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Jax Taylor believes his former “Vanderpump Rules” co-star Tom Sandoval preyed on Raquel Leviss during their affair because she is “easily influenced.”
“There’s a reason why it’s Raquel. [It’s] because she can be controlled,” he told People in a new interview published Tuesday.
Taylor says that Sandoval’s ex-girlfriend, Ariana Madix, is the exact opposite of Leviss and is much like his wife, Brittany Cartwright.
“Ariana’s a very strong, independent woman — that’s how Brittany is — but you can’t control her,” he added, claiming, “And I think Raquel’s very easily influenced. I think he likes to be able to tell her what to do. I think she’s very codependent, and I think he preys on that.
“He can control her and she’ll do whatever he says. And she’s a fangirl a little bit. That wasn’t happening with Ariana.”
Taylor told the outlet that when he first heard the news of “Scandoval” earlier this month, he got a text that read, “You were right all along.” It’s unclear who sent the message to him.
“It wasn’t shocking to me,” the reality star, 43, admitted. “I’ve known Tom Sandoval for 20 years, we grew up together. I just know his lifestyle. I know who he is, and I’ve said it many times. No one wanted to believe me.”
Despite Taylor’s comment about his former co-star, a source close to Sandoval told Page Six that the two have not discussed any of his relationships. Sandoval has barely even seen him in a year.
Reps for Sandoval and Leviss did not immediately return our request for comment.
Sandoval, 40, and Madix, 37, called it quits after nearly 10 years together after she found a sexually explicit video of Leviss on the Schwartz & Sandy’s owner’s phone.
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Madix then discovered that her longtime boyfriend and the former pageant winner, 28, had been “communicating inappropriately for months.”
A source previously told Page Six that the blond beauty was “blindsided” and “heartbroken” when she discovered Sandoval’s infidelity.
Follow Page Six’s coverage of ‘Scandoval’:
Following days of public scrutiny, both Leviss and Sandoval separately issued an apology to Madix.
“There is no excuse. I am not a victim, and I must own my actions, and I deeply regret hurting Ariana,” Leviss said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight on March 8.
A day prior, Sandoval, for his part, said that he felt “horrible” about what he has done to hurt Madix.
“Most of all, I want to apologize to Ariana,” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love. No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly.
“Scandoval” will play out onscreen as Page Six previously reported that the cameras were rolling as all the drama unfolded.
In the newly released midseason trailer for “Vanderpump Rules,” an emotional Madix could be seen telling her ex “to die.”
“I wish we both would’ve tried harder,” Sandoval told Madix.
“Vanderpump Rules” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
