Ariana Madix Opens Up About Her Relationship With Daniel Wai Like Never Before

“Vanderpump Rules” alum Ariana Madix is opening up about her love life like never before. The Bravo star has been in a relationship with Daniel Wai for two years, and she’s clearing up their dating timeline and rumors about how they got together. 

Ariana Madix Addresses Her Relationship with Daniel Wai

Madix recently appeared on the “Disrespectfully” podcast, and she couldn’t stop talking about her long-distance relationship with Wai. He’s a fitness trainer and bartender who lives in New York, and Madix admits that she doesn’t “love the idea” of staying in a long-distance relationship long-term. It looks like she is ready to take things to the next level.

“I feel like two years is…it’s getting to a point where it’s like, ‘OK, now we’re really going to [move in together],’” she said. “Then I’m in Fiji for two months, or I’m in New York for four or five months. It’s like, well… we might as well wait to talk about that.”

‘Vanderpump Rules’ alum Says There Are Benefits of Long Distance

Madix admitted that long distance has some benefits because it forces better communication in relationships.

“You can’t just hang out and watch a movie or go to a bar and make out. You have to have conversations. I think that’s really helped us build our communication from the beginning. What he’s terrific about is making sure that there’s always a date.” 

The Bravo star went on to say that she doesn’t feel like people know much about Wai, especially when it comes to his work. She says he’s “really smart” and earned a computer science degree from Virginia Tech. After college, he worked as a software engineer, but didn’t feel fulfilled. That’s when he turned to fitness, and realized that’s what he wants to do with his life. Now, he’s a “really successful trainer.”

“It’s incredible because when we first started dating… I mean, he’s still super successful, but I was not. And so now I feel we’ve evened out, and it’s nice because he’s super supportive of my endeavors. And I’m very supportive [of his],” Madix said.

“He’s just really hardworking and super dedicated to whatever it is that he does: our relationship, his job, all the stuff. And when he comes in town, he fixes things in my house.”

Ariana Madix Clears up Her Relationship Timeline 

Despite claims that Madix started dating Wai 10 days after they met, the VPR alum says that’s simply not true. They met at a mutual friend’s wedding in Oaxaca — one that she expected to attend with her ex, Tom Sandoval. But he cheated on her with Rachel Leviss, and they called it quits. Which meant Madix had to attend her friend’s wedding alone.

“[Daniel and I] met actually the night before the wedding. The night before, they had like a welcome party, and a bunch of us went out for drinks afterwards … We sat sort of catty-cornered from each other, but we were all in this big, long table chatting … [Later on] I was like, oh, he is hot,” Madix recalled.

She and Wai stayed up all night talking, and then they “just kept texting and flirting.” Later, she invited him to Coachella, and that’s when things started to get serious.

“Vanderpump Rules” is now streaming on Peacock.