Rachel Leviss Says It’s ‘Hard’ Dating ‘A Sweet Guy’ After Scandoval

“Vanderpump Rules” star Rachel Leviss discussed her cautious return to dating on her podcast, highlighting her preference for emotionally intelligent partners after taking a year off to work on herself.

According to Leviss, it has been a struggle for her to date “a sweet guy” after her highly publicized affair scandal with former castmate Tom Sandoval.

Rachel Leviss also recounted her healing process post-Scandoval at The Meadows rehab center, where she carried a “shame backpack” filled with derogatory comments.

In a recent episode of her podcast, “Rachel Goes Rogue,” Leviss chatted with “Love Undercover’s” Renee Ash about her criteria for future relationships.

Following her highly publicized affair with Sandoval last year, Leviss mentioned she’s now approaching the dating scene with caution.

“I’ve taken a year off of dating to work on myself,” she shared, per People magazine. “And now that I’m, you know, getting back out there and meeting new people – I met someone who I had awesome communication with, and he was very emotionally intelligent and emotionally regulated, and it just didn’t work out.”

She added: “I’ve kind of been seeing somebody else, and it’s been fun and a fling — he’s just so sweet, so kind, and it really does make a difference,” seemingly hinting at businessman Matthew Dunn, whom she confirmed dating in April.

On the podcast, Ash and Leviss discussed the importance of recognizing kindness in men despite past unpleasant experiences.

“This sounds so silly, like a standard, stuff that you would just have as basic benchmarks for relationships,” Leviss remarked.

“The Vanderpump Rules” star confessed that her history of “toxic” and “abusive” relationships makes it challenging to envision a future with kind men.

“It’s hard for me to be with a sweet guy and think of it as a serious long-term thing,” she explained. “I don’t see him as my husband.”

Ash, agreeing with Leviss’ sentiments, said she is working on normalizing kindness in her dating life rather than excusing bad behavior.

Leviss then noted that getting to know various types of men helps them understand their true desires.

“I think we need to experience that sweetness and that other side of the spectrum in order to find a good balance,” she said.

After the Scandoval drama, Leviss revealed that she checked herself into The Meadows, a mental health rehabilitation center in Arizona.

The 29-year-old reality star discussed her healing process. She mentioned using an activity to release the conflict with former co-star Ariana Madix.

“One of the assignments was a shame backpack,” she explained. “Where basically, I was instructed to write down every mean thing that I could recall being thrown my way. All the insults, all the name calling, all the derogatory comments that I could remember.”

She added that the facility created a book from each paper Leviss wrote on, which she then carried around. “It was very, very heavy,” she said. “I had to wear that backpack everywhere I went for a week.”

During the chat, Leviss admitted that while the “shame” backpack “did hurt my back,” it helped her understand her healing process.

“When I was processing through this assignment with my therapist, I had to read all of the comments, and then my therapist asked me if I wanted to take them on and to carry them with me for the rest of my life,” she explained. “I said, ‘No, I don’t.’ And I was instructed to tear up all of the pieces of paper.”

During that same week, Leviss mentioned that another resident at the center found a newspaper with a headline about her affair with Madix’s then-boyfriend, Tom Sandoval. The front page featured a picture of Leviss and Madix.

“I actually had this in my shame backpack, and it’s just so wild that it literally made its way into The Meadows [rehab facility],” she said. “It was kinda surreal that this came into my possession that week of my assignment.”

She  continued, “That taught me not to internalize all of the hate and shame directed at me because life is much harder when you carry that burden.”

Since the fallout from her scandalous affair with Sandoval, Leviss has seemingly gotten her life together and is now dating businessman Matthew Dunn.

In a chat with People magazine, Leviss’ publicist confirmed that two were an item, saying, “It’s a little too soon to jump to any labels.”

The publicist added, “They met a little over a month ago and are friends just getting to know each other. They met and are hanging out.”