Before Andy Cohen brought Raquel Leviss out during part 2 of the Vanderpump Rules reunion on May 31, he showed footage from his private one-on-one with her, and what she revealed was very interesting. First, she said she was “nervous” to go out on stage, but she also knew it was “important” for her to be at the reunion because she “needed to take accountability” for her actions.
Raquel claimed that her relationship with Tom Sandoval “started getting more romantic” after the girls’ trip to Lake Havasu in August 2022. He made her feel “special, heard and seen”, and those were feelings that she hadn’t “maybe ever” felt with anyone else, including her ex, James Kennedy.
Raquel then told Andy that she must have been living in her “own little reality” throughout the affair because she thought she and Ariana Madix could still be friends once the truth was revealed. Andy didn’t really react to that, but he noted that it was “incredible how many signs” Ariana appeared to “ignore” throughout the affair, and Raquel agreed. Raquel said it initially “seemed” like Ariana knew about the affair but was in denial.
“She never pressed about it. She never confronted me about it. She didn’t — from what I know [because of what] Tom’s told me is that she didn’t question him too much about it and just believed at face value what he would tell her,” Raquel told Andy.
Andy said it sounded like Raquel and Tom were “blaming” Ariana, and she didn’t deny that. She only said “at that time” it was her “mindset”. And now, she knows that Ariana “really did want to know and it was very deceitful. I’m very ashamed of it.”
Next week on Part 2 of the Vanderpump Rules Season 10 reunion !! #PumpRules pic.twitter.com/P131XvsG1t
— Lisa Vanderpump Fans (@VanderpumpArmy) May 25, 2023
After Ariana learned about the affair on March 1, 2023, she called Raquel and demanded answers. Raquel said that it seemed like Ariana was in “a lot of pain” as she “begged” for details about “when it all happened.” Raquel claimed she and Sandoval were planning on telling Ariana the truth, but they wanted to “get their stories straight” since Tom “felt like it would hurt [Ariana] if she knew how long [the affair] had been going on.” But since Ariana wanted “specifics” right away on the phone, Raquel told her “the truth”. Afterwards, Ariana allegedly thanked Raquel for it because, as she said, “Tom would have never told me the truth.”
Raquel finished her private conversation with Andy by admitting that she and Sandoval had talked extensively about how to approach certain topics before going into the reunion. She was “preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best” before facing the group on the main stage — but she was also feeling “scared” ahead of her personal reunion with Ariana.
In the final few seconds of this week’s episode, Raquel made her way to the main stage. But before she joined the group, Tom Schwartz took some prescribed Xanax because he was feeling very “nervous”. Then, when Raquel sat down and said “hi” to Andy, the episode ended.
Want more? Part 3 of the Vanderpump Rules reunion air next Wednesday, June 7, at 9pm on Bravo. An extended version of this episode will also be available on Peacock on June 1.