Raquel Leviss is ready for accountability.
While in Los Angeles ahead of the “Vanderpump Rules” Season 10 reunion, cast member Leviss — whose affair with co-star Tom Sandoval was recently discovered by his longtime girlfriend, Ariana Madix — said she plans to be there for the taping and face down her colleagues. “I know I have to take accountability for my actions, so I’m completely prepared to do that,” she told TMZ.
Leviss, 28, has been embroiled in scandal since Madix, 37, found cellphone evidence of her months-long dalliance with Sandoval, 39. The affair ended Sandoval and Madix’s nine-year relationship and has thrust the Bravo show and its many fans into disarray.
Leviss told TMZ Wednesday that she and Madix had talked on the phone and she had apologized over text, but admitted Madix “didn’t receive it very well.”
The relationship with Sandoval “started off as a friendship, and then it turned into something more,” she said.
“I don’t know where our relationship will be,” Leviss said when asked whether she and Sandoval would continue dating. “We’re just trying to get through these next steps, make amends, hear everybody out. I know a lot of people are angry … We’re not putting a label on it or anything, just kind of taking a break for now.”
Earlier this month, both Leviss and Sandoval issued lengthy statements apologizing for their affair, with Leviss describing her actions as part of an “unhealthy behavioral cycle.”
“I want to apologize for my actions and my choices to Ariana, my friends and the fans so invested in our relationships,” she said in a statement posted on her Instagram account. “There is no excuse, I am not a victim and must own my actions. I deeply regret hurting Ariana.”
Leviss added that since the affair came to light, she has been reflecting on her choices, speaking to a counselor and “learning things about myself such as my patterns of codependency and addiction to being and feeling loved.”
Madix found out Sandoval had been cheating on her on March 1, when, according to People, she was at a venue watching her beau’s band perform. Sandoval and Leviss were seen smooching, the outlet said, presumably before Madix found a racy video of them on her boyfriend’s phone. Then she found their history of inappropriate texts.
Less than a week later, Leviss filed for a restraining order against another friend and Bravo co-star, Scheana Shay. Unconfirmed rumors reported by TMZ have suggested that Shay retaliated violently toward Leviss over the cheating scandal, though Shay said in a statement that the allegation was a “fabrication.”
On Wednesday, Leviss pointed to what she said was a scar from the alleged attack and said, “Scheana knows what happened that night.”
Many of the show’s Season 10 cast members, including Sandoval, Madix, Leviss, Tom Schwartz, James Kennedy, Lala Kent, Charli Burnett, Brock Davies and Katie Maloney, are expected to take part in the reunion episode, hosted by Andy Cohen, which is set to happen Thursday in L.A., according to US Weekly. It will air on Bravo at a later date, but Shay’s participation was not immediately clear, given the restraining order.