Kristen Doute: Tom Schwartz Knew About Tom, Raquel Affair ‘A Month Ago’

Raise your glass! Vanderpump Rules alum Kristen Doute claimed Tom Schwartz knew about BFF Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ affair “a month ago” on her “Sex, Love and What Else Matters” podcast. 

“Schwartz only found out about it a month ago,” Doute, 40, revealed on the Wednesday, March 8, episode, adding that she and the Schwartz, also 40 — who made out with Leviss, 28, in August 2022 at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies‘ wedding — were “texting yesterday” about the drama.

She continued, “[Schwartz] said that he told [Sandoval] he needed to tell Ariana before it blew up in his face and humiliated the hell out of her … Too little too late.”

Doute went on to share that she was with Ariana Madix at Schwartz and Sandoval’s restaurant, TomTom, when the Florida native found out about the cheating scandal.

“During Tom [Sandoval’s] performance, his phone fell out of his pocket or something and somebody — a mutual friend — picks up his phone, hands it to Ariana. … Ariana had his phone and she told me that she just had this gut intuition to look at it.”

Doute noted that while Madix and Sandoval “are a trusting couple,” the former bartender “just felt like she had to look,” adding, “So she went into his photos. He had screen recorded a FaceTime of him and Raquel masturbating with each other. That’s the truth.”

Us Weekly confirmed on Friday, March 3, that Madix and Sandoval called it quits after nine years together. Madix pulled the plug on her romance with the TomTom cofounder after discovering he was cheating with Leviss.  An insider told Us at the time that while Sandoval and Madix had been “having problems for a while,” things didn’t come to a “breaking point” until the cheating scandal came to light. 

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Doute shared on Wednesday that since news of the affair broke, Leviss has been “saying that [she and Sandoval] are in love and they have matching necklaces.” While the Michigan native has “barely spoken” to Sandoval, she claimed that the musician was “gaslighting” and “blaming” Madix for their breakup, saying, “You know we haven’t been happy,” and that she “wasn’t supportive” of his “endeavors.”

Earlier this week, Doute revealed via social media that she was firmly on “Team Ariana.”

“I stan Ariana. This is in real-time. I love you so much,” Doute said in an Instagram Story video with Madix. The James Mae cofounder also shared a video in support of Madix, adding: “Karma is indeed coming. So Raquel should just move home.” 

Madix and Leviss aren’t the only Pump Rules women who’ve been romantically involved with the musician over the years. Doute dated Sandoval herself from 2007 to 2013 before breaking up between seasons 2 and 3 of the Bravo series. 

While Doute and Madix were initially at odds — Madix made out with Sandoval while he was still dating Doute — the women have long since pushed back their differences and become good friends. 

“I don’t know why I feel like I need to make this clear, but there’s so many people right now wondering if this is making me happy,” she said via her Instagram Stories earlier this month. “And you guys, Ariana and I’ve been really good friends for many, many years now. So, I am team Ariana — all day, every day. That’s what’s up.”

Doute and Sandoval, however, have continued to have a contentious relationship following their 2014 split. The tense dynamic escalated when Doute started dating the Schwartz & Sandy’s co-owner’s friend James Kennedy that same year. 

Sandoval expressed his frustration about his ex’s new relationship during the season 2 reunion — where he revealed that Doute started sleeping with Kennedy right before Sandoval moved in with him, calling the entire experience a “nightmare.” Doute, for her part, said she owed the musician “nothing.”  

After Doute and Kennedy called it quits in September 2015, the DJ moved on Leviss.  The pair got engaged in May 2021, with Sandoval chipping in $25,000 to pay for the proposal. Leviss, however, broke off the engagement in December 2021.

Scroll-down for Doute’s most eye-opening revelations from her “Sex, Love and What Matters” podcast: 

Doute opened the podcast episode by detailing what occurred the night Madix found out about Sandoval and Leviss’ affair.

“I was actually with Ariana and Tom that night,” Doute revealed. “We were watching the band play at TomTom and he’s done playing and we all had gotten up to just kind of chatter and grab a drink. Then all of a sudden, I realize Ariana is gone for — it had to be 20 minutes. She left her coat and her purse on the chair. … I’m carrying her stuff around looking for her, can’t find her. I find one of her besties and I just said, ‘Hey can you tell me where she is?’ … And he’s like, ‘No, I can’t find her either. So he’s like, ‘I’ll take it, I’ll put it with the band stuff.” 

The He’s Making You Crazy author then shared the “truth” about how Ariana discovered Sandoval and Leviss’ affair. 

“During Tom’s performance, his phone fell out of his pocket or something and somebody — a mutual friend — picks up the phone, hands it to Ariana. … Ariana had his phone and she told me that she just had this gut intuition to look at it. They are, like, a trusting couple … She just found like she had to look. So she went into his photos. He had screen recorded a FaceTime of him and Raquel masturbating with each other. That’s the truth.” 

“There were rumors going around about Tom Schwartz and Raquel Leviss supposedly making out at Coachella, but everyone said, ’Well, Tom Schwartz wasn’t there,’” Doute explained. “Come to find out, allegedly — this is allegedly from one of Raquel’s good friends — it was Tom Sandoval making out with Raquel at Coachella.” 

After being asked if there’s any way Sandoval and Leviss can “keep the life that they once had” and “stay in [the Pump Rules] friend group,” Doute replied, “In my opinion, it’s very much over. Right now the only person Sandoval has is Schwartz, and Schwartz isn’t happy about this, either. This is pouring down on their businesses.” 

“Schwartz only found out about it a month ago,” Doute explained, adding that she and the Minnesota native were “texting yesterday” about the drama. 

“[Schwartz] said that he told [Sandoval] he needed to tell Ariana before it blew up in his face and humiliated the hell out of her,” she shared. “Too little too late.” 

“She’s not doing well. She’s numb and she’s sad and she doesn’t want to hear about anything anymore,” Doute said about how Madix is dealing with the split. “She’s like, ‘What does it matter? I don’t want to hear any more rumors.’ We were telling her some more rumors that were coming up yesterday and she’s like, ‘What does it matter? I just don’t need to know anymore it’s just going to make me feel worse.’” 

According to Doute, Madix said that Sandoval “wasn’t apologetic” and was “blaming” and “gaslighting” his ex, telling her, “You know we haven’t been happy. You weren’t supportive of my endeavors.”  

“[Ariana] called Raquel,” Doute revealed of the March 1 event. “Raquel and Scheana [Shay] were together after Watch What Happens Live — and a lot of this is on the internet but the truth of what happened is – Raquel was kind of — I’m just going to say it — fucking dumb, OK? And she’s like, walking around all Raquel-like, and Scheana’s like, ‘Who are you on the phone with? What is going on?’ And too casually, [Raquel] says, ‘I’m talking to Ariana. Sandoval and I had a 7-month affair.’ You’re telling this to Ariana’s best friend. So she threw Raquel’s phone in the gutter.” 

“I don’t know what [Sandoval is] thinking, I’ve barely talked to him,” Doute said. “But I know that [Leviss] is saying that they are in love and they have matching necklaces.” 

“When I went over to Ariana’s she was just done filming interview bites for [Vanderpump Rules] and I walked in, she hugged me, we both started crying. She said ‘thank you,’ and then she said to me, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I was like, ‘Are you out of your damn mind? This is not the same thing.’” 

Doute added that she and Sandoval were “toxic” and “idiots” and should have broken up “years” before officially pulling the plug on their romance. 

“For her to apologize to me? Because she didn’t listen to me or because of the way their relationship started? No. That’s why I took to social media almost immediately because I was so tired of people saying, ‘Oh my God, this is Ariana’s karma,'” the Michigan native said. 

Doute detailed Sandoval coming into his and Madix’s shared home while she was at the residence with her friends. 

“He walked in … And he was like, ‘Yea I know everyone hates me,'” she recalled of the awkward encounter. “And I volunteered myself as tribute and I said, ‘I’m going to go upstairs and I’m going to make sure he’s not staying.’ … We did go upstairs, and I have to respect that they share that home, legally he’s allowed to be at that house. So I reminded everybody that the best thing we can do right now is respect what the laws are.” 

She went on to explain that they asked Sandoval to give Madix a “couple of hours heads up before you need to come home so she can leave.” While she claimed that he initially said that “she can leave if she’s not comfortable,” the former couple “seem” to be “getting there.”