Vanderpump Rules’ Most Shocking Cheating Scandals

Tom Sandoval Reacts to Backlash Over George Floyd Comment

It’s not about the pasta, but it is about the past.

A full year after news broke of Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ shocking affair on March 3, 2023—which led to the end of his nine-year relationship with Ariana Madix—the cast (and viewers!) of Vanderpump Rules are still dealing with the fallout. 

On Feb. 29, Raquel filed a lawsuit accusing Tom of recording illicit videos of her without her knowledge and Ariana of distributing the content—at roughly the exact same moment VPR alum Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright announced that they had separated after nearly five years of marriage, with the Kentucky alum moving out of their shared home in Los Angeles’ Valley Village neighborhood. 

Because, lest we forget, Scandoval was hardly the first cheating scandal to rock the Lisa Vanderpump-helmed series.   

When you really dig deep into the Bravo series’ 11-season run, there are more red flags to be seen than at the U.N., with issues of infidelity proving to be not so sexy and unique.  

In fact, Vanderpump Rules was built on the back of an affair involving Scheana Shay and the former husband of a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, while Tom was first accused of being unfaithful to Ariana quite early on in their relationship. And, against all odds, Jax and Brittany were able to survive his affair in season six, proving you could find happily ever after even if your significant other initially tells you to “rot in hell!”

At least temporarily.

So, as we anxiously await how Jax and Brittany’s marital issues will play out in their new spinoff series The Valley and the Scandoval epilogue unfolds on VPR’s currently airing season 11, get ready to raise your glasses and eyebrows high as we look back on all of Vanderpump Rules’ cheating allegations over the years:

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Scheana Shay with Eddie Cibrian

Let’s not forget that we owe this entire series to Scheana Shay’s affair with actor Eddie Cibrian, who was married at the time to former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star Brandi Glanville. Scheana dated him while Brandi was pregnant with their second child, and the two women’s dramatic sitdown at SUR—coordinated by Lisa Vanderpump, naturally—was the segue from one episode of RHOBH to Vanderpump Rules. Sneakiest (and messiest) crossover ever!

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Jax Taylor With a Las Vegas Partier

After denying he cheated on then-girlfriend Stassi Schroeder throughout the entire first season, Jax Taylor admits in the finale that, yes, actually he did cheat on her in Las Vegas and got the other woman pregnant. 

His admission stunned Stassi and the rest of the cast that had defended and sided with him in the breakup.

Vivian Zink/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Jax Taylor With Kristen Doute

One of the show’s most infamous hookups went down in season two, when Jax confessed to sleeping with Kristen Doute, Stassi’s best friend who happened to be dating his best friend Tom Sandoval.

Though Kristen initially refuted the claim, she finally admitted that they hooked up (but never kissed) during the finale. Oh, and it went down while Tom was sleeping in the other room and they were watching the Ryan Gosling movie Drive. This all culminated in Stassi delivering her now-infamous slap across Kristen’s face, while Tom punched Jax. 

Seasons later, Kristen later admitted to cheating on Tom throughout their six-year relationship.

Evans Vestal Ward/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

Tom Sandoval With Ariana Madix

After Ariana Madix joined the cast in season two, Kristen quickly had suspicions about Tom’s friendship with his fellow bartender. While the pair denied ever hooking up while Tom was dating Kristen—responding to the SUR waitress’ continued worries, Ariana infamously declared, “I’m smarter than you. I’m prettier than you. Get the f–Get the f–k over it”—Tom eventually admitted during the season two reunion that he and Ariana made out in a pool when they were both in Las Vegas.

When asked by Andy Cohen if she worried about Tom’s past after he confessed to “cheating on Kristen a few times,” Ariana said, “I’ve been friends with him for three years. I know him really well. It’s not a thing for me—at all.” (Sigh.)

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Tom Sandoval With Miami Girl

After Tom and Ariana announced they were officially together, Kristen revealed in season three that a woman reached out to her on Instagram claiming to have hooked up with Tom while he was in Miami with Jax and Schwartz. Kristen even brought “Miami Girl” into SUR to confront Tom, but Ariana didn’t take the allegation seriously after Tom vehemently denied the claims and the couple left.

At the time, however, Jax seemingly threw his friend under the bus by backing up the claim. And after Tom and Ariana’s 2023 breakup, Jax, who left the show in 2020, tweeted a cryptic message.

“I’ve called a lot of things on that show that people never believed,” he wrote. “Everything I say always ends being true.”

Brian Baer/Bravo

Tom Schwartz With Several People

After Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney got married in 2016, he confessed to drunkenly making out with one of Lala Kent’s friends in season six.

When Schwartz was asked about the story, his memory was fuzzy. “There’s no way. No, it couldn’t have been,” he says in a 2018 episode. “Yeah, I remember going to The Bungalow, but I definitely don’t remember making out with anybody. I got s–tfaced that night, I remember that.”

Schwartz later addresses his behavior in a confessional, admitting, “I truly and honestly am baffled.”

But it wasn’t the first time Schwartz cheated on Katie while he was blackout drunk, admitting to kissing another woman while he was inebriated in season three. 

After 12 years together, Katie and Schwartz announced their breakup in March 2022. 

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Katie Maloney With a Random Dude?

In a 2014 episode, Jax claimed Katie cheated on Schwartz by “motorboating” an unnamed man, sharing that he’d heard the story from Scheana. Katie was furious over the allegation and Scheana eventually apologized to her co-star.

“I never once said she cheated. I said what I saw,” Scheana wrote in a Bravo blog. “After talking to Katie about it, I realize that it wasn’t what it seemed. When she bent down to take her shoes off, her head was in that region. Also, in her drunken state when she was dancing shaking her head back and forth it definitely looked like she was ‘motorboating’ this guy. She DID NOT cheat…I simply felt like she crossed the line.”

Nicole Weingart/Bravo

James Kennedy With Jenna

After some serious sleuthing—including looking at Uber receipts—Kristen deduced her boyfriend James Kennedy cheated on her with one of Scheana’s friends in season four. He denied it to her face, only saying they may have kissed,  but later admitted in an interview, “The truth is, Jenna and I were definitely boning.” And a new iconic .GIF was born!

But that wasn’t the only time James cheated on Kristen, as the DJ also hooked up with Lala (who believed he was single at the time) and another SUR hostess, Lauren, who was in a relationship with another employee at the restaurant.

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James Kennedy With Lala Kent

After his breakup with Kristen, James began dating student and beauty pageant contestant Raquel Leviss in season five. The pair quickly faced cheating allegations when Scheana and Kristen crashed one of James’ DJ gigs with three former SUR empoyees who all claimed that they hooked up with him (they even took photos of James sleeping) while he was dating Raquel.

James denied all of the women’s stories and he and Raquel continued to date, eventually calling off their engagement in 2021 after five years together. Following their split, James confessed to having sex with Lala at the beginning of his relationship with Raquel.

“For some reason, I was very naive back in the day and I thought James never cheated on me,” Raquel told E! News in February. “But this clarified that he definitely has cheated on me multiple times. That was definitely a hard pill to swallow.”

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Jax Taylor With Faith Stowers

It was another season, another cheating scandal for Jax in 2017 when he fessed up to hooking up with former SUR waitress Faith Stowers. Though he initially denied it in the season six premiere, Jax came clean after his then-girlfriend Brittany Cartwright confronted him—all while wearing a Taco Bell sweatshirt. 

“This isn’t my first time being caught cheating,” Jax said in a solo interview. “In the past, I’ve gone through months and months of deny, deny, deny, and that didn’t work for me.” He went on to say that he and Brittany had hit a rough patch (which was seen on their 2017 spinoff, Jax & Brittany Take Kentucky), which led him to hook up with Faith.

Jax’s admission, of course, devastated Brittany, who delivered her infamous “Rot in hell!” line in response. While Brittany initially broke up with Jax, the couple quickly reconciled and ended up getting married in June 2019. They welcomed their son Cruz two years later.

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Tom Sandoval With Raquel Leviss

The BCU (Bravo Cinematic Universe) was shaken on March 3, 2023, when it was confirmed that Tom and Ariana had ended their nine-year relationship amid the revelation that he’d had a seven-month affair with Raquel. 

“I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love,” the TomTom co-owner wrote in an apology on Instagram March 8. “No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly.”

He added, “My biggest regret is that I dishonored Ariana. I never meant to disappoint so many people, including our loving families and friends.”

Raquel also issued a public apology to Ariana, saying she had “no excuse” for her actions. In a follow-up statement, Raquel addressed the future of her relationship with Tom.

“I need to take care of my health, work on self-growth and take time to be ok with being alone,” Raquel told E! News in a statement. “I care for Tom, and I don’t want to label anything or predict what lies ahead. Right now, I need to heal.”

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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