Baby debate? Vanderpump Rules offered a glimpse at Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix‘s journey to freeze embryos after the bar owner recently claimed he wasn’t onboard with the idea.
During a new episode, which aired on Wednesday, April 19, the former couple discussed their fertility plans on screen. “If you have s—t sperm, I don’t want it going anywhere my s—t that I worked really hard to have harvested from my body,” the Florida native, 37, joked while listing the ways Tom, 40, should prepare for his sperm donation.
In a confessional, Ariana broke down why she chose to freeze her eggs. “Two years ago, I froze my eggs and I was able to retrieve 26 of them which is really good. Like incredible. Good job, ovaries,” she explained. “My stance on all things related to being pregnant and giving birth has not really changed. It is just that I don’t like biological clocks having the power to run anything. Those eggs are more viable as fertilized embryos.”
The TomTom co-owner, for his part, wasn’t thrilled when Ariana told him she didn’t “really care” if they ultimately had a family.
“Last year when Ariana asked me to fertilize her eggs, I was excited,” he told the cameras in a scene seemingly filmed in September 2022. “But why would Ariana want me to fertilize her eggs when we might or might not have kids or whatever she decides?”
While season 10 continues to air on Bravo, Tom and Ariana’s love life made headlines in March when news broke of his affair with Raquel Leviss. The Missouri native’s nearly decade-long relationship with Ariana ultimately came to an end due to his infidelity, which started in August 2022.
Tom, however, claimed he tried to end his romance with Ariana one month before his cheating scandal — and further detailed their contention over their fertility journey.
“We didn’t tell anybody, but she knew,” he alleged on an episode of the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast earlier this month. “She was trying to, like convince me not to be broken up … but that was not the case. She asked me that day as we were leaving about, like — because we had talked about fertilizing [her] eggs, which I never did. She was like, ‘So, what do you think about doing a sperm check to fertilize my eggs?’ And I’m like, ‘What? We’re broken up.’ … I was like, ‘We’ll talk about this later, I gotta go do my show.’”
According to Tom, the former SUR bartender was “fully in denial” about their breakup. “It scared me. It really scared me,” he said after claiming he and Ariana parted ways on Valentine’s Day. “That’s why, like you say, ‘Why didn’t you just break up with her then?’ It’s because of the threat of … self-sabotaging. And you know how f–king — how much that hurts me?”
The Tom Sandoval & the Most Extras frontman also broke down the personal issues that made him want to change his life. “As I turned 40, I started to look at my life and it looked very bleak,” he detailed. “I started to lose my optimism in life and my drive. I started to feel trapped. I started thinking like, ‘I don’t need this house, I don’t need this s–t, but I feel like I need to make a change to feel motivated, to feel optimistic again.’”
While filming Vanderpump Rules, Tom questioned his then-girlfriend’s support for him.
“It is tough sometimes to talk to you about stuff because you never agree with me. I feel like this summer — for the past few months — I will explain to you a situation and my point of view,” he said to Ariana during Wednesday’s episode. “And it feels to me like you are very quick to take the other person’s point of view. I don’t want anybody to ever have my back unconditionally, but it sometimes makes me feel like you question my intelligence. You think I am an idiot in some ways or that I am annoying.”
In the trailer for next week’s episode, Sandoval continued to voice his concerns, telling business partner Tom Schwartz, “It’s been a little frustrating. We will be in the car, and I will be talking and she f—king comes at me. And I am like, ‘What is this?’”
Ariana, meanwhile, has yet to publicly address Sandoval’s claims. After taking a brief social media break, the Fancy AF Cocktails co-author returned to thank the people who stood by her.
“Hi. where to begin? i want to express my most sincere gratitude for the outpouring of love and support i have received from friends, family, and people i’ve never even met in the last two weeks,” she captioned an Instagram post in March. “When i have felt like i couldn’t even stand, you all have given me the strength to continue and seen me through my darkest hours. to say i have been devastated and broken is an understatement. however, i know that i am not in this alone.”
Ariana continued: “So many of my closest friends are also grieving this loss right now and reeling from this betrayal on so many levels. i am so f—king lucky to have the best support system in the world and i hope i can repay every single person for the love you have shown me. what doesn’t kill me better run. love, ariana.”
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Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
