Rachel “Raquel” Leviss does not foresee a return to “Vanderpump Rules” after leaving the show over backlash from her affair with co-star Tom Sandoval.
“It would take all-expenses-paid therapy. I would need a therapist on call and therapy sessions after every single filming session!” the former Bravolebrity joked to Us Weekly in an interview published Wednesday.
Leviss said she realistically does not “see a path forward” on the series “because it’s not a healthy dynamic,” adding, “I’m trying to protect my mental health, and I’m trying to live an authentic life.”
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“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 said.
The former pageant queen, 29, shared that she watched Season 11 of “Pump Rules” but found it “hard” because it primarily focused on the aftermath of her affair — even though she was not there to defend herself.
Leviss also nixed the idea of appearing on the spinoff show “The Valley,” but she did not shut down a reality TV return entirely.
“I could see myself doing a competition show. I think that’s the extent of it. There’s something with anonymity and privacy that you don’t really appreciate until you lose that privacy. We can reassess in a few years and see what the next projects are,” she told the magazine.
Leviss was introduced to the “Vanderpump” crew in Season 5 as James Kennedy’s girlfriend, and she developed closer relationships with the women — including Madix, Sandoval’s then-partner — over time as she and the DJ got engaged and ultimately broke up.
“Of course I miss those friendships. I haven’t heard from anyone. 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 said.
The model felt that her co-stars being “quick to turn on” her following her dalliance with Sandoval, 41, was “heartbreaking.”
“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,” she said.
Follow Pvnew’s coverage of ‘Scandoval‘
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- How Ariana Madix found out about Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss’ affair
- Ariana Madix rips ‘subhuman’ Raquel, ‘rat’ Sandoval in ‘Pump Rules’ reunion trailer
As for a possibility reconciliation with 39-year-old Madix, Leviss simply said they are “moving on” — separately.
Shortly after Scandoval first made headlines in March 2023, Leviss fled Los Angeles and checked into a mental health facility for three months before eventually moving back to her home state of Arizona.
She has since been focused on her podcast, “Rachel Goes Rogue,” while making new friends in her yoga community.
“This is how it should be like. It should be healthy friendships. It shouldn’t really be people tearing each other down in order to get power over one another,” she said. “I feel like I was in that dynamic and that dysfunctional friend group for so long that that did feel normal to me.”
