Rachel Leviss is speaking out on Tom Sandoval‘s bombshell New York Times interview, after the latter compared their “Scandoval” drama to the O.J. Simpson trial and the death of George Floyd.
“It is very interesting to say the least,” Leviss says of Sandoval’s controversial comments in this week’s episode of her iHeart podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue. “There’s a few takeaways for me, one of them just really showing how Tom is living in this hyper reality state.”
She continued, “I think we can all agree that Scandoval doesn’t even come close in comparison with O.J. Simpson or George Floyd. These were tragedies, one [of] which sparked a huge movement.”
The 29-year-old Vanderpump Rules alum added, “It goes to show that Tom is really in his own reality.”
Earlier this month, TheNew York Times published a story in which Sandoval, 40, shared what it was like for him to live through the media firestorm after news of his affair with Leviss became public in 2023. Sandoval was in a long-term relationship with Ariana Madix at the time and the whole ordeal played out as their Bravo show, Vanderpump Rules, was airing its 10th season.
“I’m not a pop-culture historian really,” he told the outlet, “but I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?”
Simpson, a former football player and broadcaster, was at the center of a highly publicized murder trial after he was suspected of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges but later held liable for both deaths in a 1997 civil suit.
Floyd was a Black man whose murder by a white Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 sparked nationwide protests over police brutality and led to the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes.
Sandoval later apologized for the comparison and attempted to clarify his comments in a statement to ET.
“My intentions behind the comments I made in New York Times Magazine were to explain the level of national media attention my affair received. The comparison was inappropriate and ignorant. I’m incredibly sorry and embarrassed,” he said.
Despite her decision not to return to the show, Leviss has been offering commentary on Vanderpump Rules‘ current season on her podcast while her former co-stars work through the fallout of Scandoval on camera for Bravo.
“We handled the situation very differently and I think it’s very interesting to see how the public has kind of reacted to the way that we’ve handled the situation,” Leviss says on Rachel Goes Rogue.
“First of all, it was like, I’m running away from my problems and Tom is actually going back and facing it and holding up to his filming obligation,” she explains. “But after the New York Times article, people are starting to see how toxic and dark reality TV is and how detrimental it can be to your mental health if you’re not able to take time away to process through your life.”
Leviss continues to take Lisa Vanderpump to task over her role in ensuring that Sandoval’s mental health is taken care of — a sentiment that Madix had previously expressed.
“I agree with Ariana,” Leviss says. “If Lisa is actually concerned about Tom’s mental health, then maybe she does have a responsibility to get him mental healthcare.”
She calls the ongoing discussion around his state of mind “icky,” and suggests that producers are using it for a “storyline.”
As for Sandoval, who was recently declared a “pure narcissist” in a Saturday Night Live sketch, Leviss speculates that he has “probably been advised not to speak.”
“It just seems like every time he opens his mouth, he digs himself a little bit deeper,” she says. “I think now that this has gotten so big, will he ever take accountability? I don’t know.”
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