Ariana Madix reacted to the bombshell Raquel Leviss shared at the Vanderpump Rules reunion.
After Raquel was seen admitting to having sex with Tom Sandoval at his and Ariana’s home while she was out of town attending her grandmother’s funeral, Ariana admitted her attitude has softened toward her former friend as Lala Kent confessed to feeling “dirty” about attacking Raquel during the taping.
“After I left, I felt dirty,” Lala admitted to TMZ of the reunion on June 8. “After watching last night when she had finally had the breakdown, just as a human, it was like, because for me, it’s a reality TV show. I feel like we’re all kind of playing the same game. But when I watched that, I was like, ‘Oh, we may be dealing with someone who maybe shouldn’t be on this type of platform.’”
Following the taping of the Pump Rules reunion in March, Raquel entered a mental health treatment program, where she’s been for nearly 70 days.
“It can be rough and you have to know when you’re on a show like this and you make bad decisions, these are the kind of things that happen, especially when you’re throwing daggers at people while you’re doing something like that,” Lala continued. “[But] I did sit there and go, ‘Oh sh-t, she needs some real help and I’m hoping she got it.’”
With season 11 expected to go into production in the next few weeks, Raquel’s role remains up in the air. However, when it comes to Lala, she believes Raquel “can come back from this.”
“I feel like time has passed,” Lala noted. “I think she needs to isolate and really reflect on what she wants out of life. At the end of the day, yes, it was not a great thing, but you can come back from this. I just want her to do what’s best for her, whether it’s on the show or not on the show.”
Lala is even open to filming with Raquel “if it made sense.”
“We were never really friends but if she were to come into the mix again… I wouldn’t ice her out,” she shared. “But you have to remember, even before this, I didn’t really dig her so I’m sure it would just be like, ‘Hey, how ya doing?’”
As for Ariana, she admitted that she too has softened her attitude toward Raquel after a photographer pointed out that Raquel “seems really hurt by her own actions” and asked her if she felt bad for Raquel a bit.
“Sure, yeah,” Ariana replied, as noted by Page Six.
While Ariana said she’s doing “good” after Wednesday night’s episode, she noted that “it was a lot” to learn that Raquel and Sandoval had hooked up in her home and that Raquel had suggested the three of them become a “throuple.”
“I’m sure you can imagine. … Not great,” Ariana explained of her reaction to Raquel’s reunion bomb.
Also during her chat with the photographer, Ariana revealed she doesn’t “know” if she’d request a raise to film with Sandoval or Raquel, pointing out that the concept is “not up to [her],” said she doesn’t “make those decisions” when asked if the apparent couple should return for season 11, and proclaimed that she’d love to sell her and Sandoval’s house.
“[I’d] love to sell that thing!” she confirmed.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 is expected to begin filming later this month.