Rachel “Raquel” Leviss arrives at the KIIS FM’s iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023 Presented By Capital One at The Kia Forum on December 1, 2023.Photo:Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Rachel “Raquel” Levissmay not have taken part of filming forseason 11ofVanderpump Rules,but she’s still very much at the heart of theScandovalconversation playing out both on and off the show.
Rachel “Raquel” Leviss at BravoCon 2022 on October 15, 2022.Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty Images
Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty Images
She continued, “I have created something and I have a vision and so you know, I’m taking action as a coach in educating and this is obviously a challenge for me in so many different ways, and I’m not stuck on outcomes. I’m doing my part and I’m learning to let go and whatever happens happens, and there’s such freedom in that.”
Levissmade the decisionto leaveVanderpump Rulesamid the fallout of hermonths-long affairwithTom Sandovalthat ended hisnine-year relationshipwith costarAriana Madix.
“I don’t want to say mob mentality, but it’s definitely like we’re here to voice our opinions on what you did and bring that to the forefront,” she said of the group’s behavior after the scandal broke. “And so when you’re at it alone, it just seems like you’re not going to survive.”
Ariana Madix; Tom Sandoval; Rachel “Raquel” Leviss.Tammie/AFF-USA/Shutterstock; Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty Images; Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images
Tammie/AFF-USA/Shutterstock; Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty Images; Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images
“And that’s part of the reason why I didn’t go back, because I knew that I wouldn’t be welcomed back and it would put me in that position of feeling fight, flight or freeze, having that extreme response and then once again only having Tom as the person that I could confide in,” she explained.
“I could just see how bad of a situation that would be for me, especially as I’m trying to put my mental health first and have some sort of stability and sanity in my life now,” she concluded.
Rachel “Raquel” Leviss and Tom Sandoval attend White Fox After Hours At Delilah Los Angeles on October 18, 2022.Vivien Killilea/Getty
Vivien Killilea/Getty
Zinn then discussed the possibility of “trauma bonding” in situations similar to Leviss and Sandoval. The former pageant queen noted, “It gets so confusing because it was like I couldn’t even think for myself" while the affair was happening.
“I didn’t know what I needed and what I wanted, and it felt so foggy,” she recalled. “And as I was doing my trauma therapy and, like, distancing myself and following these boundaries that I was enforcing for myself, I could see more clearly, I could literally feel this fog dissipating and, like, finally being able to think for myself.”
She added, “I don’t take it lightly, like the situations that the show really puts people in — like, it is not an easy place to be.”
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Vanderpump Rulesairs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
source: people.com
