Why Lala Kent Says Ariana Madix Needs To ‘Pull Her Head Out Of Her Own Ass’

On Tuesday night’s new hour, Scheana Shay voiced her conflicted feelings about Tom Sandoval, her former best friend, following his cheating scandal — leading to a pretty surprising reaction from Lala Kent about how Ariana has been handling everything.

At the top of the hour, Shay shared more insight into why she’s had such a hard time shutting out Sandoval following his affair with Rachel Leviss. She and Tom were always close, so much so that Sandoval helped her with “several thousand dollars” during the pandemic, when she really needed the money. She was adamant she wasn’t “torn” between Tom and Ariana, noting she’s “Team Ariana til I die” — but it’s pretty clear she’s having an internal crisis about the whole situation.

As the group continued their trip to Lake Tahoe without Ariana or Katie Maloney, Sandoval had a yoga and wellness instructor come to the house. As everyone did some meditation exercises together, Tom was paired with Scheana — and she began crying almost immediately.

Overcome with emotion, she got up, said she was “not okay” and told Tom “I still f–king hate you” before walking out. Her husband, Brock Davies, followed her into their rental and told her the exercise could be good for her and Sandoval to get some dialogue going — telling her to be “open minded” while adding, “It doesn’t mean you’re going to be best friends with Sandoval.”

She agreed to return to the exercise, during which she told Tom, “I need to let go of the hate, it’s not good for me.” He began to get emotional at that point, reflecting on “all the beautiful and amazing times” they had together in the past — before she told him she was “genuinely worried” that after the scandal “you were going to do something to yourself.”

“I don’t want to keep hating you and I have to let go of that because it doesn’t feel good. But you did this,” she told him, as he shared appreciation for how vulnerable she was being.

After the exercise, Shay said she felt Tom’s “mask finally fell” during their conversation, leaving her feeling like, “That’s my friend Tom and he misses me and our friendship and he knows how bad he f–ked up.”

While Lala told Scheana that Tom “can’t be crucified day in and day out” anymore over a mistake, Ariana made it pretty clear in a conversation with Katie that she wouldn’t be making time for anyone who was friends with Sandoval going forward.

“It’s like being made out to be this big dramatic moment, but it’s just me continuing on the path I’m continuing on. I can’t imagine looking at life right now and being like, ‘The missing piece is Tom Sandoval,'” joked Madix. In a confessional, she added that she didn’t want to have mutual friends with Tom because she didn’t “want him having access to me in my life.” Madix also said she wasn’t giving her friends ultimatums or telling them what to do, but was only “putting time and energy into friendships where I feel safe.”

Later in the hour, Scheana called up Ariana and said the whole trip with Sandoval left her feeling “depleted.”

“You putting yourself in a position to be friends with somebody who would do this to you, is not someone I want you to be friends with for you,” Madix told Shay, who said she and Tom would “never” be what they used to be to each other.

“You know how close we were and it was a really heavy loss for me. I’ve just been struggling with that. I’m like, I miss you, but we’ll never be what we were because you did this,” Scheana continued, as Madix reminded her that it was Tom himself who “put you in that position” — adding, “I don’t think he gave a s–t about our friendship.”

Scheana then told Madix she did feel like she got a genuine apology from him earlier in the day, adding that she needs to “let go of the hatred I had for him” and can’t “keep hating him for you” — something which got quite a reaction face out of Madix. Ariana’s only response was to say, “That sucks, it sounds f–king awful,” as Katie said it sounded as if Scheana was tip-toeing back into a friendship with Sandy.

The episode ended with Scheana once again talking to Lala about her emotional day — which also included people on social media calling her “fake” and a “flip flopper” after a photo she took with Sandoval and some fans went viral. While her arm was “technically” around Tom in the picture, she said he jumped in at the last second and it didn’t mean anything.

“Has Ariana come to your defense at all?” asked Kent, to which Scheana replied, “No, of course not.”

“When I try to talk to Ariana and say that I’m struggling, she either dismisses how I feel or tells me I shouldn’t feel this way because he’s a bad person,” Scheana continued. “It’s like, I know, but I’m telling you I’m struggling.”

“Your feelings are valid. Ariana is doing just fine. She’s booking everything under the sun, she’s having her moment and she deserves that,” Kent told her, with which Scheana agreed.

Getting emotional, Shay said she was “so happy” for Madix, even after she landed Dancing with the Stars despite knowing “how bad I wanted that” for herself. “She does deserve everything she’s getting … I’m so happy for her she did not go down a dark spiral. I just am hurting still,” she added.

That’s when Lala said it was time for Madix to “acknowledge what you’ve been through,” before digging in a little deeper in a confessional.

“It’s time for Ariana to pull her head from out of her own ass. She needs to come back to reality and remember who her friends are and what they’ve done for her,” said Kent. “Scheana has been ride or day since day 1 for Ariana and now it’s time for Ariana to return the favor.”

The episode ended with Scheana in tears as she exclaimed, “Why can I never have one moment where it can be about me?!” She continued, saying she was “hurt” after losing a “very, very dear friend” — but felt as if she wasn’t “allowed to feel anything, because it’s only about Ariana.”

If the trailer for the season is anything to go by, Kent’s feelings here will only intensify as things go on.

See how it all plays out when Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays on Bravo.