Vanderpump Rules’ Raquel Leviss Changes Name to Rachel on IG

Credit: Instagram

Raquel Leviss has returned to her birth name, “Rachel,” on Instagram.

Weeks after confirming on Bethenny Frankel‘s podcast that she was going “back to her roots” and starting to go by “Rachel” once again, the Vanderpump Rules alum, 29, who quit the show in August, updated her Instagram bio to reflect her moniker and revealed she’s in her “healing era.”

“I’m really just trying to come back to my roots, and I am introducing myself as Rachel,” Raquel announced on Just B With Bethenny, noting that she “wasn’t comfortable” in her own skin and “wanted to be somebody better.”

As Pump Rules fans will recall, Raquel underwent three months of mental health treatment at The Meadows in Arizona after her months-long affair with Tom Sandoval, 40, the now-ex-boyfriend of her close friend and castmate, Ariana Madix, 38, was uncovered.

Also on the podcast, Raquel explained how her nickname came about.

“There were a few other Rachels in my class, and I wanted to be special,” she shared. “The name has stuck ever since. My friends always called me Raquel, and my family calls me Rachel, so I respond to both.”

Months after her revelations, Page Six confirmed Raquel had made her return to the name “Rachel” official on her social media account.

“Raquel Leviss has officially changed her Instagram username to her legal name, Rachel Leviss, after deciding to go by Rachel,” the outlet announced on Instagram on September 18.

As she updated her Instagram bio and username to reflect the name “Rachel Leviss,” Raquel also added a phrase, which said she is in her “healing era.”

While Raquel had been in talks for a potential return to Pump Rules, she told Bethenny, 52, on her podcast that she’d opted out months into production.

“I refuse to not respect myself on that level where I would endure that emotional abuse any longer,” she explained. “I can’t do that to myself. They want me back [but] I know that other people on the cast are more important than I am so I don’t even think that I would get a redemption arc… I also know that I wouldn’t be able to share all of my story.”

Raquel was also unwilling to return for less than what her co-stars, specifically Sandoval and Ariana, were making.

“I asked for equal pay … and for them to reimburse me for my treatment expenses, but they refused to pay me equally,” she revealed. “I was considering going back if I was going to be paid equally because I feel like when you pay your employees I think it really shows how much you value them.”

Vanderpump Rules season 11 wrapped filming earlier this month and is expected to premiere later this year or early next year.