Vanderpump Rules’ Scheana Shay Admits She ‘Struggled’ to Cut Ties with Tom Sandoval After Raquel Leviss Affair

Scheana Shay reflects on her complex feelings for Tom Sandoval amid the #Scandoval fallout.

In her last episode Scheananigans podcast, the Vanderpump Rules star, 38, opened up about how her friendship with Sandoval, 40, changed in light of him cheating on his girlfriend of nine years, Ariana Madix — who is also Shay’s best friend — with co-star Raquel Leviss.

“I never thought he was a bad guy,” she said. “He was one of my best friends for almost 15 years. He was the only person who had my back on this show, who fought for me whenever something wasn’t fair and he was the person in my corner.”

Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay at the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ reunion.

Nicole Weingart/Bravo

Scheana Shay denies forgiving Tom Sandoval after they were spotted filming ‘VPR’ in Lake Tahoe: ‘I was here for Lisa’

She continued: “I personally really struggled with all of this because I said, ‘Yeah, you did a really bad thing. But you weren’t a bad friend to me. But then what you did affected me, so it just changed the whole dynamic of our group.”

Shay’s comments came after she revealed on Amazon Live in July that she and Sandoval had been together for “spiritual meditation healing” during VPR cast trip to Lake Tahoe.

“Wednesday’s taping was beyond the most emotionally draining day I’ve ever had in 11 seasons Vanderpump Rules,” Shay said. “My eyelashes hurt from how much I cried that day, my contacts were dry, I was congested, I felt weak in every possible way.”

Tom Sandoval and Scheana Shay on “Vanderpump Rules.”

Casey Durkin/Bravo

VPR’s Scheana Shay describes ’emotionally draining’ ‘healing’ one-on-one with Tom Sandoval: ‘My eyelashes hurt’

She recalled how their conversation during the retreat “wasn’t easy” because of their longtime friendship and what happened last season, and appeared to address previous criticism after Sandoval was featured on her Instagram during the trip.

“I obviously don’t like what he did to Ariana,” she said. “He and I have a really long friendship, so we all always [says]’Oh Scheana, flip flop, Scheana has to have loyalty,’ and losing such a long friendship was obviously hard work.”

“But Team Ariana,” she added. “She’s my girlfriend.”

The “Good as Gold” singer previously addressed a fan who suggested she forgave Sandoval after he appeared on her Instagram Story, saying, “Who said all is forgiven?? We’re all here for Lisa [Vanderpump].”

After also receiving criticism for smiling in a photo with her arm wrapped around Sandoval, she took to Instagram to set the record straight again.

Lala Kent, James Kennedy, Katie Maloney, Ariana Madix, Andy Cohen, Lisa Vanderpump, Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay.

Nicole Weingart/Bravo via Getty Images

Scheana Shay Implies Raquel Leviss ‘Stabbed’ Her in the Back in New Diss Song: ‘I Thought You Were Grateful’

“I don’t know why I feel the need to defend this hand-held photo shoot,” Shay said in the video in bed with costar Lala Kent, who was also part of the Lake Tahoe trip.

“People are so stupid. It still blows my mind that people still don’t realize we’re making a series. And it was that girl’s birthday!” Kent replied. “What are we going to say? Like, no?”

“We’re in a group, we’re all here,” Shay explained. “We jumped into the photo, you know what, I just happened to be standing where I was. We take photos with strangers every fucking day.”

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Season 11 premiere date Vanderpump Rules unannounced, but seasons 1-10 can be watched in their entirety on Peacock.

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Source: HIS Education