The 'Vanderpump Rules' star says she doesn't talk to her former co-stars and wanted to be paid fairly to return to the show.
Part three of Vanderpump Rules star Rachel Leviss' interview on Bethenny Frankel's podcast, Just B with Bethenny Frankel, is out and the 28-year-old reality star is not holding back.
In early March, Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval announced the end of their relationship after being together since 2013 when she first joined Vanderpump Rules. It wasn't long before news broke that Sandoval was cheating on Madix with Leviss. The cheating scandal, often referred to as Scandoval, was a major plot point in season 10 of the Bravo reality series.
Now, Leviss opens up about how Bravo allegedly treated her, shares why she's glad she got caught having an affair with Sandoval, why she's not returning to the show, and what her future holds.
"Going into the reunion it was promised to me that I would have a mental health advocate in my trailer as I watched the first two parts of the reunion and then behind the scenes just in case for my mental well-being, and that was taken away from me the day before the reunion and I think it was a punishment," claims Leviss.
"This paparazzi guy found me waiting to get my nails done on the sidewalk of the street and I felt awkward being inside there and I [answered] some of his questions, they were very basic, I didn’t give away anything the reunion was going to touch on and I think the network saw that and was angry, disappointed and punished me by taking away my mental health advocate."
In March, before the cast filmed the reunion, paparazzi caught up with Leviss outside of a nail salon in West Hollywood. In the video, obtained by TMZ, Leviss, who was dressed down in a hoodie and leggings told cameras that she tried to apologize to Madix for her part in the Scandoval of it all, but says it wasn't well received.
"We talked on the phone, and I apologized to her over text, but she didn't receive it very well," said Leviss, who showed off a scar on her eyebrow she said was from her alleged altercation with Scheana Shay. While she said she preferred "not to say" when asked what Madix's response was, she maintained that her apology was not well received.
Leviss has kept a low profile since the affair was revealed, and checked into a mental health treatment facility for three months. She surfaced for the first time on July 18 in Tucson, Arizona, donning a baggy look and a hat that read: "Be a good person."
"There was no check-in from anybody to see if I was OK," Leviss tells Frankel. "Unfortunately, I asked for my tuition to be covered for treatment and they refused to pay for it and I have a theory it’s because if they paid for it they’d admit to this liability."
Leviss then makes a shocking claim about her affair with Sandoval, admitting, "I needed to get caught, I needed to, because it would have just continued and that’s not who I want to be. This was the biggest wake-up call to me."
"Would you ever go back to reality television?" asks Frankel.
"Oh, hell no!" Leviss exclaims. "No, because I refuse to not respect myself on that level where I would endure that emotional abuse any longer. I can’t do that to myself."
On Thursday, ET exclusively learned that after much back and forth, Leviss will not be filming the new season of Vanderpump Rules.
"Rachel will not be returning for season 11 of Vanderpump Rules. There was a possibility up until recently she'd be returning for the new season, but ultimately decided against it," a source told ET. "Rachel is focused on her mental health journey and knew going back to the show would open her up to trauma she's been working on healing. Rachel is looking forward to what the future holds for her."
However, Leviss tells Frankel that she did consider returning to the show.
"I asked for equal pay with Tom and Ariana and for them to reimburse me for my treatment expenses, but they refused to pay me equally. I was considering going back if I was going to be paid equally because I feel like when you pay your employees I think it really shows how much you value them," says Leviss.
After leaving the treatment facility, Leviss says she got a direct message on Instagram from her co-star, Lala Kent, and two emails from Sandoval, but it seems she didn't respond.
"I have a no-contact policy with every cast member," says Leviss. However, she admits that she has talked to Lisa Vanderpump on the phone.
Although Leviss isn’t returning to the hit reality show, she does have a plan for the future. "I really am impassioned by learning about myself and the psychology behind all of this and I am taking the steps to start my own podcast," she reveals. "I feel like it would be a great way to share my side of the story and bring on experts that really understand the psychology behind it."
She adds, "I’m going to be traveling around. I’m not heading back to L.A. anytime soon. So I have some plans to check out different states and different areas. It’s unwritten at this point."
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