REALITY TVRaquel Leviss Says It Would 'Take All-Expenses Paid Therapy' to Return to 'Vanderpump Rules' After Scandoval: 'Not a Healthy Dynamic'
Raquel Leviss said it would 'take all-expenses paid therapy' to return to 'Vanderpump Rules' after she was caught hooking up with Tom Sandoval behind Ariana Madix's back.
Aug. 7 2024, Published 10:31 a.m. ET
Raquel Leviss is in a good place over a year after her world was rocked and everyone — including her castmates — found out she was seeing Tom Sandoval behind her best friend Ariana Madix's back.
Now, she's looking back on how far she's come — and why appearing on Vanderpump Rules in the future will likely never happen.
The star moved out of L.A. and to Arizona after the scandal.
"It would take all-expenses paid therapy. I would need a therapist on call and therapy sessions after every single filming session! I just don’t know if I see a path forward because it’s not a healthy dynamic. I’m trying to protect my mental health and I’m trying to live an authentic life," the reality starlet, 29, exclusively revealed in a new interview with Us Weekly, published on Wednesday, August 7.
The star said no one has reached out to her after she left the show.
"It was a hard thing to watch the show this past season and have them talk about me constantly. I was not there to defend myself and that was hard. That is another reason why I started the podcast so that I could have a voice. I’m able to impact people in a positive way through my podcast. So, in a way, I actually don’t need the show and I’m healthier without it. There’s other ways that I can pursue my soul’s purpose in life without the show. That was like a full circle chapter and it’s complete. I don’t see myself returning because there wouldn’t be anything positive coming from that," she continued.
After looking like the villain, Leviss decided to prioritize her mental health and well-being and went to a facility in Arizona.
“The dark times were so dark, and it felt like there wasn’t a way out for the longest time. I [decided] I need[ed] to start making better decisions,” she shared. “It took time to integrate everything that I learned into my real life, but I feel like I’m finally now able to start living for me.”
Raquel Leviss said she has 'new friends' in Santa Monica, Calif.
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It was easier for Leviss to uproot her life in order to start over.
"It was almost like I had to reach this unhealthy level of toxicity in order to make a change in my life. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to step out of that. I don’t think L.A. is all bad, but being in certain environments could bring out the worst in a person. So now when I go visit Santa Monica, I have new friends and there’s a common theme [such as] spirituality and not drinking. It’s a much healthier social circle that I’m in in L.A.," she said of moving out of Tinseltown.
Raquel Leviss said it was heartbreaking to be 'betrayed' by her friends.
Though she "misses" her old friendships, she admitted no one has reached out to her.
"I think the most heartbreaking part of all of it was feeling betrayed by my friends. I know how that sounds because I was somebody who betrayed a friend. But in my darkest times, I just thought that these were my true friends and they would love me no matter what and would want to hear me out. That just wasn’t the case," she revealed.
"It was heartbreaking realizing that the people I was surrounding myself with — a lot of them were quick to turn on me. I had to learn the hard way to completely cut off all communication to all of my friends … so that was a really difficult time. But I have been able to rekindle some of the friendships that I do value [with] the trusted people. Now we’ve come to this freedom [where] I don’t need to monitor what I’m saying anymore because it’s all out there. This is my new life and I really have nothing to hide," the "Rachel Goes Rogue" podcast host continued, noting that she wishes Madix all the best but feels like they're both "moving on" in their lives.
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“Although I’m still in therapy and make it a point to continue to work on myself,” she concluded. “There’s a newfound level of freedom — it’s an era of healing."
