Dorinda Medley slams Tom Sandoval for portraying Ariana Madix as ‘needy’ in interview
Dorinda Medley didn’t like how Tom Sandoval painted ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix out to be a “needy” and “crazy” girlfriend during his controversial interview with Howie Mandel.
“It didn’t serve him well and I really don’t understand how he had any comfort level in even talking about what he thought Ariana felt or her reactions to things,” the former “Housewife” said on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy Friday when asked what she thought about the sit-down.
She continued, “Where were we going with that? What were you trying to insinuate? That you were trying to break up with her but she was so needy and she just wouldn’t let [you] go? … Did he really think that was what we were going to take away from it?”
Like many, she also questioned Sandoval’s decision to even go on the podcast in the first place given Mandel’s clear lack of knowledge about “Vanderpump Rules.”
“Why Howie Mandel? He didn’t even know about the show. He didn’t know who Scheana [Shay] was. My mother, who is 83, probably knows who Scheana is,” the “Real Housewives of New York City” alum, 58, joked.
Medley — who was “put on pause” from the “Housewives” in 2020 — also offered Sandoval some advice when it comes to doing interviews outside Bravo: “Don’t.”
“Loyalty does matter. I just don’t think it’s good for your career long-term and people want the immediate salacious satisfaction,” she said. “You play it out and you trust the process.”
Bravo head honcho Andy Cohen dittoed Medley’s sentiment earlier this week, saying neither Sandoval, 40, nor Mandel, 67, “did themselves any favors” with the interview.
“I found out about it last week [and] was annoyed on my behalf, on Bravo’s behalf, on the viewers’ behalf,” the “Watch What Happens Live” host said on SiriusXM’s “Andy Cohen Live” Wednesday.
During his hour-long appearance on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast, Sandoval claimed he broke up with Madix, 37, on Valentine’s Day — two weeks before she found out he was having an affair with her then-BFF Raquel Leviss.
However, he claimed Madix was in “denial” and told him that breaking up would be “effectively ending [her] life.”
Sandoval also said Madix turned a “blind eye” to his obvious romance with Leviss.
“I was seeing Raquel as often as I could. I know that sounds horrible,” Sandoval recalled. “And FaceTiming her all the time. And Ariana didn’t even notice because that’s just how separate our lives were.”
He continued, “She had heard things and seen things about Raquel but was very much turning a blind eye or just trusting me, I guess.”
However, that changed when Madix found a sexually explicit video of Leviss on her then-boyfriend’s cellphone on March 1.
Soon after, it was revealed that the pair had been “communicating inappropriately for months” behind Madix’s back — and sometimes even right in front of her face.
