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Lala Kent believes Raquel Leviss was “completely exploited” and used to push a narrative on Bethenny Frankel‘s podcast.
On the latest episode of her own podcast, the Vanderpump Rules cast member, 32, reacted to Raquel’s three-part interview with the Real Housewives of New York City alum, 52, expressing her disappointment, calling out Raquel’s lie about their girls’ trip to Las Vegas, and explaining her decision to capitalize on “Scandoval” when Raquel, 28, refrained.
“Raquel is who she is. I think everyone needs to put their weapons down. Let her go and do what she needs to do,” Lala advised on the August 23 episode of Give Them Lala. “She’s clearly got Bethenny Frankel guiding her and I think you just keep them at bay.”
Although it has been suggested that Bethenny did not pay Raquel for the interview, Lala suspects she did — eventually.
“I bet she didn’t and then when people started making comments about that, she probably did,” Lala reasoned.
Throughout her interview with the RHONY alum, Raquel made it clear that while some benefited from the scandal that erupted over her months-long affair with Tom Sandoval, 40, she was left in debt with a dead brand and no opportunities. But as Lala noted, Raquel “could’ve done a lot of things.”
“Raquel could’ve made merch … I made money because I say funny sh*t. [So] for her to say everyone capitalized off this, you could have too. You could’ve made shirts that said ‘Captain Steal Your Man,’ ‘I Don’t Give a Damn, I’m About to Bang Your Man.’ You could’ve made sweatshirts that said, ‘Good Thing You Don’t Have a Man.’ Hello? There were so many things.”
As Pump Rules fans will recall, Raquel shaded Lala in Vegas for not having a man after she suggested Raquel couldn’t be trusted.
“You can’t be upset when people decide to make moves and capitalize on a moment that’s never gonna come around again,” Lala continued. “That’s not disturbing. That’s called being a smart person.”
On Bethenny’s podcast, Raquel had said it was “disturbing” that Lala had made money off her “Send It To Darrell” sweatshirts, which poked fun at the letter of cease and desist Raquel had sent the cast in an effort to keep them from potentially sharing a clip of an NSFW FaceTime session she had with Sandoval.
Looking back, Lala said she’s most angered by the fact that Raquel was a favorite of many Pump Rules viewers — and that she had an opportunity to start a business of her own that she didn’t take.
“She had such a brilliant idea about this line she wanted to start and I was like, ‘I have an amazing place that can help you get that started… Let’s do this,’” Lala revealed. “The only person to blame is you. You can point the finger all day long. The ultimate decision was up to you.”
According to Lala, she doesn’t believe Raquel is someone who fully understands consequences, especially when it comes to the drama surrounding her former dog, Graham.
“Like, to say that it’s disgusting that Graham is being used as a storyline, b*tch what are you talking about? We’re filming our real lives. You gave your dog up. James was called. It’s happening during filming. We are filming our real lives,” she noted.
Lala also targeted Bethenny’s lack of research ahead of the interview, saying she did “absolutely f*cking none.”
She then fired back at Raquel for claiming she and Kristina Kelly, 35, applauded her for her performance against them in Las Vegas.
“That never happened,” Lala confirmed. “Raquel that night, after she said, ‘Good thing you don’t have a man,’ went to her bedroom, went to sleep [and] the next morning when you guys see her come into our room and she sits down and feels embarrassed, that was the first time we’d seen her. There was no, we came into her room, told her she was reality TV ratings gold. This never happened and this is not perspective. This is fact. No one ever said this to you, ever.”
Speaking of Bethenny’s three podcast episodes, Lala admitted they were “a hit” and that “a lot of people listened,” which is amazing.
“I say all the time that there are going to be moments where our voice is all we have. We have all been able to go onto a platform, whether it’s our own or someone else’s to share our side of any story. Raquel absolutely has that right and I’m happy that she finally got to take advantage of a giant platform to tell her story,” she began.
Although Lala only saw clips, she came to a bold conclusion.
“Bethenny completely exploited that girl yet again,” she alleged. “To me, she sat there and said, ‘You know what? This girl is going to be easy to manipulate because I’m Bethenny Frankel. She’s floundering.. Her story is crazy, even though she brought it upon herself and this is going to be the perfect way for me to place her in the narrative that I’m trying to create.’”
As Bravo fans well know, Bethenny has been calling for reality stars to unionize for weeks while also taking aim at the network for exploiting its talent for profit.
“It was actually really sad to me because I really liked Bethenny Frankel. I felt like everything she said always made sense, she was a great arguer, she was extremely intelligent, what she built, and then with this, it was like, we’re all over the place and I think someone needs to intervene because I don’t even think you know what’s going on with reality, not just reality TV,” Lala went on.
After taking aim at Bethenny, Lala stated that reality television is not for everyone, describing it as a “very intense environment” that can break someone down if they aren’t “mentally tough as f*ck.”
While Lala couldn’t say whether or not Raquel was a victim of something, she said she does know that Raquel made a series of questionable life choices.
“You made a choice to sleep with your best friend [Ariana Madix]’s partner of 10 years. You did not have to do that. No one was forcing you to do it. No one asked you to do it,” Lala stated. “I feel like Bethenny really tried to push her in a certain direction, and Raquel, being someone who, I don’t know if she got a diagnosis from that facility or not, she’s very easy to manipulate. You’re being told to feel a certain way and you’re being guided in a direction that I don’t think is healthy for you.”
Because she believes Raquel is “very vulnerable” right now, Lala said she doesn’t know why anyone would allow her to do that interview.
“I’m all about being a voice for the voiceless but we’re all grown-ass people who a contract is placed in front of us, we know the drill, we know what we’re signing up for. We’re signing up to show our real lives,” she shared.
“The silver lining is Raquel got a chance to have her voice heard. We all deserve that right, even if you didn’t like what she said, we all get that right to use our voice,” she added.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 is expected to start airing on Bravo sometime later this year or in early 2024.