Raquel Leviss, James Kennedy. Getty Images(2)
Rachel “Raquel” Leviss dropped some big hints about there being a larger reason behind her split from ex-fiancé James Kennedy.
During the Monday, January 29, episode of her “Rachel Goes Rogue” podcast, Leviss, 29, recalled breaking down on screen while filming season 10 of Vanderpump Rules. Viewers remember Leviss nearly hyperventilating while telling Lala Kent, Katie Maloney and Kristina Kelly about the events that led to the breakup.
“I was really hungover the next day [while filming on the girls’ trip]. And I had anxiety. That conversation that I had with the girls in the car was more of a vulnerable type of conversation that you would normally have with close trusted friends,” Leviss recalled. “And I knew in the back of my mind that these are not safe people for you to bare it all to.”
Leviss said she left a lot of information out about what really led to her ending her engagement to Kennedy, 32.
What once was. After James Kennedy spent three seasons caught up between Kristen Doute and newcomer Lala Kent, many Vanderpump Rules fans were shocked when he introduced his serious girlfriend Raquel Leviss in 2016. The twosome quickly had their relationship put to the test amid multiple resurfaced cheating allegations. After a SUR employee accused Kennedy […]
“I was telling them the story of me planning to break up with James and how I had intentions of leaving the ring box on the counter when he got back from Europe. All of my stuff was going to be gone and I felt like that would be the safest way for me to break up with him,” she continued. “I didn’t go into the details of why we were breaking up and why I couldn’t be with him anymore.”
Kennedy and Leviss dated from 2016 to 2021, which was documented on Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules. During the season 9 reunion in early 2022, Leviss and Kennedy announced their split to their costars.
“We have decided to break off the engagement. It’s been something that I have been thinking about for a while, and I think that James has noticed that my heart hasn’t been fully in it,” Leviss explained at the time. “I didn’t want to give up on him, because he really has shown me how dedicated he is to me and the things that he is willing to do to better himself. But I feel like it is something deep within. I have been having nightmares about our wedding day, and I think that’s a telltale sign that something is wrong.”
Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules won’t just follow the aftermath of Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz’s split. Raquel Leviss and James Kennedy also called it quits in between seasons and aren’t holding back about what happened during their five-year relationship. In the February 2023 premiere, the DJ and Lala Kent drop a bombshell that they […]
One month later, Leviss went on Scheana Shay‘s “Scheananigans” podcast to elaborate on the former couple’s downfall.
“There wasn’t one thing exactly [that led to the split],” she explained in January 2022. “James has always felt like my parents haven’t embraced him into the family the way that he wanted to be. I found myself making excuses for him [after an argument he had with my dad]. It was getting to the point where my family and him were not meshing well.”
Leviss has since walked back her statements about the seemingly amicable split.
“Only a few people know [the real breakup] story. It was also at a time where I didn’t want to tell the world because I didn’t want to ruin his life. That’s really what brought on that panic attack, because I wanted to say these things,” she said on Monday. “There was more to that story, and I was holding myself back and overthinking everything knowing that this isn’t a safe place. That anxiety built up so much that I couldn’t breathe. I felt faint. I couldn’t see. And I just started hyperventilating.”
After calling it quits with Kennedy, Leviss returned in season 10 with her dating life at the center of the show. She was linked to Peter Madrigal, Garcelle Beauvais‘ son Oliver Saunders and Tom Schwartz before her affair with Tom Sandoval made headlines in March 2023.
Leviss checked herself into a mental health facility in the wake of the affair and remained in treatment for 90 days before confirming in August 2023 that she had no plans to return to the reality series.