Tom Sandoval Is ‘Loving’ the Attention From ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Scandoval, Kristen Doute Says
Despite being branded as the ultimate reality TV villain, Kristen Doute believes that ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval from Vanderpump Rules still loves the attention.
Sandoval went from the cast member who supported the underdog or shunned friend in the group to persona non grata when it was revealed that he cheated on longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix with their close friend Raquel Leviss. And while Sandoval is literally being trashed on a global scale, Doute, who dated Sandoval before he moved on with Madix, said he’s leaning into the limelight.
Kristen Doute thinks Tom Sandoval ‘loves the attention’
Sandoval looked pretty miserable when he appeared on the Vanderpump Rules Season 10 reunion. But Doute believes that instead of retreating and doing introspective work on himself, he’s embracing the attention.
“Yeah. I think he loves it. I think that he loves the attention, he loves the validation, whether it’s negative or positive, he doesn’t matter to him,” she said on the Dear Media Good Guys podcast. “And I truly think that right when s*** hit the fan, he was probably going to Raquel. And whether or not they’re together anymore, I have no idea about the two of them.”
“But I think he’s also telling himself right now, like, ‘Listen, man, Jax [Taylor] came back from all the bad things he did. Like Kristen came back from it. Like, I’m gonna come back from this. It’ll just take a little bit of time.’ Like it’s just different dude. It doesn’t mean he is the most horrific human on the face of the planet, but he’s certainly a narcissist.”
She doesn’t think Tom Sandoval will ever change
Doute isn’t hopeful that anything will change for Sandoval either. “Like this isn’t gonna change. He’s just gonna keep running this rat race over and over and over again,” she said. “He’s just so far out there now, like it’s, ugh, it’s just tough. But I think he’s charming.”
Also, “He tells you what you want to hear. And like they show it in reunion one. Like Ariana said, when they talk about the Miami girl cheating thing, she’s like, ‘Well, we weren’t exclusive and I was seeing this wonderful person that I wanted everyone else to see as well.’ Because you really are like joined at the hip,” she said.
She added, “You are best friends. You’re geeking out over everything you have in common. You’re not really thinking about all of the responsibilities that you have because you’re just having so much fun staying up all night and talking and, and playing music together and you know, doing mushrooms and going swimming or whatever it is.”
“So it’s just so intense and so passionate and so he’s so charming that you kind of let everything else like slip away,” Doute said.
Kristen Doute wishes rock bottom would give Tom Sandoval perspective
Doute was fired from Vanderpump Rules after season 8 and said the rock bottom experience forced her to work on herself.
“Hitting rock bottom, which is what you would hope for someone like Tom. Why isn’t this rock bottom where you just start groveling, you really do the work,” she said.
“You really go to therapy, you really look inside, and stop blaming everyone else,” Doute added. “And I didn’t realize I was going back then was saying like, why is everyone mad at me? But look what that person did. I only did this because that person like poor Kristen,” she recounted.
“So I had to do the work and then make my group a little bit smaller and work on the self-love,” she said. “And just all the s*** and like what substances or like alcohol I was using in order to feel better about situations instead of like deep diving into them. And then I just grew up.”
