Heavy/NBCUniversal Raquel Leviss
Lala Kent thinks Raquel made a bad move with her post “Vanderpump Rules” decisions.
Six months after her cheating scandal with her co-star Tom Sandoval was exposed, Leviss confirmed to Bethenny Frankel’s “Just B With Bethenny” podcast that she will not be returning to the show following a brutal season 10 reunion that had her in the hot seat. “Oh hell no!” she said. “I refuse to not respect myself on that level where I would endure that emotional abuse any longer. I can’t do that to myself.”
But on the August 23, 2023 episode of the “Give Them Lala” podcast, co-star Lala Kent hinted that Leviss played it all wrong, and she hinted that things would have been better for her than perhaps she realized, had she returned to Bravo.
“It is a travesty that she didn’t end up coming back,” Kent said of Leviss. “She should have come back. I think she would have been very surprised. And instead, she went and did this [podcast with Bethenny] and she was manipulated yet again.”
Lala Kent Accused Bethenny Frankel of Manipulating Raquel Leviss
Kent has been one of Leviss’ biggest critics. During the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 reunion, she called her out for sleeping with Sandoval, who was in a live-in relationship with her close friend Ariana Madix at the time. She also told Leviss she needed to be “mentally evaluated.”
But on her podcast, Kent zeroed in on Frankel, whom she accused of doing “absolutely f******” no research at all ahead of her sit down with Leviss.
“Raquel absolutely has that right [to share her story] and I am happy that she finally got to take advantage of a giant platform to tell her story,” Kent said. “I only saw clips and what I gathered from it is Bethenny completely exploited that girl yet again.”
“To me, she sat there and said, ‘this girl is going to be easy to manipulate because I’m Bethenny Frankel,’” Kent said. “It was actually really sad to me.”
“And Rachel being someone who … is very easy to manipulate. You put words out there, and she’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s how I feel,’ [but] it’s like, you don’t,” Kent added. “It felt like Bethenny was really trying to push her in a certain direction.”
“I don’t know why anyone would allow her to do that interview,” she added.
Leviss seemingly trusted Frankel more than anyone from “Vanderpump Rules.” While speaking with the former “Real Housewives of New York City” star, the former beauty pageant contestant revealed that Kent reached out to her on social media after the scandal, but that she shut her down.
“Lala has reached out to me on Instagram saying that she’s willing to lend an ear, and…I don’t know, I just don’t trust that person,” Leviss said. “She has her own agenda.”
In June 2023, Kent told TMZ she wasn’t sure Leviss should be on reality TV after seeing her break down in a taped segment that aired during the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 reunion. “When I watched that, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re maybe dealing with someone who maybe shouldn’t be on this type of platform,’” Kent said of Leviss.
Lala Kent Said Raquel Leviss Could Have Made Money From the Scandal Too
On Frankel’s podcast, Leviss claimed she hasn’t a dime from Scandoval, while her co-stars have all profited from the aftermath of her cheating scandal. Kent, in particular, launched a successful “Send it to Darrell” merch line which poked fun at a message she sent to Leviss about her lawyer.
“The network is running to the bank — like laughing, running to the bank with this scandal and I haven’t seen a single penny,” Leviss said to Frankel. “It’s not fair.”
But Kent took issue with Leviss’ claim. “For her to say everyone capitalized off of this, you could have too,” the Give Them Lala host said. “You could have made shirts that said ‘Captain Steal Your Man’, ‘I don’t give a damn.’ ‘ I’m about to bang your man.’ You could have made sweatshirts that said ‘Good thing you don’t have a man.’”
“Raquel could have made merch, Raquel could have done a lot of things,” Kent said.
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