After months of silence following Scandoval, Rachel Leviss is talking. Specifically, she’s clearing up the misconception about her former friendship with Ariana Madix.
Rachel denies she and Ariana were ever “best friends” before her affair with Tom Sandoval ended his and Ariana’s relationship.
“When people use the word ‘best friend’ to define Ariana and my friendship, I tend to automatically get defensive with that,” the Vanderpump Rules alum said on her Rachel Goes Rogue podcast. “Because for me, I didn’t consider her a best friend, and I didn’t think that she considered me a best friend.”
Pump Rules saw Rachel commit the “ultimate betrayal”
But even though they weren’t BFFs, Rachel realizes that what she did was wrong. “Your level of friendship doesn’t really determine how bad the action is,” she admits. “The action is the action, and it’s unacceptable no matter what the relationship is.”
“I also acknowledge that maybe for Ariana, she viewed me as a best friend,” she added, “even though my definition of a best friend would be somebody that I’m calling often … filling in details of my day, and we didn’t have that type of friendship.”
I never really saw Ariana and Rachel as being best friends. She seemed more like a little sister to Ariana, especially after Rachel and James Kennedy broke off their engagement. It always seemed like Tom and Ariana were just taking Rachel under their wing, helping her through a rough time. Which actually made it more shocking when news came out that Rachel and Tom were having an affair. Even though Rachel’s an adult, it seemed like a creepy older man taking advantage of a vulnerable younger woman.
In the podcast, co-host Aron Accurso asked Rachel if she thinks the phrase “best friend” was “weaponized” against during Scandoval.
“I feel like they painted more of a diabolical picture … saying that we were best friends,” Rachel responded. “It was like that ultimate betrayal … because she trusted me as a friend … I had a duty to her as a friend to not overstep this clear boundary.”
Taking accountability
“I knew that Tom and Ariana were in a relationship,” she continued. “Yet I acted on my impulses without consideration to how it would affect her feelings and how it would emotionally damage her … I really am sorry for crossing that boundary and violating Ariana’s trust.”
In addition, the former beauty queen admitted that what she did to her friend — BFF or not — was “so messed up … I enjoyed hanging out with her, and I enjoyed hanging out with Tom. I feel like that’s why it got so messy because I really did care about both of them, even though I threw that friendship away selfishly by putting my needs before hers.”
Even though she apologized to Ariana at the Season 10 reunion, Rachel admitted she owed her friend a mea culpa. “There’s another part of an apology,” she added, “which is your actions afterward. They have to align with what you’re saying. And by sending [Tom] letters and being in contact for a good amount of time, I still want to take this time now to apologize again because I am in a different place than I was back then, and I can see things a lot clearer now.”
Rachel really seems to have learned a lot at that mental health retreat she went to. She seems a lot more mature and accountable than she was immediately following Scandoval. I’m happy for her.
Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK RACHEL’S APOLOGY WILL MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO ARIANA? DO YOU THINK SHE’S GROWN UP?
