'I'm stepping away from it permanently,' Schwartz said.
Tom Schwartz is opening up about Tom Sandoval's scandal. On the latest episode of Stars on Mars, Schwartz revealed that he's "permanently" stepping away from the drama with his business partner and Vanderpump Rules co-star in the wake of Scandoval.
Schwartz began by calling Sandoval's affair with Raquel Leviss amid his relationship with Ariana Madix "incredibly messed up."
"It seems each time I try to weigh in or talk about, ramble on about it, drivel on, I inevitably sound like I'm somehow justifying it or making excuses for it, and I'm not," Schwartz insisted. "There's just no excuse for it."
Schwartz previously said that he was "being fed a narrative" by Sandoval that the latter Tom had tried to end things with Madix "many, many times" amid his ongoing tryst with Leviss. That, Schwartz said on Stars on Mars, is now moot.
"Any sort of version of his side of the story has become obsolete because of the way he handled it," Schwartz said. "Ultimately, that's his life. That is his life. I did not have an affair. I am not him. It's just so strange that I've been absolutely mired in this. It's taken on almost a life of its own."
At the end of the day, Schwartz said of the affair drama, "I'm stepping away from it permanently."
Elsewhere in the episode, Schwartz admitted that he feels "complicit" in the "horrible" Scandoval situation.
"I didn't cover for him, but I had his back. He came to me, confided in me that he was in love with someone else," Schwartz said, before noting that the affair was "incredibly messed up."
"I've become mired in it," Schwartz lamented. "That's been a huge source of just angst in my life. I've been in this extended funk."
This isn't the first time Schwartz has spoken out about his waning friendship with Sandoval. During an interview on Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright's podcast, Schwartz revealed that he hasn't "seen or talked" to Sandoval in "a long time."
Schwartz said that he felt "exploited" by Sandoval's affair, and revealed that they last spoke immediately following the Bravo series' reunion taping.
"That was the last thing I said to him, before we left the reunion," Schwartz said. "I said, 'Dude, after all the s**t you put me through and everyone else around you through,' I was like, 'You better f**king marry this girl.'"
"He took advantage of my kindness," Schwartz added of Sandoval, "and he put a lot of people, not just myself, in a very compromising situation, where our integrity was at stake."
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