Rachel refused to be friends with her former lover because he allegedly manipulated her into thinking it was her 'responsibility to maintain his emotional needs.'
- Feb 3, 2024
AceShowbiz - Rachel Leviss is unlikely to be friends with Tom Sandoval. The 29-year-old beauty and Tom, 40, landed at the centre of a high-profile cheating scandal in 2023, and Rachel has insisted that she's now moved on with her life, after they cut ties with each other.
"It's so clear to me now [why I wouldn't be]. But back then I was still in communication with him but trying to distance myself and not call him from the Meadows," the former "Vanderpump Rules" star - who spent time in a mental health facility last year, after the scandal broke - said on her "Rachel Goes Rogue" podcast.
Rachel and Tom were initially in constant communication while she was at the facility. But ultimately, Rachel determined that their interactions were actually doing her more harm than good.
She explained, "We had scheduled phone times in this inpatient trauma therapy centre. Then if I didn't reach out to him one or two days, he would be upset by it. And [he would] really kind of take out his frustration on me and so it made me feel like I had a responsibility to maintain his emotional needs."
According to Rachel, Tom's behaviour made her feel guilty for working on herself. She shared, "That just reveals the type of person that he is. Knowing how important mental health has become in my life and how much of a priority that is to me, there’s no question that Sandoval and I will never be friends again."
Tom split from Ariana Madix after news of the affair emerged, and Rachel previously took to social media to apologise. She wrote on Instagram, "I want to apologize for my actions and my choices foremost to Ariana, and to my friends and the fans so invested in our relationships. There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret hurting Ariana (sic)."
