Lisa Vanderpump clapped back at Rachel “Raquel” Leviss for saying she would only return to “Vanderpump Rules” if they paid for her therapy.
“She said that, but I think she has had a therapist on hand the whole time through filming,” Vanderpump told Us Weekly in an interview shared Thursday.
The “Vanderpump Rules” matriarch added that Bravo was “very cognizant” of the cast member’s needs and “being there even when you’re filming, saying somebody’s available for you to talk to.”
Leviss, 29, previously starred on the hit Bravo show but chose not to return for Season 11 amid backlash for her affair with co-star, and Ariana Madix’s then-boyfriend, Tom Sandoval.
Even though Leviss is now expressing interest in returning for Season 12, Vanderpump doesn’t think it’d make sense for her to rejoin the cast.
“It’s hard to integrate somebody into a situation [like this]. As I say, you can never say never … but she’s had a lot of negative things to say about ‘Vanderpump Rules,’ about producers [and] about NBC. So, I think we can safely say that ship has sailed,” Vanderpump, 63, admitted.
“It would take all-expenses paid therapy,” Leviss previously told Us Weekly when discussing what it would take for her to go back to the show.
“I would need a therapist on call and therapy sessions after every single filming session! I just don’t know if I see a path forward because it’s not a healthy dynamic. I’m trying to protect my mental health and I’m trying to live an authentic life.”
A source for Leviss told Page Six in a statement on Friday, “To be clear, the quote was taken out of context, and Rachel has no interest in returning to the show. She was conveying the impossibility of such a scenario, not opening the door to it.
“As for the working environment when she was a member of the cast, it is simply false that she (or her castmates) received mental health support. It defies credibility to suggest, after what has come out, that Bravo cares for the well-being of its unscripted cast.”
While Leviss truly believes her time on “Vanderpump Rules” is “complete,” she’s not ruling out a return to reality TV altogether.
She teased that she could see herself “doing a competition show.”
“We can reassess in a few years and see what the next projects are,” she told the outlet.
Despite not returning for Season 11 of the Emmy nominated show, Leviss has continued to discuss both her affair and her former friends on her podcast, “Rachel Goes Rogue.”
Leviss has used her platform to call out several of her former friends –– including slamming Sandoval for playing the “victim” and claiming Vanderpump was “victim-shaming” her for suing Madix, 39, and Sandoval, 41.
In February, Leviss claimed Sandoval recorded an intimate video of her without her consent and subsequently sued him for revenge porn, eavesdropping, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
Leviss included Madix in the lawsuit for allegedly going through Sandoval’s phone to find the video and share it.
The former beauty pageant queen will continue to fight the legal battle from afar, since she has moved back to her home state of Arizona after briefly spending some time in a mental health facility.
