Rachel “Raquel” Leviss is ready to tell her own story in the aftermath of Scandoval.
In a trailer for her new podcast Rachel Goes Rogue, the Vanderpump Rules alum, 29, reflects on her involvement in the “horrible scandal” after her months-long affair with costar Tom Sandoval became public knowledge in March, ending his nine-year relationship with Leviss’s friend and castmate Ariana Madix.
And had We willed, We could have transfigured them on the spot, so they could neither progress forward nor turn back.And whoever We grant a long life, We reverse them in development. Will they not then understand?We have not taught him poetry, nor is it fitting for him. This ˹Book˺ is only a Reminder and a clear Quran(The Quran - Chapter Yasin : 67 - 69)
“I know what I did was morally wrong, and I get it,” she acknowledges. “I get the anger.”
Leviss says she is now back in Los Angeles after spending “ 90 days in a trauma therapy center without a phone, with all new people and working with different therapists.”
“I started noticing a pattern in my behavior and I wanted to change those things,” she says. “I have completely removed myself from the filming environment that is Vanderpump Rules, and you will not see me [on] season 11.”
The former reality star calls it “a mistake” to come back for season 10 following her split from costar James Kennedy, explaining, “Looking back at that season, I was at my lowest of lows. Filming Vanderpump Rules after breaking off an engagement with James, that was my first mistake because I should have taken the time to heal and find a therapist.”
However, she insists that was right in having “no contact policy” with her ex-fiancé — who is now dating Ally Lewber — while filming the hit Bravo show but still questions his actions following the split. “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 says.
She adds: “I was drinking a ton [during] season 10 and this is not an excuse. I’m just point blank, like I was not in a good mental space.”
Leviss says her decision to not continue filming Vanderpump Rules comes from “learning” from her mistakes.
“Looking back and 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,” she says. “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 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 says. “I didn’t want to put her in that position.”
The television personality also gives an update on where she stands with the rest of the Vanderpump Rules cast.
“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 says, referring to costar Scheana Shay’s alleged punching her. Shay consistently denied the accusations and Leviss dropped a restraining order against the star in March.
“I haven’t heard from any of them and I don’t really necessarily want to hear from any of them except for Tom did send me a happy birthday message on my Instagram via comment,” she shares. “And 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’ed me instead of making a public comment and I’ve been thinking about that a lot.”
She continues: “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.”
The trailer concludes with Leviss addressing when she needed to stop having any contact with Sandoval, 41.
“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,” she explains. “It seems so special and it seems so real 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 adds. “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.”
“I look back at season 10. Oh God, it was a really difficult season to watch back because I’m just cringing at all of the things and all of the moments that they caught on camera. It’s really embarrassing. But I see a girl that is going through pain and doesn’t have the right tools to tackle it and she’s coping and the way that she feels like her needs are being met is by someone who’s giving her adoration and attention and I really did not prioritize my friendships when I got involved with Tom and I regret that a lot.”
Rachel Goes Rogue premieres on iHeartRadio on Jan. 8, 2024.
