Rachel Leviss Says 'Low Self-Worth' Kept Her with Tom Sandoval: 'Now I Know Better'

Leviss, who went by Raquel on the show before only recently reverting back to her birth name of Rachel, made her mea culpa in the form of a comment posted to the Bravo Tea with Jared B podcast's Instagram page.

In the clip shared, host Jared Barnes took issue with Rachel saying in her interview on Just B with Bethenny Frankel, that she would have never gotten involved with Tom Sandoval had she known "that there was longevity to Tom and Ariana [Madix's] relationship."

Barnes took her response to mean that Leviss was saying she didn't think that Sandoval and Madix had a "real relationship," which is why she was willing to jump into this affair with Sandoval. But he had a simple retort for her, that he probably thought would go unanswered.

"If you wanted to be with Tom Sandoval so bad (sic), you should have let him know that this tryst, the situation that was going on between you and him, goes no further until you know officially that they have broken up."

It didn't, though as Leviss chimed in over the weekend to actually agree with Barnes' assessment of the situation. "💯 you’re not wrong!" she commented. "I should have had more self respect than that and should have respected the relationship that Ariana had with Tom."

Affirming that she was offering "no excuses" for her role in the affair, Leviss said that time and distance has offered her a little bit of clarity as to what has been going on with her.

The former reality star had previous checked into a mental health facility shortly after the wrap of Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules, which culminated in a very tense three-part reunion special. For the past couple of weeks, she has reportedly been spending time with family in Arizona, confirming she would likely not return to the show.

"Looking back, I see I had low self-worth and Tom kept telling me he was actively breaking up with her ‘amicably’ for her ‘mental health,’ which I can now see was magical thinking," Leviss continued in her comment.

"He had a million and one reasons why they hadn’t broken up yet and it was easier to stay in that fantasy then to face the fact that the social anxiety and isolation was not worth it," Leviss added. "So yes, absolutely you’re 100% right. It was MY responsibility to remove myself from that situation… now I know better ♥️."

Madix blasted Leviss' interview with Frankel on Friday's episode of her costar Scheana Shay's Scheananigans podcast. Although Ariana noted that she took issue with some of Rachel's claims, she shared that she was more "upset" about how Bethenny approached the interview.

She did, however, take issue with Leviss' claim during the interview that she and Madix "were not best friends," as had been widely reported and understood to be true for years.

"The fact that she said you are no more than an acquaintance, an alliance, a coworker, that was she was using you to get closer to Tom," Scheana said, to which Ariana replied, "That was very hurtful."

"I wasn't using her for s---. I just thought that we were friends," she added with a laugh, before noting that she has "photographic evidence" that she and Rachel hung out one-on-one despite what she claimed to Bethenny.

The Something About Her co-founder said she's "not sure whose decision it was to try to diminish the friendships and try to dimish what is a very real show."

"I don't know whose decision it was to do that, but it was a bad decision, and it was a very untrue statement or series of statements to make," she continued. "I know Bethenny did that as well, you know, saying that this is like a producer thing."

"All that does is diminish what I went through," Ariana added.