Lala Kent and Raquel Leviss got off to a rocky start while filming Vanderpump Rules — and the costars never truly recovered.
Before Leviss appeared on the show, Kent made her 2015 debut and immediately struck up a connection with James Kennedy. The pair decided to stay friends after several failed romantic attempts amid his split from Kristen Doute and before her relationship with her now-ex-fiancé, Randall Emmett.
Meanwhile, Leviss started to make guest appearance in 2016 after she began dating Kennedy. The model quickly made it clear that she questioned the friendship between her boyfriend and Kent — but Kennedy continued to deny the duo were anything more than platonic.
Kent and Leviss put their differences aside before Leviss got engaged to Kennedy in season 9, which aired from late 2021 to early 2022. However, the couple surprised their costars when they announced their split at the Bravo series’ reunion.
After filming began on season 10, Us Weekly confirmed that Tom Schwartz hooked up with Leviss at Scheana Shay and Brock Davies‘ August 2022 wedding amid his divorce from Katie Maloney. Viewers saw tension rise between Leviss and her costars when she revealed that she was interested in Schwartz.
As the season continued to air, news broke in March 2023 that Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix called it quits after nearly a decade of dating because he cheated with Leviss. At the time, Kent said she wasn’t shocked by the affair, which prompted Bravo to resume production on the season.
Scroll down to relive Leviss and Kent’s ups and downs:
Kent joined the series in season 4 as a guest before being promoted to main cast member status two years later. Leviss, for her part, made her debut as a guest in season 5 and continued to appear until she became a full-time cast member ahead of season 9.
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During season 6, Leviss confronted Kennedy and Kent about their ongoing flirtation by calling out their bond on screen. The Give Them Lala author, for her part, questioned whether Leviss and Kennedy would go the distance amid their issues.
“It takes a tough bitch to deal with James, and I don’t know that she’s the toughest person,” Lala said. Throughout the next two seasons, Leviss would continue to deny that Kennedy was unfaithful amid cheating rumors.
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After Kent attempted to draw Leviss’ attention to Kennedy’s supposed hookups, the costars got into a fight at SUR in season 7.
“I don’t know that I feel badly for her anymore because it’s like seeing the murder scene and still needing more evidence,” Kent exclusively told Us about Leviss. “It’s like, ‘OK, girl, I can’t even deal.’ Like, you’re killing my brain cells at this point, and I don’t have a lot of those to lose.”
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Kent tried to make amends with Leviss during season 8, but they didn’t fix their issues at the time.
“Raquel, I’m sorry I’ve been an a–hole,” Kent wrote via Instagram before quoting Leviss from the show. “If we can’t all agree Lala’s a bully, we can all agree she’s a bitch.”
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After the duo turned over a new leaf, the former SUR hostess weighed in on Kennedy and Leviss’ split.
“I was very shocked by their breakup. I really thought they were going to get married and have kids and be together forever,” she said during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in January 2022. “Even though I thought James was a huge personality, it is hard to play keep up with someone like James, so that always worried me. But I definitely thought that they would make it.”
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In January 2022, Kennedy joked that he wouldn’t rule out a potential romance with Kent after his engagement to Leviss ended. “We have both done so much growing up — I would love to just continue this beautiful friendship that we do have. Look, I never say never to anything nowadays honestly [after] everything that I have been through,” he said on WWHL. (Kent split from Emmett, with whom she shares daughter Ocean, in November 2021.)
Leviss, for her part, appeared surprised by her ex-fiancé’s comment. “I mean, good luck to them,” she told photographers about the “interesting” statement from Kennedy and Kent’s joint interview.
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“I’m gonna say it. It’s my new favorite. I love them all, but … THIS 👏 ONE 👏 😍 🦌 ,” Kent captioned a March 2023 Instagram announcement about her Give Them Lala Beauty collaboration with Leviss on a new palette.
The product’s name referred to Kent’s past insult about Leviss from season 7.
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During season 10 of Vanderpump Rules, the costars started out on good terms — but a rift formed when Kent admitted to hooking up with Kennedy in the past. The Utah native later put distance between her and Leviss after she started to show interest in Schwartz.
“Really, Lala? You’re going to sit there and judge me for hypothetically making out with Tom Schwartz, yet you slept with my boyfriend while we were together? You’re such a hypocrite,” Leviss said in a confessional about the drama.
In another episode, Kent pointed out that her fling with Kennedy took place more than five years prior, while Leviss was actively pursuing Schwartz. Leviss, for her part, didn’t see their issues in the same light.
“Honestly, if anyone needs to be on edge about you being with their man — you slept with James while we were together,” Leviss said in a March 2023 episode. “But then I shouldn’t trust you around my man because you are the one who slept with my man. I don’t respect that you slept with James while we were together.”
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As Leviss and Kent struggled to find common ground on screen, Us confirmed the beauty pageant contestant’s affair with Sandoval.
Kent admitted that she wasn’t sure how Leviss would recover from the scandal, saying on her “Give Them Lala” podcast, “[Her dating history] feels very climb-y. There’s plenty of dudes to make out with. You gotta get out of the group. For it to be your best friend’s dude it’s just yucky. For her to make a comeback, the group’s never gonna forget. That’s some low-down, dirty stuff.”
She added: “It feels so good when you hate someone and then everyone else gets on that train. It’s a bond that can’t be broken now. I’m like, ‘Finally, y’all got on the train. Toot toot, all aboard!'”
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Ahead of the season 10 reunion, Kent defended her onscreen arguments with Leviss.
“My words are intense. I got that,” she said in an Instagram Story in March 2023, referring to a tumultuous episode. “Things I say at times are completely out of pocket. However, words are words. I’m about actions. Raquel was full of friendly words … her actions, not so much.”
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“I am not talking to Raquel tonight. That bitch is insane. She was cool at first and then she got f—king weird and that’s Raquel,” Kent said in a March 2023 episode of Vanderpump Rules, which filmed in August 2022. “She is the girl that everyone says is real hot but then don’t let her open her mouth because you will want to run.”
Leviss, for her part, didn’t hold back about how “pathetic” she found Kent.
“Obviously I am not a weak f—king bitch,” she said to Scheana ahead of her public fight with the beauty mogul. “You are a bully and you are f—king pathetic. I don’t need this energy in my life. I learned my lesson with James and I finally learned my lesson with you. We will never be friends and we will never see eye to eye. You give off mistress [and] bimbo vibes and I can’t stand it.”
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“This bitch calls me a mistress [and a] bimbo as she is in a pink sarong with six-inch heels at a pool party in Valley Village. She looked like a baby prostitute,” Kent said in a March 2023 episode about her issues with Leviss. “When she was yelling at me while standing [at my side], I was like, ‘I am literally having a conversation with your vagina. Can you please back the f—k up?'”
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“I felt like Lala didn’t have any respect for me,” Leviss shared in the final part of the season 10 reunion, which aired in June 2023. “She resented me because she loved the attention that James gave her and since I stepped into the picture that attention wasn’t on her anymore.”
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Kent defended her feud with Leviss after facing backlash from some Vanderpump Rules fans for her comments at the season 10 reunion.
“Where I felt for Raquel was, when you’re filming a reality show, in my mind, every single person is mentally equipped to handle whatever is going to come out of my mouth,” the beauty mogul said during a June 2023 episode of her “Give Them Lala” podcast. “The second you throw someone in there that cannot handle it, you’re making it so I can’t go and do my job.”
She added: “You’re coming to the reunion to answer for what has happened. I’m not going to censor myself. If this isn’t the place for you because your mind can’t handle it, you shouldn’t be here.”
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During the Vanderpump Rules season 11 premiere, which aired in January 2024, Kent attempted to get in contact with Leviss.
“I’m feeling a lot of different ways about this Raquel situation. Raquel said, ‘If I go against Tom, I don’t have anybody.’ What I can relate to is feeling isolated,” Kent said while reflecting on her tumultuous relationship with ex Randall Emmett. “I know what it is like to have a man in front of you painting a beautiful picture and saying, ‘You’re The One for me. You’re my soulmate.’ You see what your future could be with this person and you’re willing to f—king risk it all. So much so that I ignored everyone around me.”
Viewers got a glimpse at the message Kent sent later in the episode. “Hey Raquel, I’m sure I am the last person you expected to hear from,” Kent said. “I hope that you’re doing OK. I don’t know if you are back in L.A. or not but I would like to have a conversation with you at some point if you are open to that. Hope to talk to you soon.”
Before the scene aired, Kent admitted to Us that she regretted the decision after hearing about Leviss’ tell-all interview.
“I would not have reached out to her had I known that the Bethenny Frankel podcast was going to happen. I thought that this girl was just wanting to go and live in a small town, work in a cubicle and just fade into the background,” she told Us earlier that month. “I thought, ‘You know what? If that’s the life she wants, I want her to know that things happen and I hope that you can live peacefully and not wear this. Then the podcast came out with Bethenny [Frankel], and I was like, ‘I’m very grateful that you did not respond.'”
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