Photo:Kelly Puleio
Kelly Puleio
Ariana Madixisn’t afraid to mix it up.
Up next, she’s releasingSingle AF Cocktails: Drinks for Bad B*tcheson Dec. 5 The cathartic cocktail book traces the path of her relationship with Sandoval, 41, from their “shimmering” early moments together through the months of “disgusting … lies, deception and gaslighting” of his secret relationship with Leviss, 29 — and, finally, to thestrength and empowermentshe’s discovered within herself.
Madix tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that writing the book was healing because “as much as it is difficult to put yourself in a vulnerable situation, I’ve always found that something that is really scary is always, ultimately, the way to go.”
Tawni Bannister
The Bravo star also found power in her own written words, noting, “There’s a lot of people who, for nine years, thought that I couldn’t do anything on my own, and so I love proving those people wrong.”
Of her ex, she adds, “And I think he was one of them.”
Each cocktail tells its own story — from blissful vacations to thehappiness of home ownershipto thegut-punch discovery of her ex’s infidelity. And their names —“Watch What Happens,““Couples Therapy,““Revenge Dress,““Stranger in My House”— will no doubt strike a cord withVPRfans.
Madix does admit she found it a challenge to write the first chapter of the book, titled “The Honeymoon Phase,” while she wasstill reeling from Sandoval’s betrayal.
“It was actually the hardest chapter to write, because it was one that we were struggling to fill out,” she explains of the book, which follows in the spirit(s) ofFancy AFcocktails, which the then-couple co-wrote in 2019.
“You start coming up with ideas, but it was the relationship between the cocktails and the stories specifically to try to make sure that they really correlated with each other that was more difficult,” she notes. “And so, filling out those earlier chapters with the happier memories, especially when you’re inthe place that I was in in March, was definitely more difficult.”
Frazer Harrison/Getty
Eventually, though,Single AF Cocktailsfinds its way from darkness to light, reveling in thesupport of her close friendsin her time of need and the joy of asurprising new romancewith fitness trainerDaniel Wai.
“I’ve just really made sure to stay true to who I am and not let someone else’s little behavior make me smaller as a person,” she said of her approach to life and writing.
And though she thanks Sandoval in the book’s acknowledgments “for showing me that I could learn to love myself outside of any type of relationship,” that doesn’t mean she ever intended to foreground him — or Leviss — in her story.
She tells PEOPLE she made the choice “from jump” to mention their names as little as possible. “I don’t know them,” she says. “They’re completely irrelevant to my storyand my life, so using their names is not necessary to me.”
She acknowledges, “In a lot of ways it feels like I don’t even have ownership over my own story anymore, and there’s plenty of people who don’t know me or know my life who have declared it over or have declared it as old news, but it’s mine, and I’m living it.”
Clarkson Potter
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Single AF Cocktailsis out Tuesday everywhere books are sold.
source: people.com
