Raquel Leviss Talks ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Future and Fallout With Bethenny Frankel
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Vanderpump Rules star Raquel Leviss has given her first interview since filming the season 10 reunion, which aired June 7 and became the most watched Bravo telecast in nearly a decade. The three-part reunion capped the megahit “Scandoval” season of the reality series and her post-reunion interview, which was filmed at the end of March, was the last viewers had heard from the co-star before she voluntarily checked in to a facility for mental health counseling.
On Wednesday, Bravo alum Bethenny Frankel, who famously starred for years on The Real Housewives of New York City, among several subsequent unscripted series, released part one of an interview with Leviss (who says she has since changed her name back to Rachel) on her podcast, Just B With Bethenny Frankel, as well as on her Housewives-focused podcast ReWives.
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When asked why Leviss chose to break her silence with Frankel, the Vanderpump star cited Frankel recently speaking out in support of unscripted stars amid the strikes. “I heard what you were saying on TikTok and using my case an example of exploitation and the way that the network is running to the bank. Laughing and running to the bank with this scandal, and I haven’t seen a single penny. So in that way, I feel like it’s not fair,” said Leviss. “I feel like I’ve been portrayed as the ultimate villain. My mistakes that I made on camera live on forever.”
Frankel, when speaking to Leviss, said it’s her understanding that Leviss and her co-stars get paid “in a year less than my interns get paid,” which surprised Leviss. “One of the things that producers also told me is that you get paid based off your performance from the season prior. So that already set me up to want to perform well going into season 10,” Leviss said, adding with a laugh, “I took direction well.”
Leviss was shot into the national spotlight when her affair with co-star Tom Sandoval went viral, with the controversy, dubbed “Scandoval,” addressed at the end of season 10 and on the reunion show. Leviss, it should be said, is a main castmember and would be compensated along with her co-stars for the season. Leviss began as a recurring star in season six and was upped to series regular in season nine. It’s common practice on reality series for the cast to be paid on a tiered scale based on the number of seasons they have appeared on the series.
In response to Leviss and Frankel’s conversation, TMZ has reported Leviss made a salary of more than $350,000 for season 10, which breaks down to around $18,000 per episode; there were 19 episodes total in the season. (Bravo declined to comment when contacted by The Hollywood Reporter.)
Amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Frankel has called on reality TV stars to unionize and join the strike over a lack of residuals, which is a key deal point for the actors guild as it seeks improvements to residuals formulas. Frankel first started speaking out on Instagram in late July, saying she had “never made a single residual” from her various reality series. She said, “Either I’m missing something or we’re getting screwed, too.”
A litigation hold letter said to represent “a significant number” of people on some of Bravo parent company NBCUniversal’s “most lucrative reality TV shows” was sent to NBCUniversal alleging “grotesque and depraved treatment” of reality stars and crew. Shortly after, SAG-AFTRA offered to cover reality stars that qualify under its Network Code Agreement. (In response to the legal letter, an NBCUniversal spokesperson said, in part, “NBCUniversal is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for cast and crew on our reality shows.”)
Leviss and Frankel in their chat called doing reality TV an “addiction,” and Leviss said that she “almost” went back to tell her side of the story on Vanderpump Rules, but that she decided against it, implying that she won’t be participating in season 11 of the reality TV show. Her role in the next season has been up in the air since she checked in to the Phoenix facility following the reunion. Meanwhile, the rest of the main cast, including Sandoval and his now-ex Ariana Madix, has returned and is currently filming. With season 11 midway through filming at this point, it’s unlikely Leviss will return in her usual capacity.
“I believed I was in love with Tom [Sandoval] at the time. I now look back on it and see that I was not in love with him. I also don’t believe that he truly was in love with me, either. We had this connection that I felt seen and heard by him that I haven’t really had that connection with other people in the cast, nor people in my real life,” Leviss reflected to Frankel. “I was filming in a tumultuous environment. I was needing some validation and somebody to hear what I was going through and here comes along Tom, who really gave me that time of day to share my side of the story in a non-judgment zone. And that’s exactly what I needed in that moment.”
During their conversation, Leviss also claimed she was recorded without her consent by Sandoval in the intimate video that sparked their affair going public, and she echoed the timeline of events that had been previously shared by Vanderpump Rules executive producer Alex Baskin about Leviss’ mindset at the end of the season.
“I knew I needed help, but I didn’t know what to expect going [into treatment]. I had the option to go straight into the treatment facility before the reunion, but I decided to commit to my work obligation and to go back and film,” she said of filming her post-reunion sitdown, which saw Leviss drop several lingering bombshells about her relationship with Sandoval, which presumably will be addressed on season 11. “Once I filmed the reunion and did that final interview, I took a flight to Phoenix and went straight to the treatment center.”
At the time, Baskin told THR that Leviss had planned to seek treatment, which perhaps triggered Leviss coming clean about the affair timeline in the post-reunion sitdown. “Her feeling was that she wanted a clean slate,” he said. “I think that was a really difficult thing to do. In a lot of ways, a brave thing to do. I know some people wouldn’t assign that term to doing this. She very well could have kept quiet, but you could see the struggle in her face. It was a struggle to do it, but it was clearly a struggle to keep that in. She found the voice to be able to say all of that, and to me, it’s kind of harrowing.”
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