Heavy/Getty Raquel Leviss.
Rachel “Raquel” Leviss made a New Year’s resolution to be a “better friend.”
Nearly one year after her shocking affair with her friend Ariana Madix’s boyfriend, Tom Sandoval, was uncovered, the former “Vanderpump Rules” star has set serious intentions for 2024.
Here’s what you need to know:
Raquel Leviss Looked Back at Her Difficult Year & Vowed to Do Better
In a New Year’s Eve photo shared to Instagram, Leviss, 29, posed smiling with her eyes closed. She captioned the lighthearted snap with a brief recap of her rocky year, which included a two-month stay in a mental health treatment center, and a thank you to those who did not abandon her following her cheating scandal.
“2023 hands down has been the hardest year yet,” Leviss wrote, adding that her life and bad decision-making “had become completely unmanageable” in 2023 and that she “needed” to get help.
“I’m so blessed I was able to get the help I needed,” she wrote. “Now, I finally feel like I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. As we set intentions into the new year, I vow to be a better friend to the ones close in my life. To those that have stood by me through my darkest days, I will always remember and cherish you. Eternally grateful for a second chance. Here’s to an epic 2024!”
Leviss’ post received supportive comments from many of her followers.
“Onward and upward baby!! ❤️🔥 I’m so proud of you. Happy New Year!” wrote fellow “Vanderpump Rules” alum Israel Isaac.
Other fans told Leviss they are “rooting” for her as she embarks on her next chapter without “Vanderpump Rules.”
“Several of those cast mates were not your true friends,” one fan wrote. “Those of us who watched from the beginning know better. Go be happy, Rachel… you deserve every good thing that comes your way!❤️”
Raquel Leviss Lost a Lot of Friends in 2023
Nicole Weingart/BravoRaquel Leviss and Scheana Shay in “Vanderpump Rules” season 10.
Leviss’ Instagram page no longer includes photos of her with the “Vanderpump Rules” cast. She has been vocal about the fact that she lost a lot of friends after it was discovered that she had a seven-month affair with Sandoval. In a confessional that aired during the “Vanderpump Rules” season 10 finale, Leviss even admitted that she slept in Sandoval’s bed while his live-in girlfriend Madix traveled across the country to her grandmother’s funeral.
In an interview on Bethenny Frankel’s “Just B” podcast, Leviss shared that many of her Los Angeles friends betrayed her following the affair by leaking stories to the press. “My childhood friends are the only people that I can talk to and trust, unfortunately,” she told Frankel. “I don’t have friends in L.A. anymore.”
Madix previously claimed that Leviss was one of her best friends. But Leviss downplayed their closeness to Frankel. “Ariana and I were not best friends,” she said. “We were acquaintances who became friends through the show. “We never had, like, a deep conversation that I would have with a best friend.”
Leviss also claimed that she “never” saw Madix when Bravo cameras weren’t filming them for “Vanderpump Rules.”
In August 2023, Madix told the “Scheananigans With Scheana Shay” podcast that Leviss’ denial of their friendship was “another twist of the knife.”
“That was very hurtful,” Madix said. “That is a very obvious lie. …I was very much under the impression that we were, like, really good friends. …I think overall, it’s kind of heartbreaking to think that thw years of friendship we thought we were building with this person feels that on her end it wasn’t genuinely reciprocated.”
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