Yahoo Sports Ariana Madix Says Tom Sandoval 'Deprived' Her of 'Intimacy' Beyond Sex: 'I Am Not Your Fleshlight'
The 'Vanderpump Rules' star called out men who "act like they are entitled to your body and entitled to sex because you're in a relationship with them"
Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix is opening up about the intimacy – or lack thereof — she shared with ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval.
In a new interview with Glamour, the reality star, 36, got candid about her nine-year romance with Sandoval, 40, and what was happening behind closed doors before it was revealed that he was having a months-long affair with their VPR costar, Raquel Leviss.
“I feel like I'm someone who craves intimacy outside of just penetrative sex, and that was something that I was deprived of for so long,” Madix explained. “As women, we might bring something up a bunch of times and then we just stop. That's where I was at.”
Madix ultimately realized she couldn’t keep “nagging” her then-boyfriend to want to spend time with her.
“The way that so many men act like they are entitled to your body and entitled to sex because you're in a relationship with them,” she said. “I am not your Fleshlight. I spelled out what I needed, but hello. It's a two-person situation.”
Todd Williamson/Bravo via Getty Images
Tom Sandoval and Ariana MadixWhen the cheating scandal, dubbed Scandoval, finally broke in early March, Madix revealed that she was in so much “shock” that she wasn’t necessarily sad right away.
"It was like the air was sucked out of my lungs. It was shock, disbelief on some level, but then also anger,” she recalled.
She said the revelation was especially difficult because she — and others — assumed their relationship would last forever. She also explained why she feels a lot of viewers could relate to the situation.
“There are layers to it. The best-friend layer, the fact that [he] and I were together for so long and so many people, including myself, saw us as endgame,” Madix said. “It’s the deception, the trying to manipulate a narrative, the fact that so many people have been through this themselves and they recognize parts of it.”
During part 3 of the season 10 reunion on Wednesday, Sandoval sparked outrage when he made a shocking comment about his and Madix’s sex life. When host Andy Cohen asked him if he had slept with anyone else since he began his affair with Leviss, Madix fired back at her ex.
“You know who he did sleep with after him and Raquel started sleeping together? Me,” Madix said. Her response prompted a comment from Sandoval about how she “kept her T-shirt on” during the intimate moment, which he snarkily described as “really hot.”
Madix subsequently dropped merchandise on her and costar Katie Maloney’s site appearing to embrace the diss: a t-shirt with a cartoon version of herself pulling apart a grilled cheese and captioned, ‘'f--- me in this shirt.’
Tammie/AFF-USA/Shutterstock; Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty Images; Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images
Ariana Madix; Tom Sandoval; Raquel LevissIt's been a journey for Madix to get to this point. When Scandoval first broke, it was overwhelming for the star, who revealed that she was flooded with anxiety by the news.
"My anxiety at first was through the roof," she told PEOPLE in May. "Those first few weeks ... just the stomach ache, not being able to fall asleep, not eating and feeling sick even at the idea of wanting to eat. It was really so bad."
Ultimately, though, things are now starting to look up for the reality star. “I definitely feel this sense of freedom,” Madix told Glamour. “Now I feel like I don't have to worry about anybody but myself.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Vanderpump Rules can be streamed in full on Peacock.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
