Lisa Vanderpump thinks Tom Schwartz knew his best friend and business partner Tom Sandoval was having an affair with their co-star Raquel Leviss.
“I think they are so close he knew something, but we’ll find out,” the “Vanderpump Rules” matriarch, 62, said on the highly anticipated episode of “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” Wednesday.
Cohen also asked Vanderpump about a popular theory among fans that Schwartz, 40, was aware of Sandoval, 39, and Leviss’ affair – which has since been dubbed “Scandoval” – and covered for them by making his storyline about kissing Leviss hot off his divorce from Katie Maloney.
“I think they are so close, I mean I’d of been less surprised if you said Schwartz and Sandy got together rather than Sandoval and Raquel,” Vanderpump joked while the crowd laughed. “I think he sits on the fence so tight it’s up his ass … He tries to placate everything and play both sides.”
Former cast member Stassi Schroeder also said she believes Schwartz and Leviss’ make-out sessions were just a “cover-up” for the “full-blown affair” that was actually happening behind Ariana Madix’s back.
“It sounds like something that Sandoval would have come up with,” Schroder, 34, said on Wednesday’s episode of her “Straight Up With Stassi” podcast. “He would be like, ‘This would be a great way to cover up.’ It’s a cover-up. And Raquel [was] like, ‘Yeah.’”
Sandoval previously denied that Schwartz knew in his first of two apologies shared after fans began boycotting their new restaurant, Schwartz & Sandy’s.
“Schwartz specifically only found out about this very recently, and most definitely did not condone my actions,” Sandoval claimed in a statement on Saturday.
Schwartz has not directly addressed the affair nor has he confirmed or denied prior knowledge.
Sandoval and Leviss sent shockwaves the Bravo-verse after Page Six confirmed that Madix, 37, dumped her boyfriend of nearly ten years after seeing a sexually explicit video of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone last Wednesday night.
Sources told us that Madix learned several more details after seeing the video – including that they had been “communicating inappropriately” since “last summer” and the two had “slept over Tom and Ariana’s house when Ariana’s been out of town.”
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“Ariana was blindsided by the cheating,” another insider told us at the time, adding that Madix had “no idea there were any issues” in her relationship and feels “betrayed” by her former friend.
Leviss apologized to Madix via Instagram on Wednesday and blamed the affair on her “addiction to being and feeling loved.”
Despite Sandoval and Leviss both sharing lengthy statements, neither one of them has divulged the current status of their relationship. An insider previously told us that the two “kissed” on-camera for the upcoming “Scandoval” episodes, but their relationship may have taken a serious hit since the affair broke.
“Tom has been unable to track Raquel down for several days,” a source told Page Six on Wednesday. “He’s been asking mutual acquaintances if they’ve heard from her at all, but has had no luck. He can’t get in touch with her.”
“Vanderpump Rules” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.