Rachel Leviss‘ publicist is speaking out — and she’s got a HOT TAKE on Scandoval!!
In the new episode of Rachel Goes Rogue on Friday, the former Bravo star took a backseat and let her PR expert Juliette Harris get behind the mic during an interview with entertainment journalist Lanae Brody. Shockingly, Juliette blamed the entire Vanderpump Rules fiasco on Ariana Madix — who she thinks knew about the cheating scandal earlier than she let on and was in on the whole thing. Yes, this PR expert is one of those conspiracy theorists!
Related: Ariana Madix Has A New Gig — Replacing Sarah Hyland On Love Island!
Harris was adamant about the fact that she doesn’t think Ariana was as surprised about the affair as she wanted everyone to believe. In fact, she thinks the Chicago star helped stage the whole thing for ratings! Recalling how Scandoval first broke (when Ariana picked up Tom Sandoval‘s phone while he was performing with his band to find evidence of the affair), she claimed:
“My theory is not going to be a popular one but I stand by it, and I will go to my grave believing it. The Bravo sleuths are super sleuths, but women as a whole [are] pretty good at sleuthing. If I think my husband is cheating and I can walk right over to his side of the bed when he’s asleep and can check his phone because clearly she had his password. When you drop your phone it doesn’t unlock, so she had to unlock it. She unlocked it, if the story is true, to check it at that moment, why, if you suspect anything at any time.”
Blaming Ariana for not looking at her phone sooner is WILD!!! Besides, just ‘cause she could’ve checked his phone at any time doesn’t mean she wanted to! But on that now-infamous night, the reality star finally got the urge. Nothing necessarily too odd about that! But the publicist clearly doesn’t agree! She argued:
“I don’t believe that, I don’t believe that’s how it happened. I believe that was propped and sent, I don’t know, maybe she thought the day before and she told production and off they went. If you think your partner is cheating and you have access to their phone 24 hours a day, wait until they are asleep, wait until they go to the bathroom, go look at the phone, she had his password. So I don’t buy it fell out of his pocket and I look at it, I think it was set up for the whole thing.”
But, like, this wasn’t Summer House! There were NO cameras around for this dramatic reveal — so how the heck would this have been a good “set up”? If Ariana had called production, they 100% would’ve wanted this all on camera! Instead, one-half of the cast was in California while Rachel and Scheana Shay were out in New York. Production for the season was already over, anyways. So, it wasn’t ideal for the crew at all! If they were going to stage this, they would’ve done it weeks earlier.
And besides, Ariana’s emotions were raw AF once the affair was common knowledge! There’s no way she orchestrated this! The girl was (and continues to be) pissed about it! But Ariana’s not the only one who Juliette blasted! She also set her sights on Tom, bashing him for the way he only considered his and Leviss’ “brand” after the fact. Recalling a conversation she shared with the lovers and Tom’s publicist, the podcast guest said:
“Immediately talking to him and listening to him and all he kept saying is ‘my brand, our brand’ and I was like ‘Excuse me, you’re thinking of a brand and I am thinking of a human that’s about to go into a mental health facility, but you do you.'”
According to Harris, the bar owner tried to stop his then-hookup from seeking help and pursuing her own path at the time, which apparently showed just how possessive he was of her. That is, until he realized he wasn’t gonna get his way. So, frustrated that Rachel was headed off for mental health help and that he wasn’t going to have access to her, Tom decided to cut ties! Juliette recalled:
“He got so frustrated and he blew a gasket and was like ‘I’m not going to protect her anymore, I’m out here by myself, it’s them against me, I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m going to do what I have to do,’ then hung up the phone.”
Harsh! And not the first time we’ve heard those allegations. Oof. Elsewhere, Juliette also admitted that having her client sit down on the Bethenny Frankel podcast was a “strategic move” to reclaim the narrative. Too bad that kinda backfired on her, too!
We guess we shouldn’t be surprised Rachel has someone in her corner who doesn’t think she’s the main one to blame for this mess, but it’s still shocking!! Thoughts? Sound OFF (below)!