Raquel Leviss Says She ‘Would Do Everything Differently’ Before and During Scandoval: ‘I Regret a Lot’

Rachel “Raquel” Leviss has “a lot” of regrets when it came to her time on Vanderpump Rules and “would do everything differently if I had the chance to go back.” 

“I really just wanna acknowledge that a lot of people were believing in me and I feel like I was a disappointment to those people,” she told Bethenny Frankel on The Real Housewives of New York City alum’s Just B podcast. “I know that there was a lot of trust that was broken between friendships and betrayal that happened.”

She added, “I look back at my actions and I’m disappointed in myself as well. That is not the person that I want to be. I wasn’t happy. I was really hurting.”

Leviss, 28, also told Frankel, 52, she didn’t “ever want to be in a place like that again, and I will make sure that I don’t put myself in a situation like that again.”

Raquel Leviss Says She ‘Needed to Get Caught’ in Tom Sandoval Affair: ‘It Would Have Just Continued’

Raquel Leviss.

Todd Williamson/Bravo via Getty 

The former SUR waitress first implied she had opted not to return to the Bravo reality show in part 1 of her appearance on Frankel’s podcast when she noted that she “almost went back” to film for season 11. 

A source later confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that she “ultimately decided against it” in order to remain “focused on her mental health journey.”

Raquel Leviss Says She’s in Debt 5 Months After ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Scandoval Erupted

Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss.

Tammie/AFF-USA/Shutterstock; Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty Images; Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images

Back in March, Leviss made headlines when her months-long affair with costar Tom Sandoval, 40, became public knowledge, ending his nine-year relationship with Leviss’s friend and castmate Ariana Madix, 38.

At the time, the former pageant queen exclusively issued a statement to PEOPLE that included an apology and a promise to focus on her well-being moving forward.

“I need to take care of my health, work on self growth and take time to be ok with being alone,” she said. “I care for Tom and I don’t want to label anything or predict what lies ahead. Right now I need to heal.”

A few weeks after taping an explosive reunion for season 10 of Vanderpump Rules, Leviss checked into a mental health facility for what would ultimately be a 90-day stay.

“Raquel and her family decided before the relationship was discovered that she would enter a voluntary facility for mental health counseling,” her rep told PEOPLE at the time. “She was scheduled to go in pre-reunion but decided she wanted to finish her filming commitment. Bravo and production were aware and in support of her journey towards better mental health.”

Raquel Leviss Has No More L.A. Allies After She ‘Betrayed’ Them, So She’s Going Back to Her ‘Roots’ as Rachel

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Leviss also acknowledged on Frankel’s podcast that she feels “remorseful” for the “hurt” she’s caused Madix — even if she claims their friendship has been overstated.

“She’s always been somebody who’s always been very sweet to me, she would stand up for me and encourage me to pursue whatever I was pursuing and that was all great,” she said, “but we never had a deep conversation that I would have with a best friend.”

Leviss acknowledged, “It’s painful to think that I hurt her in this way because that wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t trying to be a malicious person, I just got wrapped up in this and wasn’t thinking clearly. But we were not best friends.”

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Vanderpump Rules can be streamed in full on Peacock.

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Source: HIS Education