Ariana Madix Reveals What Would Make Her Return for ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Season 12 After Scandoval
Vanderpump Rules is now just one of Ariana Madix’s many gigs and the reality star is opening up about her future on the show for season 12.
"I can't or I won't say [if I'm returning] but I think that ultimately, it would have to make sense for me," Ariana, 38, said during a Q&A at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on Sunday, April 21. "Our show has always thrived, it's always at its best when it is at its most authentic and its most real, and I have to be able to show up and be real and be authentic in order for it to make sense for me."
Filming Vanderpump Rules season 11 wasn’t the easiest for the Florida native. Months before production picked up, Life & Style confirmed that Ariana and now ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval split after nine years together. Their March 2023 breakup resulted from Ariana finding out that he was having an affair with former costar Rachel Leviss.
The exes are now in new relationships as Ariana is dating boyfriend Daniel Wai and Tom is with Victoria Lee Robinson.
Although the Single AF Cocktails author and the TomTom co-owner, 40, continued to live together in their former Los Angeles home after their split, they avoided each other at all costs. Throughout VPR season 11, Ariana’s costars who wholeheartedly stood by her during the nasty breakup slowly started to turn on her. While Katie Maloney continued to defend Ariana against Tom, ?Scheana Shay and Lala Kent had a change of heart and decided to warm up to the idea of being Tom’s friend again. Lala, 33, even seemingly judged the Dancing With the Stars alum for accepting Tom’s offer to buy her out of the home, as Ariana wanted to sell it and split the profits evenly.
However, Ariana finally had enough and bought a $1.6 million home in the Hollywood Hills in March. “Ariana pretty much left Tom in the dust,” an insider exclusively told Life & Style the following month. “She couldn’t care less about him. She’s got bigger fish to fry.”
Tensions grew thicker when the cast filmed the Vanderpump Rules season 11 reunion in March and rumors swirled that Ariana and Lala went for each other's throats. According to the “Give Them Lala” podcast host, no lies were detected.
“I think the exact [fan] tweet was ‘Ariana eviscerated Lala at the reunion and it was friendship ruining.’ And only one of those things is true,” Lala said during a March 20 episode of The Talk. “I’ll let you all decide.”
