Lala Kent reveals she suspected Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss were having an affair

Lala Kent revealed that she and her Vanderpump Rules costar Katie Maloney sensed that Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss had been having an affair since the summer.

As the couple’s cheating scandal stunned his then-girlfriend, Ariana Madix, and the rest of the world, the Salt Lake City native, 32, confessed that the news didn’t come as much of a surprise to her.

“I suspected it for a long time. Something didn’t feel right since the summer,” said the mother of one child, who recently moved to Palm Springs TMZ.

When asked if Madix was “shocked” by her longtime partner’s infidelity, Kent clarified that her friend “didn’t know” and was “devastated.”

“Everyone was devastated. I think it was just me and Katie [who had suspicions],” the Row star reflected.

Not shocking: While the couple’s cheating scandal stunned his then-girlfriend, Ariana Madix, and the rest of the world, the Salt Lake City native, 32, confessed that the news wasn’t too much of a surprise to her

Her comments come after Sandoval revealed that he and Leviss slammed the brakes on their sexual relationship while on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast.

“We don’t put a label on it,” he said. “We’re just taking a break.”

When asked if they were still friends with benefits by the comedian, 67, Sandoval denied they were still in a relationship.

“Not now,” the rocker, who is in cover band Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras, told listeners, after insisting he and the former pageant queen are still “good friends.”

As for how their relationship blossomed from platonic to intimate, Sandoval opened up about his attraction to Leviss when he and Madix, 37, drifted apart after nearly a decade together.

“We were at my house, and I’m locked out of my house and we talk and we kiss,” he recalls. “It was magnetic. We got closer and while we were talking time went on, and we talked closer and closer, and all of a sudden we’re kissing. I felt something I hadn’t felt in so long, emotionally, for instance.’

He went on to explain how he and Madix had taken on their own lives and how the romance between them had grown stale.

“We were together for nine years and had obviously built a house and business together and everything. We were a brand. And like many relationships, it became more of a best friend/family/sometimes roommates situation,” he explained.

Her comments come after Sandoval revealed that he and Leviss put the brakes on their sexual relationship while appearing on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast; pictured in 2021

The Missouri native said their relationship was generally “just a lack of intimacy” and “connection.”

He felt like they stuck together to ‘keep the optics this high’ [they] were solid’ for their reality show and other business endeavors.

“We were definitely behind each other and that was nice. There was security and stability in it,” he said of Madix.

After turning 40, he recalled thinking his life “looked very bleak” and began to think his “best years were over.”

“I started to lose my life optimism and drive. I felt like I had to change something to feel alive again, to be motivated, to be optimistic again,” Sandoval confessed.

Prior to his affair, he said his “confidence was wiped out” and any sexual experience with him would be like hooking up with “a 19-year-old” on “his second time” when he lost his “game.”

‘I’m not saying it is [Ariana’s] wrong, we just didn’t have that intimacy,” Sandoval claimed.

After hearing his guest’s side, Mandel urged fans to have “empathy and compassion” for Sandoval, who previously said he felt “one of the most hated people in America” ​​for betraying Madix .

“We don’t put a label on it,” he said. ‘We’re just taking a break’ (seen in 2022)

“You need to be heard, because the story belongs to everyone but you,” the judges of America’s Got Talent told listeners. “I don’t understand the hate and the vitriol.”

While the father-of-three stated that he “didn’t approve of cheating on a partner,” he raised eyebrows for saying the amount of backlash Sandoval has received has been confusing.

Social media users flocked to Twitter to express their frustration that Mandel would defend Sandoval or even give him a chance to give his “side of the story.”

One mused, “Howie Mandel defends Scandoval by saying the media and the world treat him unfairly when he has no idea who he is but has him on his podcast for views.”

There’s a special place in hell for Tom Sandoval and Howie Mandel. These two together are so dirty,” said another.

However, some laughed at the idea of ​​Sandoval getting his “big break” on Mandel’s podcast while his ex-girlfriend was booking “movie roles” and “doing DWTS.”