Not just a bruised ego?
Tom Sandoval claims Ariana Madix got physical with him for trying to break up with her two weeks before news of Scandoval broke, and “Vanderpump Rules” fans are convinced she left him with a black eye.
“She freaking punched me and all this s–t, but after she calmed down, we started talking,” the bar owner, 40, alleged on Tuesday’s episode of the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast.
“A couple days later, I sit down and talk with her again, and she’s like, ‘I’m not letting you leave me. You’re gonna have to force me out of this relationship.’ And I was like, ‘Ariana, I don’t think I could be faithful in a relationship with you right now,'” Sandoval went on, adding that he “hadn’t told her” about his months-affair with Raquel Leviss “yet.”
The wannabe rock star, 40, insisted that Madix, 37, was “completely in denial and not accepting” of his desire to call it quits after almost a decade together.
After the bombshell interview went viral, several sleuths re-watched the “Pump Rules” midseason trailer, which was released in March, and noticed Sandoval sporting what appeared to be a bruise near his right eye.
“I wish we both would’ve tried harder,” he tells Madix in the post-split scene, which prompts the Something About Her co-owner to reply, “You don’t deserve one f–king tear of mine.”
In what seems to be the same conversation (as he is wearing the same shirt), Sandoval adds, “You don’t know what’s going on between us.”
The dramatic teaser ends with the Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras frontman opening up a cupboard in the kitchen of their shared home and asking Madix if she “want[s] anything.”
She stoically — and chillingly — responded, “For you to die.”
A rep for Madix had no comment when Page Six reached out Wednesday, and the “Dancing With the Stars” hopeful has not publicly addressed any of her ex-boyfriend’s claims.
On March 1, Madix dumped Sandoval after finding a sexually explicit video of Leviss, 28, on his phone, which led to the discovery that the two had been “communicating inappropriately” since at least July 2022.
Bravo cameras quickly picked back up to capture the fallout for inclusion in the reality show’s currently airing 10th season.
Perhaps Sandoval and his affair partner have more in common than meets the injured eye.
According to Leviss, co-star Scheana Shay allegedly “punched” her in the face after learning of the pair’s secret dalliance.
Shay, 37, has repeatedly denied the former beauty pageant queen’s side of the story but did admit that her “hands ended up on” Leviss.