The 'Vanderpump Rules' star opens up about her love life after her ex, Tom Sandoval, cheated on her.
Ariana Madix is moving forward. In her first morning show interview since news broke that Tom Sandoval cheated on her with Raquel Leviss when they were dating, the 37-year-old Vanderpump Rules star chats with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager about her life after the drama.
Discussing Wednesday night's finale of Vanderpump Rules and her life in the months since news broke of the affair, Madix said she thinks she's "past the anger" surrounding the situation.
"I think my way of getting past the anger stage was just that I became so disgusted, which then turned me into a place of almost indifference because, yeah, apathy," Madix explained while on Today With Hoda & Jenna. "I don't know if that's also my brain trying to protect itself."
She admitted to having "super angry moments" early in the process, but decided to move forward for her own sake.
"I just felt that was keeping me in a place that wasn't good for mentally," she added. "That's kind of why I tried to really push myself to just think about me and my future."
Part of that future is her current romance with fitness trainer Daniel Wai. Though she didn't name drop Daniel specifically, Madix did smile when a photo of the pair at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, this past April was featured on Today.
"I'm enjoying myself, and I would say I'm very happy right now," Madix said. "I met him at a wedding about 10 days after all of this. In no way shape or form did I go into that thinking anything. I've just been taking things very, very slow and really enjoying myself and it's just been really lovely to interact with someone who's just so nice and kind and lovely and caring."
In April, ET reported that Madix and Wai had been "casually dating" for a month after meeting at a wedding in Oaxaca, Mexico, shortly after news of Scandoval, a term used to describe Leviss and Sandoval's affair, broke.
At the time, ET was told that since the wedding, Madix and Wai have been "having fun" and "right now the two are casually hanging out with no label."
During her Today show interview, Madix admitted that sometimes it can be "painful" to look back at scenes from her relationship with Sandoval, but added, "I think that the person I thought I loved or I miss is not really there, so it makes it a little bit easier to cope."
As for whether she'll return to Vanderpump Rules for another season after the chaos of the past few months, Madix shared, "I think I'll be back, if they'll have me back."
When asked if she thinks Sandoval and Leviss would return to the show, Madix replied, "That's not up to me. I can't control any of that. I have no interest in speaking to either of them. I don't have anything to say."
Noting that she doesn't "plan on" being in a room with Sandoval or Leviss again, she admitted that in reality TV she "usually" doesn't have a say in whether that will be the case.
As for her motivation for returning to the Bravo series, Madix hopes that her story can help others to feel less alone.
"I think that especially in reality television, I think the 'real' is the most important thing and being able to tell my story hopefully will help other people be able to, maybe we can connect and relate on what we've gone through," she noted.
In a profile for The New York Times on Thursday, Madix said she is not open to filming with either Sandoval or Leviss.
"I have nothing to say to either of them," she told the newspaper. "Our show is very real and follows a real group of friends, and neither of them are in the group of friends, so, good luck."
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