The best of friends! Scheana Shay and Ariana Madix’s tight friendship has been documented on Vanderpump Rules for years.
After making guest appearances on the first two seasons of the Bravo reality series, Madix became a main cast member in 2015. From the beginning, Shay’s bond with the Florida native served as a contrast to her tumultuous relationships with fellow SUR employees Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute and Katie Maloney. However, the costars have still had their ups and downs over the years.
During a season 4 episode of Pump Rules that aired in January 2016, Shay and Maloney confronted Madix about tension between her and Doute, who dated Tom Sandoval prior to her.
“Ariana thinks she’s the cool laid-back chick and Kristen’s the one holding on to grudges, but in reality, it’s the other way around,” Shay said in a confessional at the time.
The “Good As Gold” singer told her pal that both she and Maloney felt Madix had been “extremely negative” and “bitchy” about the group being on good terms with Doute.
“Your mom had actually reached out to me and asked if you were OK and she didn’t know if you were unhappy with Tom and if he was a bad boyfriend,” Shay said, noting that Madix’s “own family [had] noticed a change in [her] personality.”
The “Scheananigans” podcaster’s conversation with Madix’s mom came back around during the season 4 reunion in March 2016.
“A lot of what she said [to my mom] were these weird backhanded, yet very offensive things about Tom that aren’t really accurate,” the Fancy Af Cocktails coauthor told host Andy Cohen, adding that Shay claimed her then-beau was “all about” himself.
Despite the drama, the pals were able to bury the hatchet.
“We’re better than ever, honestly,” Shay said of Madix during a January 2017 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. The California native added that viewers could expect to see the pair heal their friendship on season 5 of Pump Rules. “You’ll see Ariana and I kind of reconnect and you’ll see more of that friendship grow back stronger as it was in the previous seasons,” she said.
Shay supported her fellow Bravolebrity in March 2023 when news broke that Sandoval had cheated on Madix with costar Raquel Leviss. Amid the scandal, the duo split after nine years of dating.
Although Shay was close with Leviss prior to the controversy, she and much of the Pump Rules cast pledged their allegiance to Madix in the wake of Sandoval’s infidelity.
“We rally,” the “Shake That” musician captioned Instagram footage of her and Madix at a Tove Lo concert hours after Us Weekly confirmed the breakup and affair.
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Keep scrolling for a look at Madix and Shay’s friendship over the years: