‘Vanderpump Rules’: How Donald Trump Put an End to Raquel Leviss’ Pageant Career
Vanderpump Rules star Raquel Leviss was a pageant pro. But according to her, former President Donald Trump ended her career as a “pageant girl.”
After a bad breakup and her last state competition, Leviss said she was left trying to “find” herself in all the change. And one thing she hopes to do now is tear down some of the stereotypes about those who compete in pageantry.
Raquel Leviss has a long background in pageants
According to Us Weekly, Leviss was “a pageant queen growing up, winning Miss Sonoma County before competing in the Miss California and Miss Malibu USA events.”
After graduating from Sonoma State University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, she continued competing after becoming a regular on Vanderpump Rules while dating James Kennedy.
How Donald Trump stopped Raquel Leviss from competing in Miss USA pageants
On an episode of the 10th season of Vanderpump Rules, Leviss confessed that her career in pageants is effectively over. And according to her, she has Trump to thank for that. She said he was behind a rule change that disallowed competitors over the age of 27 in the competitions that fell under the umbrella of his Miss Universe organization.
As confirmed by The Washington Post, Leviss is correct: “Delegates must be at least 18 years of age and under 28 years of age on the date [that] the national competition commenced.”
Notably, Trump sold Miss Universe in 2015. So, debatably, someone else probably could have changed the rule. Still, Leviss laid the blame on him. Since the Bravo star broke up with Kennedy, turned 28 last September, and doesn’t have official pageantry to focus on, she said she’s trying to “find” herself. We’d be negligent not to mention that some fans and her co-stars are upset about where she’s found herself.
That is to say, Leviss has allegedly been building romantic connections with her co-stars, like Tom Schwartz, who was recently divorced from Katie Maloney, and Tom Sandoval, who was still in a nine-year, supposedly exclusive relationship with Ariana Madix. By the way, Madix and Maloney were friends with Leviss and even sold pictures of their feet to help her pay for plastic surgery.
Raquel Leviss wishes to ‘debunk the stereotype’ of a ‘pageant girl’ now
In April 2022, Leviss shared that she was putting state pageants behind her but hoped to keep competing nationally. “I just wrapped my last ever Miss California USA contestant headshot,” she wrote on Instagram. “[It’s] so bittersweet knowing this will be the last time I compete in a state pageant. Fingers crossed that it won’t be my very last pageant ever and that I will have the opportunity to represent California on the Miss USA stage …”
“You may know me as ‘the pageant girl’ but my one wish is to debunk the stereotype that comes to mind. Through this experience I’ve met some of the most kindhearted girls who truly want to leave a positive impact on our world,” she explained. “The two things I have always strived for, as I competed on and off throughout the years of my young adult life, were self-improvement and building confidence.”
“Looking back at the times I did compete, I truly see such a beautiful transformation, and I owe a lot of that to pageantry,” Leviss wrote. “I am so proud of the woman I have become.”
