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Ariana Madix Says She and Tom Sandoval Are in a 'Better' Place After Her Body Image Issues Madix and her boyfriend, Sandoval, say they never saw their Vanderpump Rules costar Scheana Marie's

breakup with Rob Valletta coming

By Brianne Tracy Brianne Tracy Brianne Tracy is a Staff Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2016.People Editorial GuidelinesPublished on January 23, 2018 03:04PM EST

Credit : Rochelle Brodin/Getty Vanderpump Rules‘ Ariana Madix is revealing how she worked through her self-esteem and body image issues that resulted from a past emotionally abusive

relationship.

The reality star opened up this season about how the lasting effects from that relationship caused a sexual “dry spell” with her current boyfriend Tom Sandoval, but Madix says that things

are better now that she has talked about it.

“There’s still things that I definitely struggle with,” Madix, 32, tells PEOPLE. “But I definitely thinks it’s better. I think it’s better, but it’s not perfect.”

During the Jan. 8 show, Madix said that in her past relationship she was asked questions that broke down her confidence, like, “Why do you wear that?” and “How come you don’t look like those

girls?”

“I think that talking about it has actually really helped me,” Madix says. “Tom and I would talk about stuff like that, but it’s different than the way you’re able to talk to your

girlfriends. I think for a while I was kind of placing this huge burden on Tom because he was the only person that knew the extent of things. Being able to talk about it really alleviated

some of the pressure I was putting on Tom to handle all of this and it allowed us to get back to a [better] place.”

As for the status of the long-awaited opening of Sandoval’s bar with Ken and Lisa Vanderpump and Tom Schwartz, TomTom?

“I think we’re going to probably wait until May [to open], which happens to be usually when we start filming Vanderpump Rules,” Sandoval says. “The place is coming along really well. It’s a

little bit different this time because Ken and Lisa are working with a designer based out of Vegas, so everything is being made offsite. Once it’s all ready to go, it’s going to come

together within like two weeks. Really fast.”

Madix, who’s also a SUR bartender, says she won’t be involved in the opening … unless one job is open: “I’m not applying unless it’s to be the taste tester. That is the one position I will

fight for.”

Vanderpump Rules airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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