Tom Sandoval addressed James Kennedy‘s arrest for domestic violence for the first time while appearing on Nick Viall‘s podcast.
As he also reacted to rumors of drug use and revealed where he stands with his former Vanderpump Rules castmates, including Scheana Shay, 39, Lala Kent, 34, and Tom Schwartz, 42, the 42-year-old musician explained how the show became “toxic” and noted that while he and James, 33, may have both found themselves in scandals, they are not the same.
“Please don’t compare me to James Kennedy,” Sandoval began on the April 2 episode of The Viall Files about James, who was highly critical of him over ‘Scandoval,’ which involved him cheating on his partner Ariana Madix with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss, 30.
“[In] James and I’s past, he was getting chants going, like, ‘Sandoval’s a liar,’ but, unlike James Kennedy, I’m not going to kick him when he’s down. I’m sure he’s dealing with a lot,” he continued. “But with that being said, whether there’s alcohol involved or not, there’s absolutely no excuse for a man to put his hands on a woman.”
Sandoval then gave a nod to past accusations James has faced from former girlfriends Kristen Doute, 41, and Rachel.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” he noted, refusing to comment on Lisa Vanderpump‘s alleged downplaying of the situation, which she’s since denied.
Moving on to claims of drug use, which were fueled by Sandoval’s sweatiness on The Traitors, Sandoval admitted to being annoyed by the claims.
“You can [ask Jax Taylor], I don’t do f*cking cocaine. I’ve never done f*cking cocaine. I will never do cocaine. It’s not my jam. It’s not what I do,” he declared, signaling his ex-co-star, who recently came forward with a cocaine addiction. “If I was like a casual, every once in a while user, I still wouldn’t be doing it [on television]. But I don’t do f*cking cocaine.”
As for his status with the former Pump Rules cast, Sandoval confirmed he’s still in touch with some.
“I actually was talking to Scheana. When she was on The Masked Singer, we were talking about that, and I talked to Lala a couple weeks ago or so, checked in. Obviously, we’re in different places in our life, and we’re both homebodies in our own way. [But] I still talk to some people now and again,” he shared.
“It’s just, it’s one of those things when you’re on a reality show like that for 12 years, you almost get used to cutting yourself off … because you really enjoy the time away,” he continued. “We’re almost having to learn how to reconnect in way where it’s like, we don’t have to watch what we say, which it’s been, obviously, the way the show got recasted, it sucked to find out like that and have it happen then, but it’s been really nice.”
Sandoval has also remained close to Schwartz, sharing that their duo is still intact.
“We were [just] in Minnesota together,” he revealed. “We had a lot of fun. It was great. It was really fun, but I just don’t go out the way I used to. I’ve become much more of a homebody and just focused on getting stuff done, doing things, staying healthy. I took eight months off drinking, I just quit, and I didn’t compensate with weed. It wasn’t like California sober. I was fully sober.”
Also during the interview, Sandoval was asked to elaborate on his claim that Pump Rules was “toxic.”
“They’re rewarding bad behavior. Doing your job is showing up and having the one conversation about the one thing you don’t want to talk about with the one person you don’t want to talk about it with — the most uncomfortable, awkward, feel nauseous in your stomach, dry mouth conversations all the time, after a couple to several drinks and at least a little bit of lack of sleep if we’re on a trip,” he explained. “It’s nerve-racking too because … they have all the power to show, which I would see happen, if I keep pushing you in the arm, pushing you in the arm, pushing you in the arm, and then you finally go, ‘Tom, you’re an a**hole. Stop doing that,’ what they’ll do is cut me pushing you in the arm five times and just get me pushing you, you calling me an a**hole, and then they create the debate … are you Team Nick or are you Team Tom?”
“And I’ve been on the show with other cast members who abuse that and do that to try to provoke you,” he added.
