Rachel Leviss Says Infamous Kiss With Tom Schwartz Was 'Staged,' He Knew About Affair With Tom Sandoval
The cat is out of the bag, as Rachel "Raquel" Leviss revealed details of her infamous kiss with Tom Schwartz while going out with his BFF Tom Sandoval. The reality star admitted it was 'definitely staged and definitely produced' in her new iHeartRadio podcast.
On her latest episode of the podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue, the Vanderpump Rules star said that the kiss was part of an 'inside joke.' She revealed that apparently, fans of the reality show were convinced the two locked lips at Coachella. So, they thought of staging it for season 10. Leviss said, "A little seed [was] planted in my head that, oh, like, that could be a fun storyline for season 10, and because we're both single, and so when I made that move, he turned it down, and I was like, 'Okay, that's that.' Like, I'm not going to try again because it was stupid to begin with, and he clearly wasn't into it," as reported by the Daily Mail.
At the time of the kiss, Schwartz had divorced Katie Maloney, and Leviss was secretly dating Sandoval. She also claimed the 41-year-old TV personality was aware of her love affair with Sandoval 'from the very beginning.' She also mentioned that he couldn't kiss her without Sandoval's permission.
"I don't think he would do it without Sandoval being okay with it," said Leviss, adding that they went ahead and kissed with Schwartz "knowing that I had a thing with Sandoval." She also alleged that the model "was in on it and definitely okay with it." In fact, after the 'staged kiss' was successfully over, he even celebrated it by opening beers for her and Schwartz.
Meanwhile, Schwartz denied that he knew about Leviss' affair with Sandoval. But during a sit-down interview in Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, he revealed, "Tom was having, like, a midlife crisis. I learned in August, in late August, about the affair, the one-night stand—allegedly," as reported by People. He continued, "There was a lot of grey area there," adding, "From my point of view, it became, like, an emotional affair—which is still inappropriate." However, Cohen pointed out that at the Vanderpump Rules reunion, Schwartz claimed he didn't know about the affair until early 2023.
He clarified, "In January, Tom came to me … and he told me that he was in love with Raquel. I was flabbergasted." Since then, the affair had become an 'open secret' between the BFFs and their business partners. Schwartz claimed he was "being fed a narrative that [Tom] has broken up with Ariana, or attempted to multiple times—many, many times. And he's not happy; they're not healthy."
To add to the complexities, the kiss ruined Leviss' friendship with Schwartz's wife, Maloney. She threatened the beauty queen not to get involved with her man and 'put up boundaries.' Although Leviss wanted to respect that, the show's makers stepped in and reminded her that 'they're making a reality show.'