Tom Schwartz revealed he's astounded that Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss' relationship didn't work out since they lost a lot of friends along the way.
"Honestly, I was very surprised," Schwartz, 41, said while chatting on Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes' podcast. "Shocked, the shock of a lifetime. And I don't even say that lightly because I really thought they risked it all. They burned their lives down for love or lust, whatever you want to call it. It makes people do stupid things."
"I think it was lust under the cloak," Schwartz said of Sandoval and Leviss' brief romance. "I think they really did at one point love each other. I mean, listen, from what I saw, they deeply cared about each other and were in love. That's from my perspective. You know, I don't know how they feel about it in hindsight."
As OK! previously reported, Sandoval, 40, and Leviss, 29, were caught having an affair behind Ariana Madix's back. Sandoval and Leviss tried to give their relationship a shot after the scandal, but things eventually fizzled.
"Retroactively, I think they have a much different take on it, and I think they're both kind of referring to it more as an addiction, a lust, or a mistake of epic proportions," Schwartz noted. "But you know, at one point, yeah, man, they were ... It feels twisted to say this, but they were really deeply in love. I think, yeah, yeah, deeply."
For his part, Schwartz, who split from Katie Maloney in 2022, seems to be seeing someone new.
"For the first time in my life, I'm doing something crazy. I'm setting boundaries," he revealed.
When asked about his relationship status, he played coy, saying: "I mean, can I just say I'm super happy right now? Well, I don't know if I'm, I don't think I'm single."
As OK! previously reported, Sandoval recently compared what he went through to other pop culture events — which didn't go over well with fans.
“I’m not a pop-culture historian really,” Sandoval said. “But I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?”
One person wrote, "fellas is having an affair on your live in girlfriend of 9 years the same as killing someone/being killed? tom sandoval weighs in #PumpRules," while another added, "jesus christ he is the f------- WORST."
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Sandoval later apologized for his remarks, stating: “My intentions behind the comments I made in New York Times Magazine were to explain the level of national media attention my affair received. The comparison was inappropriate and ignorant. I'm incredibly sorry and embarrassed.”
