The host expresses his surprise at Raquel Leviss' ability to sit through the hostile taping without running off.
Andy Cohen is admitting to a lapse in judgement. The Bravo star opens up about his role in the explosive Vanderpump Rules reunion, which focused heavily on the Scandoval drama, a term used to describe Tom Sandoval cheating on Ariana Madix with Raquel Leviss.
On Tuesday's episode of his SiriusXM radio show, Andy Cohen Live, the host addressed a cavalier remark he made after filming, suggesting that Raquel was "really medicated or really out of touch with her role in everything" in an interview with Variety.
"I think it was maybe wrong of me to speculate on that," Andy said on Tuesday's radio show.
The 55-year-old TV personality expressed his surprise at Raquel's ability to sit through the hateful comments lobbied at her while filming the dramatic special in March. The third installment of the Vanderpump Rules reunion special marked the first time the cast had come face to face with Raquel since news broke of her secret romance with Tom while he was still dating Ariana, which has been dubbed "Scandoval" and snowballed into a national news topic. Raquel's co-stars held nothing back, with Ariana unleashing an expletive-laced tirade against her.
"She took it all on the chin like a champ and those people all had stuff to say to her and they were relentless and she just sat there and took it, so I didn't know that she would be able to," Andy explained. "Which is probably why I hypothesized because, to me, given my years of experience in these forums, I would've thought that she would've walked off way sooner and maybe walked into her car never to having been seen again. I don't know."
Andy said he had no regrets about including the whole Vanderpump Rules cast -- which also included Tom Schwartz, James Kennedy, Scheana Shay, Lala Kent and Katie Maloney -- on set that day with Raquel.
"Look, one of the reasons that I really wanted to do one-on-ones with Raquel and Tom and Ariana was I did not know how long Raquel would last on set. You know?" he said. "What she sat through, whatever she did or didn't do, but she sat there and really took it all."
In her pre-taped package, Raquel dropped yet another bombshell about her affair with Tom as she confessed to lying about the timeline of their romantic relationship.
Last week, Lala admitted to feeling "dirty" about her role in verbally eviscerating Raquel during the show.
"In the moment during the reunion, after I left, I felt dirty," Kent admitted to TMZ. "After watching last night when she had finally had the breakdown, just as a human, because for me, it's a reality TV show. I feel like we're all, kind of, playing the same game, but when I watched that, I was like, 'Oh, we're maybe dealing with someone who maybe shouldn't be on this type of platform.'"
Acknowledging that Raquel is currently in a mental health facility amid all the backlash, Lala appeared to be more sympathetic.
"Yeah, it can be rough, and you have to know when you're on a show like this and you make bad decisions, these are the kind of things that happen, especially when you're throwing daggers at people while you're doing something like that," Kent said. "You're gonna get the smoke. I don't know how other people feel about the last five minutes, but I did sit there and go, 'Oh s**t, she needs some real help and I'm hoping she got it.'"
Lala's remarks came after ET exclusively revealed that Raquel had entered a voluntary inpatient behavioral health and trauma facility upon the completion of filming the reunion.
Then, last week, a source close to Raquel told ET, "She is a young woman that is and has been remorseful for her actions and has apologized repeatedly. Her treatment is helping her learn the basis of her decisions and to grow from her mistakes with the hope of making better choices and becoming a better person."
Adding, "Raquel looks forward to sharing her story with the unfiltered truth when she comes out."
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