Rachel Leviss wants more "ethical reality TV"

Former Vanderpump Rules star Rachel (Raquel) Leviss has been in the headlines again and this time, it's not because of anything that's happening in season 11 of the Bravo series. Even though she has people talking about Scandoval again, Rachel says that having a podcast that reveals her side of the cheating scandal and her relationship with Tom Sandoval isn't just because she wants to be part of the drama again.

In the February 4 episode of her podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue, Rachel talks about the season 11 premiere of Vanderpump Rules. According to the former reality TV star, she wants the people on these shows to be more open about what's going on behind the scenes of the show and she's hoping that her podcast can create a more "ethical" relationship between reality TV stars and its viewers.

"My purpose for doing that isn't to just be in the drama necessarily... I want to create a healthier environment for people watching reality TV. I want to be a part of creating ethical reality TV. And I think a part of that is educating people who are watching these shows about what we're actually consuming"

According to the episode, not returning to the show for season 11 is because of the fact that she felt like there was a fracture in her relationship with the rest of the Vanderpump Rules cast following the news of her affair with Tom Sandoval breaking. In the episode -- during which Rachel is joined by Susan Zinn, a clinical counselor and trauma specialist -- Rachel says that she felt like she lost the support of anyone else in the cast and that returning to film with them would have put her on the defensive.

"And that's part of the reason why I didn't go back, because I knew that I wouldn't be welcomed back and it would put me in that position of feeling fight, flight or freeze, having that extreme response and then once again only having Tom as the person that I could confide in," she revealed on the podcast. Following the news of the scandal, Rachel Leviss was open about the fact that she was choosing to focus on her own mental health and better herself, which she cited as her reason for departing the show.

During the previous episode of her podcast, Rachel had opened up more about her and Tom Sandoval's relationship post-Scandoval. In the episode, Rachel accused Sandoval of calling her "selfish" for seeking mental health treatment at a facility in Arizona.

"[He said] that I'm running away from my problems and that I'm dependent on this place that's basically an assisted living facility — like, really guilt-tripping me and saying that I left him to deal with all the fodder and I'm just running away," she said in the episode.

According to Rachel Leviss, things like this are the reason that she wasn't able to keep her relationship with Tom Sandoval going after she chose to leave Vanderpump Rules and without the support of anyone else in the cast, she didn't feel like there was a place there for her.