Tom Sandoval Discusses the Harassment He Faced as a Male Model: "I Dealt With ... So Much Creepiness"

Tom Schwartz, Tom Sandoval, and Jax Taylor have all had stints as male models. And though some of their gigs were fun — ask Jax about that time he partied on MTV's Spring Break — other jobs exposed the Vanderpump Rules pals to the dark side of the modeling industry. 

On the podcast Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, Tom Sandoval said this of his time as a model: "I dealt with so much f---ing harassment and so much creepiness." He added that he noticed a difference in the way male and female models were treated. 

"In my experience, 15 f---ing years of experience, in every major market — Chicago, L.A., New York, Miami — at 10 agencies across the U.S., with [female models], they were always paid more, treated far better. If they were young, they had a parent with them. They make more, they’re treated better, they’re put way more on a pedestal. And I don’t disagree with that," he said.

Let him clarify what he means: "The girl would get a dressing room and a robe if she was in a bathing suit and lingerie," Tom shared. "And a guy would have to change naked next to the clothing rack. This was standard for a shoot. Even runway shows… the guys were like, ‘You need to change next to a clothing rack.’ The stylist is like, watching you change buck naked. ‘Let me adjust that underwear.'" Later, he said: "Guys had no problem being like, pulling rank. If I wanted to go change in the bathroom they would scoff and laugh." 

Tom also shared that he thinks male models got harassed by photographers more than female models did. "But the girls were always [taken care of]," he said. "‘Cause think about it, if you’re a male photographer and it gets out that a girl felt uncomfortable or a girl felt a certain way, it’s a huge deal. But if a guy, it’s like, ‘Deal with it. You’re a male model. This is what it is. This is what it takes.’ It was just like a normal f---ing thing."