Raquel Leviss dropped bombs during the Vanderpump Rules season 10 reunion part 2, when pieces of her one-on-one interview with Andy Cohen revealed shocking details about her affair with Tom Sandoval. The former pageant queen and ex-fiance of James Kennedy spoke candidly to Andy about what her relationship with Tom was like, and just how she was hiding her true character from Ariana Madix, who considered her a close friend. While Raquel has barely made it to the set of the reunion so far due to a now-dismissed restraining order against Scheana Shay, she’s been shown throughout the episodes both in an interview segment, and watching from her isolated trailer.
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While many pieces of Andy’s interview with Raquel have felt rehearsed or polished, making it obvious that Raquel and Tom are trying to present a united front to minimize the fallout from their questionable actions, there were moments where Raquel was genuine during her time with Andy. She seemed off-kilter and surprised by a few of the questions, which at least felt like a real reaction rather than a rehearsed one. While Raquel will still have an opportunity to answer to Ariana and the Vanderpump Rules cast for her actions over the course of the season, hearing her speak to Andy directly and explain herself was eye-opening.
5 Raquel Felt She Needed To Take Accountability
Raquel explained during her interview with Andy that the reason she was sitting down with him in the first place, other than the obvious contractual obligation, was because she knew she needed to take accountability. As Andy started the interview, Raquel seemed prepped and ready for anything he might ask. She explained, “I know it’s important for me to be here, so I can take accountability for my actions, so I’m here to do that,” with a somewhat scary smile on her face. Raquel’s confusing lack of emotion surrounding the affair and fallout of her life has been perplexing to watch.
Raquel clearly understands she did something that is, for all intents and purposes, wrong; however, it doesn’t always seem like she thinks it was actually wrong. She speaks about the affair as though it was a large-scale emotional relationship but doesn’t grasp that Tom was manipulating her, and still seems to be doing so. Raquel clearly sees something in Tom and feels that their relationship was important enough to lose her friendships and public support, but it doesn’t always seem like she knows just how diabolical her actions come off. Hearing her say she’s taking accountability without any proof of her actually doing so was off-putting.
4 Tom Told Raquel That Ariana “Didn’t Want To Know” About The Affair
In what feels like a repeated line from the Vanderpump Rules season 10 finale, Raquel explained to Andy that Tom had tried to excuse their lying to Ariana in a plethora of ways, including the idea that Ariana “didn’t want to know” about the affair. When Tom originally said this to Tom Schwartz (prompting Schwartz to very seriously counter, “you don’t want to put that responsibility on her”), it was bone-chilling to hear him put all the blame on Ariana feeling trusting of her partner. After nearly a decade together, it shouldn’t be surprising in any way that Ariana would trust her partner to tell her the truth.
Raquel spoke about Tom’s reasoning to her for not telling Ariana about the affair sooner, and likely one of the reasons she felt so comfortable in a relationship with Tom, even though he was with Ariana. “From what I know – what Tom’s told me – she didn’t like, question him too much about what he would tell her, just believed at face value what he would tell her,” Raquel explained to Andy, who said it sounded like she was blaming Ariana. Raquel affirmed that was how she felt at the time, and now understands why that’s wrong, regardless of the fact that she should’ve known that all along.
3 Raquel Is Ashamed Of Her Actions
Raquel shared that she feels incredibly ashamed of her actions multiple times during her interview with Andy and prior. While her remorse does seem put upon and a bit disingenuous, it’s notable that she’s mentioned it several times throughout the Vanderpump Rules season 10 reunion. Raquel does seem to understand the gravity of the situation she’s put herself in, even if she doesn’t totally get that she was in control of her own actions and that those actions have consequences. After explaining that she was “living in my own little reality,” about the affair, Raquel did her best to seem apologetic during the interview.
Raquel shared that she understands her part in the affair now that things have come to light. “It was very deceitful,” she explained to Andy, who looked horrified, “I’m very ashamed of it.” When Raquel spoke about the fact that she told Ariana the truth after she discovered videos of Tom and Raquel on FaceTime in Tom’s camera roll, Raquel seemed to take pride in the fact that she was honest with Ariana, somewhat absolving herself. “It was a lot of pain that I felt from her,” Raquel explained, “I told her the truth and she said ‘thank you for telling me, because Tom never would’ve told me the truth.'”
2 Tom And Raquel Planned To Lie About The Length Of The Affair
While the length of the affair between Tom and Raquel is currently said to be around seven months, it’s not yet confirmed that it wasn’t longer. Regardless, Raquel explained in the interview with Andy that she and Tom were looking to manipulate the situation even further, explaining that it would hurt Ariana less. When Andy asked about her initially telling Ariana the details of the affair over the phone, Raquel revealed a detail she likely wasn’t supposed to share publicly. Tom, who clearly tried to align his answers with Raquel prior to the sit down interviews, hasn’t been shown mentioning anything about telling Ariana during his time with Andy.
“At this point we were going to tell her,” Raquel explained, “we just wanted to ‘get our story straight’ basically because he felt like it would hurt her if she knew how long this had been going on.” Andy asked point-blank if that means that Raquel and Tom were planning to tell Ariana that the affair had been going on for less time than it actually occurred for, and Raquel affirmed that the two were planning to lie about it. Tom mentioned in the finale that they had planned to tell Ariana about the affair before the reunion, but never shared that they were planning to mince the details.
1 Raquel Admitted To Being “Coached” By Tom For The Reunion
Raquel has mentioned several times that she and Tom have talked about their affair and they way it was meant to come out on Vanderpump Rules, but during her interview with Andy, it felt more clear than ever that she’s been fed facts about their relationship in order for both of them to share the same narrative. Throughout the Vanderpump Rules reunion, Ariana has brought up the fact that Tom has “coached” Raquel in the past on what to say in public, so the two of them didn’t look bad. Ariana has spoken openly about the manipulation, and mentioned that she feels he’s doing the exact same thing to Raquel.
During Raquel’s sit down with Andy, it felt incredibly obvious that Ariana was right. Raquel’s answers felt polished and rehearsed, far too close to what a practiced, politically correct answer would be in order to minimize the fallout from the affair. When Andy asked specifically if Tom prepped Raquel for the reunion, her answer seemed unrehearsed and somewhat off-kilter. She explained that the two had talked prior to the Vanderpump Rules reunion about how they want to approach things, essentially affirming that their stories have been aligned. Knowing this, the interview with Andy comes off even more devious to viewers who have been watching Tom’s manipulations all season long.