“I know that he’s really trying to milk the victim role to make himself look better, I think, but in reality it’s making him look worse,” she said on her “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast earlier this month.
In a separate taping of her podcast, the former beauty queen said Sandoval manipulated her into keeping the full details of their affair quiet.
“I expressed to him that I don’t like lying,” she explained last week. “He put me in a really bad position with my friendships, and this placement of being on this international reality TV show [meant] that my reputation was on the line.”
Although Madix and Sandoval are done, they are still in a bitter battle over their shared $2 million home in San Fernando Valley, Calif.
Earlier this month, the “Chicago” Broadway star filed a lawsuit against her ex to force the sale of their home.
Maidx specified in court documents that she wants to sell the house and split the proceeds and does not want a “division in kind.”