Rachel Leviss (formerly Raquel) is sharing more behind-the-scenes details about the Scandoval.
In particular, the former Vanderpump Rules star opened up about how Tom Sandoval planned to go public with there relationship and why she didn’t tell Ariana Madix about their affair.
She also called Tom out for “manipulative” behavior that she says he displayed to both herself and Ariana.
Read more about Rachel Leviss’ Scandoval drama…
On her Rachel Goes Rogue podcast, Rachel explained that Tom allegedly thought they’d just ride the wave of bad press once their affair was revealed. He seemed to think that eventually the public would accept the couple.
“He was saying, ‘Look, people hated Ariana in the beginning, and then they realized we were sticking together,’” she recalled (via Us Weekly). “We weren’t going anywhere and so they had to accept it and they ended up loving her and it could be the same for us.”
She hypothesized that since he’d “gotten away with it before” that it would work again and said that she felt “sticking to the story” was what Tom wanted (via People).
Rachel stressed that she wanted to tell Ariana and was the one who insisted that it happen. She said that she even told Tom that she was thinking about telling her, but he’d urge her not to follow through.
“I was waiting on him to tell her. It was my duty to tell her, yes, I know that. But I felt like it was his responsibility with him being in that relationship with him to tell her and break up with her,” she said.
There was a sticking point between them about finally telling the truth, too.
“The one thing that we got hung up on, he did not want her to know when it first started and I don’t see the point in lying about those things because isn’t it much better to just be upfront and honest and tell the truth,” she wondered, stressing that Tom knew she disliked telling lies.
Rachel also called Tom out for “very manipulative and messed up” behavior.
“He knew I was going through this heartbreak [Rachel was going through a called off engagement before they got together], and I’ve heard him say on his interviews ‘Oh, Raquel really was coming into her own.’ And that’s what attracted him to me,” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘You a-shole. You could have just let me be. Like, let me live. Why can’t you cheer me on as a friend?’”
Meanwhile, she said that Tom “uses Ariana’s mental health against her.”
“I think he could have gone about [our relationship and their breakup] in a much more mature way. But who knows if he’s even capable of that,” she wondered.
Rachel has recently detailed her first time hooking up with Tom and revealed a moment that was “staged” amid the affair.