Former Vanderpump Rules star Rachel Leviss opened up about her affair with Tom Sandoval on the second episode of her podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue, this week, confirming what many fans of the show had suspected all along.
After telling listeners she doesn’t care if or who Sandoval is dating, she went on to slam the cover-band singer’s relationship with fellow ‘VPR’ star and BFF Tom Schwartz, while dropping a major bomb about Schwartz’s involvement in the Scandoval.
“Schwartz knew since the very beginning,” Rachel claimed. “I got a phone call from [Sandoval] the morning after we hooked up the first time and my mind was racing, I was feeling so much shame about it. I finally got a phone call from Sandoval and he was at Schwartz’s apartment when he called me, and that was like a safe space for him.
“So Schwartz knew before we even had a conversation to talk about it and what the game plan was going to be,” she continued.
(As fans of the show may recall, Schwartz has maintained since Season 10 that he didn’t find out about Rachel and Sandoval’s affair until well after it began.)
Rachel went on to tell listeners that she was supposed to film with Sandoval’s then-girlfriend Ariana Madix the day after she and Sandoval first hooked up and when she asked Sandoval how to handle the situation, he told her they were not going to reveal their hookup to Ariana.
As for her kissing Schwartz in Mexico, Rachel clarified that she ran with the idea after fans claimed to have seen the two kissing at Coachella, thinking it would make a great storyline for Season 10. However, after initially bringing it up to Schwartz, she soon realized he wasn’t into it and tried to shut it down; unfortunately, ‘VPR’ producers still wanted to run with it, she claimed.
“It was definitely staged and definitely produced and I also feel like Schwartz had the go-ahead with Sandoval to kiss me,” she said. “We like, went in for a kiss– obviously both of us knowing that I had a thing with Sandoval– and in that moment, this felt so produced … this is clearly a storyline.”
Following the allegedly staged scene, Rachel claimed the producers “rewarded” her with a glamping trip, which fans also saw in Season 10.
“It just felt like this high, like I did something right,” she said.
While Rachel and Schwartz’s kiss became a topic of conversation– especially for Schwartz’s ex-wife, Katie Maloney– it also served as a “cover up” for her affair with Sandoval.
“Sandoval encouraged those interactions between Schwartz and I … I also remember filming at SUR when Sandoval and Schwartz were there and I’m in my waitressing uniform,” she recalled, noting that she felt weird at the time, given that all three of them knew the real story but were putting on a facade for the cameras.
Rachel also revealed that Sandoval was upset when Schwartz claimed to have found out about the affair in August during the Season 10 reunion, as it didn’t go with his narrative.
Rachel claims her fan-influenced smooch with Schwartz was far from the only time ‘VPR’ fans’ reactions have affected the show’s storylines and that lot of cast members end up producing storylines of their own.
“It seems to come into fruition and that is kind of what happened with Peter [Madrigal],” she said, explaining that Peter responded to a social media post of hers, which resulted in some fans of the show allegedly wanting to see the two together.
This social media interaction, she claims, led the SUR manager to ask her out on a date, during which she cried over her breakup with James Kennedy. While fans got to see Peter and Rachel’s crash-and-burn date back in Season 10, Rachel said their first date actually took place off-camera, though it prompted producers to ask her to go on another date with Peter, which was filmed for the show.
According to Rachel, she informed producers that she wanted to end things with Peter, but they pushed back and asked her to date the SUR manager for longer. Rachel revealed to listeners that despite Peter not being in the main cast, he is paid handsomely for the episodes he appears in, so she wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to make himself relevant on the show by supposedly pursuing her.
“I don’t know if he had like, genuinely deep feelings … or if his motivation for doing so was a storyline,” she admitted.
Following the release of Rachel’s latest podcast episode, Katie told Us Weekly that she reached out to her ex-husband to confront him about his lie.
“I texted [Schwartz] and I was like, ‘I told you to tell the truth. And now you’re getting called out and thrown under the bus,’” she said.
Meanwhile, Lala Kent maintains that Rachel should’ve returned to the show for Season 11 to clear the air with the group.
“I thought that she needed to come back to the group after the dust had settled and people were willing to hear her out, make her amends in a calmer setting and then ride off into the distance,” she told Page Six.
Season 11 of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ premieres January 30 on Bravo.
(Photos: Bravo; Instagram)
She’s beating a dead horse with a stick at this point. Shut up already, it happened, it’s over, stop yapping about it. Everyone else seems to have moved on from it.
Can someone let Rachel know, no one cares anymore girl.
I think we all called that. I have never understood how Schwartz gets a pass for everything. He is treated like the clueless doofus who (I guess) they are trying to make appear charming. He has always rubbed me the wrong way. Of course he lied for Sandoval. He would do anything for him. It’s kind of gross to watch.