On the day before the cameras are set to start rolling, Raquel Leviss’ future on Vanderpump Rules still remains uncertain in the wake of her affair with costar Tom Sandoval.
“Raquel is currently in talks about returning for the next season of Vanderpump Rules. However, she hasn’t decided whether or not she wants to come back to the show,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.
The insider added that the former pageant queen, 28 — who checked herself into a mental health treatment facility in April — is “still getting treatment at the mental health facility and that continues to be her priority.” The source emphasized that “nothing has been confirmed yet other than the fact that she’s in negotiations about returning [to the Bravo reality series].”
Raquel drew backlash from Pump Rules fans and cast members alike when her months-long affair with Sandoval, 40, came to light in March. Us confirmed at the time that the TomTom cofounder and Ariana Madix called it quits after nine years of dating due to the cheating scandal.
One month after Raquel faced her costars during part 3 of the Pump Rules season 10 reunion, which filmed in March and aired earlier this month, the California native took a step back from the spotlight to focus on her mental health.
“Raquel and her family decided before the relationship was discovered that she would enter a voluntary facility for mental health counseling,” a rep for Raquel told Us in a statement in April. “Raquel had planned to admit herself before the VPR reunion was taped on March 23. She was scheduled to go in pre-reunion but decided she wanted to finish her filming commitment. Bravo and production were aware and in support of her journey towards better mental health.”
Although the former Miss Sonoma County and Sandoval both said they were “in love” with each other during the reunion, the pair have refrained from labeling their relationship.
“I don’t want to label anything or predict what lies ahead. Right now I need to heal,” Raquel wrote via Instagram in March, acknowledging the “indefensible circumstances” of their romance.
The Schwartz & Sandy’s entrepreneur, for his part, echoed the sentiment during an April appearance on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast. “We’re really good friends. We’re not putting any label on it,” he told Howie Mandel at the time.
Raquel isn’t the only Pump Rules personality on the fence about returning to the show post-Scandoval. Charli Burnett said during an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this month that the thought of filming with Raquel and Sandoval was off-putting.
“I am Ariana’s friend and I’m very upset with everything that’s going on,” she told the outlet. “So, I feel like filming next season would be very, very weird and really stressful.”
Although Raquel remains at a treatment facility for the time being, several cast members are gearing up to resume filming sooner rather than later as filming for season 11 begins on Wednesday, June 28.
“It’s giving me anxiety,” Lala Kent said of the show starting again during a Monday, June 26, livestream via Amazon. “I’m just like, ‘Oh, we’re really in it again.’ We usually have so much time to process — things change a lot — but nope.”
Vanderpump Rules also stars Katie Maloney, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay, James Kennedy and Lisa Vanderpump.
