Ariana Madix admits she was on her ‘last $2,000’ before cashing out on Scandoval

Ariana Madix admitted that she was “not in a good place financially” before rising to heightened fame amid the aftermath of ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval’s affair.

In a preview for the upcoming episode of “Vanderpump Rules,” the reality star revealed to co-stars Ally Lewber, Scheana Shay, Katie Maloney and Lala Kent that she was on her “last $2,000” before the scandal, dubbed Scandoval, blew up in March 2023.

“The internet thinks I’ve made millions of dollars. That is not true, and it’s like, on March 1st (2023), was I financially prepared to move? No,” Madix said, reflecting on the difficulty of trying to move out of her and Sandoval’s shared home last year.

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The “Single AF Cocktails” author, 38, recalled emailing her agent and manager at the time and telling them, “Let’s start like really trying to do some s––t, because I am not in a good place financially.”

“When I first started making like decent money, [Tom and I] decided we wanted to buy a house, and then I was playing catch up,” she explained in a confessional.

Madix said that when she finally did catch up, she and Maloney decided to begin creating their sandwich shop, Something about Her, and “a bunch of my money went towards that.”

“I was at a point where in March [2023], I was literally on, like, my last $2,000. I’m not kidding,” she continued in her confessional.

Shortly afterward, Sandoval’s affair with former co-star Rachel Leviss was exposed and fans questioned why Madix wouldn’t move out of their shared home.

“He created this situation, and now, I’m f–king scrambling, trying to get my f–king s–t together to be able to, in a financially responsible way, move on to the next step,” Madix told her co-stars.

Madix quickly improved her financial situation after the affair made national headlines. She capitalized on partnerships with several brands, including Lays, Duracell, SoFi and many others, totaling an estimated profit of $2 million post-Scandoval.

While Madix herself has not revealed exactly how much money she’s made from partnerships, Page Six previously reported that she would likely reel in around $50,000 to $70,000 per Instagram post.

Additionally, Madix and Maloney also made $200,000 in just two weeks when they sold merchandise for their sandwich shop for fans who wanted to support Madix amid heartbreak.

The reality TV icon then competed on “Dancing With the Stars,” launched her new cocktail book and went on to play the starring role of Roxie Hart in the Broadway musical “Chicago.”

However, it appears that Madix has still not moved out of her and Sandoval’s $2 million Valley Village, Calif., home. She sued Sandoval, 41, to list the property by requesting a “partition by sale” in January.

Sandoval has since claimed that he offered Madix more than $3 million to buy her half of the home so that he could continue living in the residence.

“Ariana is trying to make it out that I am a psychopath for wanting to keep the house that we have. She’s like, ‘He gave me a s–t offer.’ I gave her an offer of $3.1 million,” he said on a January episode of “The Viall Files” podcast.

Sandoval further accused Madix of not paying the bills for their home in several months.

“My bank account was literally overdrawn. Dude, Ariana hadn’t paid any of the bills for, like, f–king eight months, man,” Sandoval told Tom Schwartz in an episode of “Vanderpump Rules” last month.

“I’ve been pretty much paying for everything out of all my accounts. Mortgage, gardener, cleaning, utilities, everything. It’s kind of like pulling teeth to get Ariana to pay me back,” he further claimed in a confessional.

Madix has yet to respond to her ex’s allegations.

“Vanderpump Rules” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.