Rachel Leviss is breaking her silence for the first time since getting out of rehab, talking about Scandoval, and revealing how she feels she was unfairly labeled as the show's villain despite her castmates pulling off the same conduct in the past.
Leviss sat with 'RHONY' alum Bethenny Frankel on her 'Just B' podcast to explain why she took several months out of the public eye at a mental health facility, saying, "... part of the reason why I wanted to go to a treatment facility was to understand my behaviors and my goal was to really get down to the bottom of, "OK why am I choosing men that are unavailable, why do I keep finding myself in unhealthy relationships, what are the things that I need to change about my behavior?"
Rachel also says she believes it was unfair she took so much hate for her affair with Tom Sandoval, when just about every single other cast member has been involved in cheating.
Leviss says of affairs, "It's bad in normal life, but with producers it's good ... affairs are good for TV."
Then, she turns her attention to Tom and their whirlwind relationship, saying while she felt she was in love with him at the time, she now realizes it wasn't real ... and she doesn't believe he truly loved her, either.
The chat with Bethenny wasn't all defensive, however, saying, "I do want to take a moment though to just acknowledge the hurt that I brought to a lot of people. I was not careful in my actions and I was not thinking long-term. I was completely wrapped up in heartbreak and wanting to get certain needs met."
Rachel also hints at her future with the show, and while she doesn't say it directly, it doesn't sound like she's coming back, stating, "And you mentioned something about the addiction of doing reality TV and the way that they always dangle that carrot in front of you, like, ‘Well, you need to tell your side of the story otherwise it’s gonna be written for you.’ And that’s terrifying. So I almost went back, I know just because of that.”
As we reported, Bethenny is leading the charge in a war against NBC, Bravo and others for what she believes has been the unfair treatment of reality stars over the years -- fueling contestants with booze, ignoring their mental health and adding additional stress.
Unclear if Rachel will join that fight, but we spoke to attorney Bryan Freedman who says he's been contacted by a ton of former stars who all want to join in against the networks.
We covered the drama on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.