The cheating scandal involving Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix had a far reach, so it’s no wonder The Valley’s Janet Caperna has felt the weight of its fallout.

How to Watch
Watch The Valley on Bravo Tuesdays at 9/8c and next day on Peacock. Catch up on the Bravo app.

The Daily Dish recently caught up with the new mother, who called herself a “Vanderpump adjacent” due to her ties to the Vanderpump Rules cast. In a past episode of the Vanderpump Rules After Show, Janet said she knew the rest through Scheana Shay, whom Janet met seven years earlier after moving to Los Angeles.

Unsurprisingly, Janet has an opinion on Scheana’s relationship with Sandoval (For anyone not caught up with Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules, Scheana “finds herself straddling the lines in the sand within the group as she navigates her relationships with her longtime friends, and feuding exes, Ariana and Tom,” per Scheana’s Bravo bio. )

Why Janet Caperna won’t forgive Tom Sandoval – and doesn’t think Scheana Shay should, either
Janet admitted that Scheana was “an awesome friend” but said it was “tough” to watch her in the middle of the ongoing saga between Sandoval and Ariana. In the same breath, Janet said she had difficulty forgiving Sandoval, who hid a months-long affair while still in his nine-year relationship with Ariana.

“I think [Scheana] is very forgiving. She tries to give everybody a chance at all times, and I love her for that because if you make a mistake, Scheana’s not going to write you off,” Janet told The Daily Dish. “That being said, I have a hard time forgiving Tom Sandoval.”

Janet explained she had a front-row seat to the drama as it played out in real-time.

“I was around Ariana, Tom, and Raquel [Leviss] a lot before everything broke, and when we found out what was going on behind closed doors, it was really icky to me,” Janet confessed.

It comes as little surprise since Janet was candid about severing ties with Sandoval in the aforementioned After Show episode. Janet’s husband, Jason Caperna, even said he was once “really good” friends with Sandoval but hadn’t spoken to him in nearly a year.

“I honestly don’t want to,” Jason said then.

Here’s what you missed on Bravo:

Was Jax Actually Behind the Michelle Lally Bombshell? “You’re Not Filming This, Are You”

Yes, Brittany Cartwright Is Still Close with Vanderpump Rules Cast — Some of Them, Anyway

Here’s How Ariana Madix Has Been “Checking In On” Brittany Cartwright After Jax Taylor Split

In an earlier episode of the After Show, Jason said Sandoval’s actions were “hard for me to ever get over,” adding he was sympathetic to Ariana not wanting her friends to be friendly with Sandoval.

“Generally speaking, I am a person who likes to bridge gaps between people,” said Jason. “But with Ariana and Tom, I’m like, you know what, what he did, to me, is just at [another] level … If Ariana doesn’t want to be around him and she doesn’t want her friends around him, I totally get it.”

While Janet has been clear about where she stands with Sandoval, she understood that not all people were as capable as she and Jason when it came to creating boundaries.

“I wouldn’t change Scheana being a forgiving person for anything,” Janet explained. “I just wish, in this instance, maybe it would be different.”

Janet referred to Vanderpump Rules Season 11, Episode 13, when Tom accused Scheana of making herself out to be “the biggest victim” in the Sandoval-Ariana feud and reminded Scheana that she was once at the center of her own cheating scandal with Eddie Cibrian nearly two decades ago.

Scheana later defended herself and reacted over Sandoval calling her “the other woman.”

“It infuriated the sh-t out of me,” the “Good as Gold” singer said. “I’m just like, what the f-ck is wrong with you?”

Janet, however, was less than forgiving.

“I mean, after seeing last night’s episode of Vanderpump, where he’s like, ‘Oh, we’re the same; you also were participating in an affair,’ I was like, ‘Scheana, how can you forgive this guy that’s gonna say something like that to you?’” Janet continued to The Daily Dish. “But I don’t know.”

Watch Vanderpump Rules and The Valley back-to-back on Tuesdays, starting at 8/7c on Bravo and available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Original reporting by Stephanie Gomulka