Credit: Instagram
Rachel “Raquel” Leviss claims that when it came to her decision to quit Vanderpump Rules, Ariana Madix, whose longtime boyfriend, Tom Sandoval, she was caught sleeping with amid season 10, impacted her decision.
As she reflected on the “horrible scandal” she and Sandoval, 41, were involved in earlier this year in a sneak peek at her upcoming podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue, Raquel, 29, looked back on her “cringy” moments of season 10, admitted it was difficult cutting ties with Sandoval after their sordid affair, and revealed she was deeply impacted by her split from James Kennedy, 31, and his new romance with Ally Lewber.
“I know what I did was morally wrong and I get it. I get the anger,” Raquel began on the December 18 preview of her show.
According to Raquel, she entered a mental health facility after news of her affair with Sandoval broke because she wanted to address her unhealthy habits.
“I spent 90 days in a trauma therapy center without a phone, with all new people, and working with different therapists,” she revealed.”I started noticing a pattern in my behavior and I wanted to change those things. I have completely removed myself from the filming environment that is Vanderpump Rules, and you will not see me [on] season 11.”
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While Raquel decided not to move forward with filming season 11 over the summer following discussions with producers, she said it was actually a mistake filming season 10 because her breakup with James was so fresh.
“I should have taken the time to heal and find a therapist, and I did the right thing by having a no-contact policy with James, but when we’re working together and filming together and he’s flaunting his new girlfriend that he met three weeks after I ended the engagement, that hurt, and there were so many questions running through my mind like, did he ever really love me? How is it possible to love someone and then get over them so quickly?” she wondered.
“I was drinking a ton [during] season 10 and this is not an excuse … [But] I was not in a good mental space,” she added, noting that she didn’t want to cause the same pain to Ariana, 38.
“Seeing how much pain I was in interacting with James on camera and seeing his new girlfriend, I could only imagine the pain I would cause by filming in the same environment with Ariana. Because being involved with somebody’s boyfriend while they’re still in a relationship is a huge betrayal and so painful as it is, but then to continue working with these people and interacting with them, maybe not even speaking, but like, hearing about what they’re doing and seeing your person that you loved so much and thought that they loved you just as much as you love them be conversing with this other person, it would just be so catastrophic, and I didn’t want to do that to Ariana,” she stated. “I didn’t want to put her in that position.”
Raquel also didn’t want to interact with Scheana Shay, 38, who she continues to accuse of assaulting her in March after learning of her and Sandoval’s affair, which Scheana denies.
“With the cast, I don’t have many boundaries, but physical violence is crossing a boundary for me, and if you assault me, I will cut you out of my life,” she explained.
Regarding her current relationships with her former Pump Rules castmates, Raquel confirmed she hasn’t heard from any of them, aside from Sandoval, who sent her a “happy birthday” message on Instagram in September.
“He couldn’t have reached out to me via text because I blocked him the day that I got my phone back after treatment, but he could have DM’d me instead of making a public comment, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” she shared. “And I think, for him, because I’m just trying to put myself in his shoes, like was he doing this to be like, spiteful or was he doing this to be like, ‘I want the best for you,’ because it seems like it could go either way.”
While Raquel is no longer speaking to Sandoval, she said it wasn’t easy cutting him out of her life.
“It was a hard process for me to completely cut him out of my life because the story I would tell myself about our relationship that we had, it seemed so special and it seemed so real,” she said, “but when you look at the cold, hard facts and write them down on a piece of paper and see all of those red flags clear as day, that will break you out of your denial, and once I was broken out of denial and realize how manipulative he is.”
“I couldn’t put myself in a situation where at my most vulnerable state, it would just probably get me back into those old patterns that I’m trying to break free from,” she continued. “Taking a step back and removing myself from the chaos has allowed me to gain some clarity, actually a lot of clarity on the situation.”
Looking back at season 10, Raquel said it was “really difficult” to watch.
“I’m just cringing at all of the things and all of the moments that they caught on camera. It’s really embarrassing,” she confessed. “But I see a girl that is going through pain and doesn’t have the right tools to tackle it and she’s coping in the way that she feels like her needs are being met by someone who’s giving her adoration and attention.”
Rachel Goes Rogue premieres on Monday, January 8, 2024, wherever you get your podcasts.