Raquel Leviss is looking inward after months of scandal led her to feel alienated from her relationships on Vanderpump Rules.
The Bravo star, who now goes by her birth name Rachel, revealed that she no longer feels she has any allies following the aftermath of her months-long affair with costar Tom Sandoval (who, at the time, was in a nine-year relationship with Leviss’s friend Ariana Madix).
“My childhood friends are the only people that I can talk to and trust, unfortunately,” the 28-year-old explained on Bethenny Frankel’s Just B podcast.
Leviss recounted the “many betrayals of friendships” she experienced after she “trusted and disclosed confidential information” to people she believed she could rely on — only to find that they’d “turned around and disclosed those things to the press.”
“It’s been really difficult to accept that,” she added. “I don’t have friends in L.A. anymore.”
Raquel Leviss Says Love Addiction Is ‘a Real Thing’ That ‘Explains’ Her Relationship with Tom Sandoval
Raquel Leviss in ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Season 10 Reunion Part 2.
Bravo
Leviss also shared that a breakthrough she had during a 90-day stay at a mental health treatment facility prompted her to “come back to my roots” and re-embrace the name Rachel.
Leviss revealed that she decided to change her name to Raquel in the first grade as there were other students who went by “Rachel” in class.
While her choice was also made in part by her desire to be “special,” she admitted that “deep down, “I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin, I wanted to be somebody better in my eyes.”
Raquel Leviss Embraces Her Birth Name After Leaving Mental Health Facility
It wasn’t until she attended a therapy session that involved writing out her name with her non-dominant left hand — she instinctively wrote ‘Rachel’ and realized it was time to rediscover that identity.
Leviss recalled, “[The therapist] was like, ‘Interesting, I see you as Rachel to your core, you’re going by Raquel, which is OK — but it’s not true to who you are, it’s a wall that you have up.’”
She continued, “I feel like most of my life I’ve been afraid, I’ve struggled with social anxiety, I’ve struggled with judgment from other people, so having a fear of vulnerability makes sense. I’m really just trying to come back to my roots and I’m introducing myself as Rachel.”
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The first 10 seasons of Vanderpump Rules can be streamed in full on Peacock.
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Source: HIS Education