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Tom Sandoval is speaking out about his current relationship with Jax Taylor.
After enduring a massive falling out on Vanderpump Rules, Sandoval offered an unexpected update on their friendship before sharing his thoughts on the many firings of the show and explaining how their absences impacted the upcoming episodes of season nine.
“We’re cool,” Sandoval surprisingly admitted to Us Weekly during an interview days ago.
Although Sandoval and Jax were not in a good place just months ago and appeared to be completely estranged, Sandoval now says they simply don’t talk to one another “as much” as they once did — due to their hectic schedules, which include a new baby for Jax and wife Brittany Cartwright.
“They’re busy, we’re busy,” he explained of himself and his girlfriend Ariana Madix.
Sandoval then said it feels “different” continuing on with his relationships with his former co-stars, including Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Max Boyens, and Brett Caprioni, all of whom were let go from Pump Rules in June 2020, but noted that the smaller cast of season nine made room for deeper storylines for the returning cast members.
“When you go from having, like, 20 something castmates to basically 12, it’s an adjustment, but I think its good because we have the time, we can go a little bit deeper with each person versus having to kind of skate on the surface,” he shared. “I mean, at one point last season, they were splitting the screen and stuff. Sometimes things have a tendency to slip through the cracks when you have so many castmates that are actually really important aspects of our lives, but when you have a little bit less, we’re more involved, it’s deeper.”
“I actually really liked that change,” he added.
Also during the interview, Sandoval admitted the pandemic “did everyone a lot of good” and said the cast was given “just a second to take a breath, chill, [and] regroup” after season eight.
“I think you will see some subtle, maybe even some not-so-subtle changes in different people on the show just from taking this time off and getting a dose of what’s important and what is maybe not important,” he teased.
Vanderpump Rules season nine premieres on Tuesday, September 28, at 9/8c on Bravo.