Raquel’s First Post-Scandoval Interview Was With Bethenny—& It’s Explosive

Raquel Leviss’ On Her Relationship with Ariana Madix

Leviss also cleared up where she stands with Ariana Madix after Scandoval. “I don’t expect her to forgive me. I am remorseful. I do recognize that I’ve caused her a lot of pain.”

“We were acquaintances who became friends through the show. We never had a deep conversation that I would have with a best friend.”

She then expanded on how it affected her friendships with everyone in the cast. “It’s painful to think I hurt her in this way because that wasn’t my intention… I call these people my friends because I really did believe they were my friends.”

Leviss also reacted to how Madix was branded as America’s Sweetheart and gets several brand deals from the situation. “Part of me says, good for you, because take advantage of these opportunities while they come your way.

She explained her reasonings of the affair. “I would not be involved in this affair, secrecy type situation if I thought there was longevity in this relationship between Tom and Ariana,” she said. “The people closest to them can see their relationship has not been what they portray on camera. Tom always told me they’re a brand, they’re an image. … They’re business partners.”

She also explained how she felt in regard to the public reaction, “But it is hurtful to me just to think that — my nature is very kind and forgiving and understanding of other people, so the concept of me being the ultimate reality TV villain just blows my mind… And the way that she spoke to me at the reunion, I feel like it was uncalled for.’

Raquel Leviss on Love Addiction & Alcohol

Leviss took the time to go to counseling with a therapist and learned what it meant to have a Love Addiction. After the season finale, she checked herself into a treatment center in Phoenix, Arizona. “It was a really scary decision to make because I knew I needed help, but I didn’t know what to expect going in,” she told Frankel.

She added that meeting people in the facility was hard at first. “I was already carrying so much shame that it was difficult for me to be like, ‘Hi, I’m Raquel!’” she said. “But as time went on I was able to warm up and really share my story in an authentic, honest way, and I was met with grace and compassion from my peers, and a big part of my journey is learning to be compassionate with myself as well.”

“Do you forgive yourself?” Frankel asked her candidly. “Yeah, I do,” Leviss said.

She then explained that the facility helped her “understand her behaviors.”

“My goal was to really get down to the bottom of, ‘OK, why am I choosing men that are unavailable? Why do I keep finding myself in unhealthy relationships? What are the things that I need to change about my behavior?'” Leviss ponders. “And in knowing that I needed to make a change, I first had to know what leads to those behaviors.”

“Part of the reason why I wanted to take some time away is just because it was so chaotic and loud, and there was such vitriol online,” she said of her experience.

She learned a lot about Love Addiction while in therapy. “It took me a while to accept, but I learned about love addiction, and it’s a real thing,” she said. “It’s where you confuse intensity for intimacy. and those chemical changes in the brain are the same chemical changes that happen when you take drugs.

“So it is addictive, and it explains why I couldn’t stop seeing this person,” she added. “It also doesn’t excuse the fact that it happened, but now I know better.” She also revealed that she turned to alcohol during filming season 10. “So when I was filming, I was drinking a lot to ease that anxiety,” she said. “And in a reality TV environment, I wasn’t getting that safe space to express my emotions in a healthy way.”

Racquel Leviss On Going By “Rachel” Now

Leviss’s birthname is Rachel and she explained why she’s now using her real name after the drama. “So I changed my name to Raquel in first grade,” she explained. “There were a few other Rachels in my class and I wanted to be special. I also feel like deep down, I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. I wanted to be somebody better in my eyes. And so Raquel was a way for me to kind of be that person.”

She said that she’s reintroducing herself to the world. “(My therapist) was like, ‘Interesting. I see you as Rachel to your core. You’re going by Raquel, which is OK, but it’s not true to who you are. It’s a wall you have up.”

“I feel like most of my life, I’ve been afraid, I’ve struggled with social anxiety, I’ve struggled with judgment for other people. So having a fear of vulnerability makes sense,” Leviss recalled. “So I’m really just trying to come back to my roots, and I’m introducing myself as Rachel.”

Raquel Leviss On NSFW FaceTime with Tom

Leviss also revealed how she felt when Tom Sandoval recorded a NSFW Facetime without her consent and was subsequently the reason how the affair got discovered.

“So you’re FaceTiming Tom, you’re in New York and Tom is in L.A., and you’re masturbating, and he’s recording you, and you don’t know you’re being recorded?” Frankel asked. “Correct,” Leviss replied.

“I decided to be adventurous and look at the adult section on the TV, and Tom and I FaceTimed a lot, so it turned into something more of an intimate FaceTime. I expected to have privacy in that moment, so that happened,” she said.

Leviss said she was unaware Sandoval had recorded the call until Madix sent two screen recordings later the same night. Madix texted Leviss, “You’re dead to me.”

“That’s how I knew that she knew,” Leviss said. “And then also, that’s how I found out that I had been recorded without my consent, so of course all of these emotions came flooding over me.”

Frankel asked if the video was “graphic,” to which Leviss replied: “It’s not something that I would ever want my grandma to see.” She also said she’d felt “scared” the clip images were “going to be leaked” and “felt pressured in that moment” to tell Madix of the affair.

“Some of Ariana’s friends have described the video in great detail online, and she also sent it to me, so I don’t know who else she sent it to,” Leviss said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she sent it to other people, but it’s not legal.”

Is Raquel Returning To Vanderpump Rules Season 11?

Raquel hinted at whether or not she’s going back to film Vanderpump Rules Season 11.

“Reality TV — it’s edited. It is contrived to create a certain story line. And so it’s not all factual,” she claimed. “So as a viewer tuning in, it’s easy to get wrapped up in that. And then the concept of an affair hits home, hits really hard to a lot of people. So I think there was a lot of projection happening.”

Leviss went on to say that the network has been “laughing” and “running to the bank” to profit off of the success of Vanderpump Rules when the scandal was at its prime.

“I haven’t seen a single penny. … It’s not fair. And I feel like a toddler saying, ‘It’s not fair.’ But it really isn’t,” she said. “And I feel like I’ve been portrayed as the ultimate villain. My mistakes that I’ve made on camera live on forever. And you mentioned something about the addiction of doing reality TV and the way that they always dangle that carrot in front of you, like, ‘Well, you need to tell your side of the story otherwise it’s gonna be written for you.’ And that’s terrifying. So I almost went back, I know just because of that.”