Rachel Leviss Admits What About the Scandoval Still Makes Her 'Defensive': 'They Painted a Diabolical Picture'
"I threw [a] friendship away selfishly by putting my needs before hers," the former 'Vanderpump Rules' star says of the affair with Tom Sandoval that blew up his relationship with Ariana Madix
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Rachel Leviss arrives at the KIIS FM's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023 Presented By Capital One at The Kia Forum on December 1, 2023 in Inglewood, California.Rachel “Raquel” Leviss is setting the record straight about her former friendship with Ariana Madix.
The Vanderpump Rules alum, 29, shared that she believes it’s a misconception that she and Madix, 38, were “best friends” before her affair with the Chicago star’s then-boyfriend Tom Sandoval ended their nine-year relationship.
“I think for me, when people use the word 'best friend' to define Ariana and my friendship, I tend to automatically get defensive with that,” she said on her Rachel Goes Rogue podcast. “Because for me, I didn't consider her a best friend and I didn't think that she considered me a best friend.”
Despite claiming that the pair were not as close as some of her fans and former costars assumed, Leviss still knows that she was in the wrong, saying, “But your level of friendship doesn't really determine how bad the action is. The action is the action, and it's unacceptable no matter what the relationship is.”
“I also acknowledge that maybe for Ariana she viewed me as a best friend, even though my definition of a best friend would be somebody that I'm calling often and talking to, filling in details of my day, and we didn't have that type of friendship,” she continued. “So when the term best friend was being put out there that's the reason why I wanted to defend myself.”
When asked she thinks the term “best friend” was “weaponized” against her at the height of the scandal, Levis responded, “I feel like they painted more of a diabolical picture with saying that we were best friends and it was like that ultimate betrayal, which it still is an ultimate betrayal honestly, because she trusted me as a friend and I had a duty to her as a friend to not overstepped this clear boundary.”
She admitted, “I knew that Tom and Ariana were in a relationship; yet, I acted on my impulses without consideration to how it would affect her feelings and how it would emotionally damage her so I really am sorry for crossing that boundary and violating Ariana’s trust.”
Leviss insisted that she was ready to “take accountability for my actions.”
She further acknowledged why what she did Madix was “so messed up,” adding, “I enjoyed hanging out with her and I enjoyed hanging out with Tom, and I feel like that's why it got so messy, because I really did care about both of them, even though I threw that friendship away selfishly by putting my needs before hers.”
The former pageant queen, who made her New York Fashion Week debut last week, previously noted that she still owes Madix an apology for her behavior.
“I feel like, with my apology that I made at the reunion, I had all the right intentions and I was extremely sorry,” she said on the Feb. 1 episode of Rachel Goes Rogue. “But there's another part of an apology, which is your actions afterward — they have to align with what you're saying. And by sending him letters and being in contact for a good amount of time, I still want to take this time now to apologize again because I am in a different place than I was back then, and I can see things a lot clearer now."
"I got emotional watching that,” she said of watching the Vanderpump Rules season 11 premiere. “You know, like, I recognized that my behavior was so hurtful to her."
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Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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