AceShowbiz - Tom Sandoval suggested that the way ex Ariana Madix treated him when they were still together led to his high profile cheating scandal. When appearing on Nick Viall's "The Viall Files" podcast, Tom accused his "Vanderpump Rules" co-star of belittling him during their nearly 10-year relationship.

"If you want me to be f**king honest, I loved, I love Ariana. I do. I really care about her," Tom told host Nick in the Tuesday, January 30 episode. "But like, this person, f**king throughout our relationship, talked to me like I was down here, all the f**king time."

The Tom Tom bar co-owner went on to say, "And it's unfortunate that like, my way of acting out against that was like, me also like, just getting belittled, belittled, belittled all the f**king time."

The Bravo personality, who made headlines last year over his affair with fellow "Vanderpump Rules" star Raquel Leviss while still dating Ariana, further noted that he "acted out" because he had such "low self-worth." He explained, "Somebody like Raquel, somebody who's in her 20s doing the whipped cream bikini thing, I was like, 'Wow. I'm attracted to somebody.' "

Tom claimed that he wasn't trying to blame Ariana. However, he noted that the former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant refused to have sex with him for a year. "But I loved Ariana. I really f**king did. And the whole process of breaking up with her, this happened over four months," he shared.

Tom and Ariana split in March 2023 after she discovered an explicit video of Raquel in his phone. Both Tom and Raquel respectively issued public apologies in the wake of the controversy. While the exes returned for season 11 of "Vanderpump Rules", Raquel, who is now going by Rachel Leviss, opted to exit the show following the massive backlash over the Scandoval.