Rachel Leviss is about to celebrate one year of sobriety.
Rachel Leviss has been sober for almost exactly a year
The 29-year-old reality star has been turning to a string of healthy activities in recent months and revealed that Wednesday (03.04.24) will mark the first anniversary of the day she stopped drinking alcohol.
She told E! News: "I've been diving right into hot yoga. I'm doing Pilates, hiking, just staying really active, so that my mind doesn't go spinning. I am almost a year sober. I'll be a year sober on Wednesday. So, it's a huge accomplishment. And I'm just really proud of how far I've come.
The 'Vanderpump Rules' star - who spent some time in a rehabilitation clinic for the sake of her mental health just before going sober - is hoping to share what she has learned about herself amid the health kick and wants to make sure that her fans can "relate" to her through her new podcast 'Rachel Goes Rogue' after cutting down on her social media usage.
She added: "[I avoid doom scrolling] except for a select few that are a little bit more biased towards my side, because I like to at least know that my voice is being heard.
"Just sharing what I've learned about myself through this journey.
"And hopefully helping other people who have been through abusive relationships, toxic friend groups, that can relate to what I'm talking about. I feel like [the podcast] given me my power back. And I just feel empowered doing it."
During her time on the hit reality show, Rachel left her co-star and BFF Ariana Madix, devastated after it was revealed she had been carrying on an affair with Ariana's boyfriend Tom Sandoval, 40, for several months.
Following the revelations, she admitted that alcohol had played a major part in her personal decisions.
Speaking to Bethenny Frankel on her podcast 'Just B with Bethenny Frankel', she said: "When I was filming, I was drinking a lot to ease that anxiety and in a reality TV environment, I wasn’t getting that safe space for me to express my emotions in a healthy way."
When Bethenny told Rachel - who was previously knows as Raquel - that she felt she had been "exploited", Rachel said: "It’s so nice to have you validate that experience because for a moment I thought I was going crazy. And it’s true, reality TV is edited, it is contrived to create a certain storyline. So it’s not all factual.
"As a viewer tuning in, it’s easy to get wrapped up in that. Then the concept of an affair hits really hard to a lot of people. So I think there was a lot of projection happening, a lot of emotions that came up for people, and unfortunately I was the punching bag for a lot of that."