Kyle Chan, who is said to have saved Tom Sandoval’s life, says he stood by the “Vanderpump Rules” star during Scandoval because they’re “family.”
“I know for a fact that it was Tom’s fault. It was not, you know, it’s not rocket science,” the celebrity jewelry designer, 49, exclusively explains to Page Six ahead of his Kyle Chan x Gold Bar Whiskey launch party in Los Angeles Friday.
“But I also think that whoever needs me at the time, I would stand by them, and that was my only takeaway,” he adds. “I didn’t like what Tom did; it was obviously not OK. But I also know that they’re all my family, so you’re not gonna just kick your brother to the curb when everybody does.”
However, Chan — who has designed jewelry for Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood and the Oscar-nominated movie “La La Land” — admits that “it was not an easy path, this whole year and a half.”
“I did get a little bit [of backlash],” Chan says of remaining friends with Sandoval despite the latter’s months-long affair with Rachel “Raquel” Leviss behind Ariana Madix’s back, “but I feel like a lot of people understand my position and the reason.
“I think the main support that I got was from all the cast members, including Ariana. They were quite understanding. And so I think because of the fact that the cast members were not hating on me, I didn’t get as much hate from the public.”
Chan — whose event at the Gold Bar Whiskey Distillery Tasting Room in San Francisco served as the backdrop for the explosive Season 11 finale — tells us he never wavered from “standing by for [his] friend” despite his friend’s “big mistake.”
Sandoval, 42, was so depressed following the fallout of his dalliance that he admittedly contemplated suicide. He reportedly shared during the Season 11 reunion in a scene that didn’t end up airing that Chan got him through one particularly scary crisis.
Chan tells us he would show up in the exact same way for any one of the “Vanderpump Rules” cast members, most of whom are also his paying customers.
As for how he manages to maintain a good rapport with a group seemingly committed to discord, he explains, “I think I just stay true to myself. I am the type of person that is very zen. I’m very peaceful. And I’ve always been friends with the entire cast. … I’m just the type that I never take sides. If you guys want to fight, you fight.”
Chan says he made it “really clear” to both Sandoval and Madix the he would not take sides amid the scandal.
Despite the cast’s currently disjointed state, Chan has hope for the future.
“After all these seasons, I’ve learned that when they fight, somehow, they’ll come together again because they have very strong friendships,” he says.
