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Oct 10, 2023

VPR's Raquel Leviss Confirms Lightning Bolt Necklace Was for Tom Sandoval

The reality star confirmed fans' suspicions that she bought the new bling due to

The reality star confirmed fans' suspicions that she bought the new bling due to her close connection to Tom

Raquel Leviss finally answered one burning question that's been on fans’ minds since news of her affair with costar Tom Sandoval broke in March.

During part 3 of the much-anticipated season 10 reunion of Vanderpump Rules — which aired on Bravo on Wednesday — the reality star, 28, addressed rumors that she bought a lightning bolt necklace to match the one famously worn by Sandoval, 40, with whom she secretly engaged in a months-long affair while he was in a committed relationship with Ariana Madix.

When host Andy Cohen asked if the necklace has "the meaning we all think it does," she confirmed that she decided to get the piece because it "was significant to who [Sandoval] became in my life."

"I know that's not what anyone wants to hear," she added, prompting a strong reaction from her costars. Her ex-fiancé, James Kennedy, stepped in to say how "gross" the situation was, while Lisa Vanderpump, 62, expressed complete disbelief.

"I don't understand this, because you knew it was on camera," she exclaimed. "It was so provocative. It's just ... [why not have] the conversation with Ariana? It's almost like in your mind you were in some pageant like you were acting a part competing with these other women."

Leviss admitted that it was difficult to watch the scene in which she and a friend are browsing a jewelry display and she selects a lightning bolt necklace. "I was cringing so hard watching that back," she said.

Vanderpump still wasn't satisfied after Leviss confessed to feeling uncomfortable about her choice to flaunt the necklace purchase on camera. "How did you feel? When you looked [Ariana] in the eyes — this person who has loved you and defended you," she asked, to which Leviss responded, "I feel like a piece of s---."

Vanderpump added: "To me, that's the most mind-boggling, gob-smacking, astounding piece of film I have ever seen!"

Bravo

The conversation confirmed what many viewers had already suspected. Shortly after the cheating scandal — dubbed Scandoval — went public, eagle-eyed fans on Reddit pointed out that Leviss and Sandoval had been separately spotted over the past several months each wearing a lightning bolt necklace. In a thread titled ‘Both Raquel and Tom wearing a lightning bolt necklace…. Coincidence or Hinting??’ fans discussed the theory that the necklace possibly had a deeper meaning.

While Sandoval sports his necklace daily, Leviss was spotted wearing hers only sporadically. She did notably wear it at October's BravoCon, which Madix also attended. According to Page Six, her piece is a gold lightning bolt pendant from Caitlin Nicole Jewelry. Tom's pendant is inspired by the logo for both his bar TomTom and his band, Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras.

Adding to the strangeness of the situation, Scheana Shay's husband, Brock Davies, revealed last month on the couple's podcast, When Reality Hits, that Leviss sent a postcard with a lightning bolt on it to Sandoval and Madix's shared home. "The postcard was Sedona [Ariz.] with a lightning bolt in Sedona, and she sends a postcard, so it's there for her [Madix] to read," he said, per Page Six, calling Leviss "calculating."

"It was a postcard, it wasn't a f------ closed envelope. It was because she wanted you guys to read it — are you kidding me?" he added.

Vanderpump Rules streams in full on Peacock.