Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix’s Relationship Timeline

Though Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix ended their nearly 10-year relationship in March after she discovered he’d been cheating on her with her best friend, Raquel Leviss, Vanderpump Rules fans have had have had a front row seat to their relationship from the beginning.

The connection began in 2013, when Ariana joined the cast of Vanderpump Rules during Season 2; the pair confirmed that they were in a relationship at the Season 2 reunion. Since then, we’ve watched the couple share countless sweet and loving moments together including vacations, lots of costume parties, starting businesses and writing a book together, and even buying and moving into a $2 million house together. They’ve also shared hard times together including deaths, friendship rifts, and fights. 

Below, we’ve outlined every major milestone in Tom and Ariana’s nine-year love story. 

Ariana Madix joined Vanderpump Rules and a romance began 

Fans first met Ariana in Season 2 of Vanderpump Rules, when original cast member Tom introduced her as a friend with whom he had worked in the past. Ariana had worked as a bartender at Lisa Vanderpump’s Beverly Hills establishment Villa Blanca before being transferred to SUR, where Tom was working as a bartender. 

At the time, Tom was with Kristen Doute, whom he had been dating since Season 1 of the show. In Season 2, Kristen accused Tom of cheating on her with Ariana, which both Tom and Ariana denied. 

Eventually in Season 2, Tom and Kristen called it quits, and fans continued to see Tom and Ariana’s chemistry play out on screen.

February 2014: Tom Sandoval and Ariana officially confirmed their relationship

At the Season 2 reunion, which aired on Feb. 10, 2014, Tom and Ariana confirmed they were dating. That same night, they made it even more official with Instagram posts to their respective feeds about their relationship. 

Tom cheated on Ariana with “Miami Girl”

During Scheana’s bachelorette party trip to Miami in Season 3, Episode 11, Tom was accused by Jax Taylor of cheating on Ariana during a previous trip to the city. In Episode 13, Kristen set up a confrontation between “Miami Girl” (Annemarie Maldonado née Kunkel), Tom, and Ariana over the alleged tryst  He denied having slept with the woman at the time and Ariana defended him.

The controversy over the alleged fling continued throughout much of the rest of the season, which originally aired in early 2015.

During Ariana’s post-Season 10 finale appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on May 17, 2023, she confirmed that Tom had, in fact, slept with the woman and she’d known the whole time.

“They slept together,” Ariana revealed during WWHL. “It was before he and I were exclusive and I didn’t want people to think the absolute worst of the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, so I defended him.”

April 2015: Ariana moved into Tom’s apartment

As their relationship progressed, Ariana moved into Tom’s West Hollywood apartment (the same one he previously shared with Kristen), which was announced at the end of Season 3. Though the place had its quirks — like the fact that the microwave and the air conditioning could not run at the same time — they made it work.

During Season 5, Ariana opened about her future with Tom to BravoTV.com, including her hopes of buying a house together.

“Tom and I are getting our finances in order,” she revealed in the video, which can be seen above. “We’ve both been saving for years… I think that with a loan, we’ll be able to have a great down payment. So, hopefully within a year.” 

At the time, Ariana revealed she was envisioning a “craftsman style” abode with a front porch. “I think Tom and I would be open to something that’s a little bit of a fixer-upper and we would do a lot of stuff ourselves,” she shared. “I think that would be dope.”

On Nov. 3, 2019, Ariana reflected in an Instagram post on a tough period, which included a skin cancer scare in 2018. The difficult time, she revealed, brought her and Sandoval closer together. 

“I’ve been debating posting this for so long but whatever! I’m doing it,” she wrote. “A year ago, I wasn’t able to celebrate my favorite holiday [because] I had just undergone surgery for melanoma. Being told that cancer was living rent free on my body for years was scarier than any ’80s slasher movie. Thankfully, I had an amazing doctor [and] the amazing [Tom Sandoval] to take care of me.”

"Moral of the story: If you’re unsure of something on your body, GET CHECKED and then GET CHECKED AGAIN!" she added.

In Season 7, Tom revealed to his cast mates that his then-girlfriend had once had a sexual encounter with Lala Kent. In a later interview, Ariana revealed that she felt “betrayed” by Tom sharing her private information. 

"I'm not embarrassed or ashamed of what happened between Lala and I, but I do feel like Tom betrayed my trust by telling this story to his guy friends," she said in the episode. "My sexuality is not something that is meant to sound cool to a bunch of dudes."

"When you talk about anyone's sexuality without their consent, it's really not OK," she told Tom at the time.

On Feb. 21, 2019, the couple's realtor, Douglas McFarland of Redesign Real Estate and Design, shared a post to Instagram after Tom and Ariana had successfully purchased their first home together, a gorgeous $2 million property in Valley Village. The 4,5000-square-foot farmhouse boasted five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, an open layout, an expansive white marble kitchen, a dreamy outdoor space complete with a pool, hot tub, and more. 

Tom and Ariana’s first book together, a cocktail recipe book titled Fancy AF Cocktails: Drink Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers, was released in December 2019. Ariana spoke about working on the project with Tom prior to its publication to BravoTV.com. The cocktail book was previously a point of contention in Season 5, since the project started out as Ariana’s and Tom wanted to get involved.

Get more details by watching the video above.