Rachel Leviss Says She's Been Going By 'Rocky' Now After Dropping Former Nickname, 'Raquel'

Rachel Leviss says she's changing her name, and leaving her past identity of "Raquel" behind.

On the June 12 episode of her podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue, the former Vanderpump Rules star, 29, opened up about embracing a new nickname — Rocky — after attending the Lightning in a Bottle festival and exploring her spiritual side.

"It's just funny and cute to me," she said, adding that she joking introduced herself to a new friend at the festival as "Rocky Rocky Bang Bang" — and the name stuck.

"The name Raquel came out of a place where I felt like I wasn't worthy and I wanted to be something that I wasn't," she explained, opening up about her decision years ago to go by "Raquel."

"So it came out of a place of insecurity," she added. "I was trying to overcome a lot of social anxiety and trying to conform myself into who I thought other people wanted me to be."

According to the reality TV alum, she's now been introducing herself as Rocky, and said that the name has another special meaning from her childhood — she went by the name when she played volleyball as a kid.

"It's a nickname, and I don't think it needs to be anything crazy," she added. "You can say whatever you want about me. I like nicknames, and I like connecting to the different parts within me. And it doesn't mean I have a whole new identity or anything. It's just means that I'm an integrated human being."

Elsewhere in Thursday's podcast episode, Leviss also opened up about how Scandoval — her and fellow Vanderpump star Tom Sandoval's secret months-long affair that made headlines when it became public — is still playing its part on the show, a year later.

"Do you think they sort of strung out Scandoval too long this season?" her producer asked Leviss, to which she replied: "Yeah."

"I do feel like Scandoval has been dragged out for far too long," she said. "I will just say that it makes sense from a producer's standpoint, I guess to cover the entire season of Scandoval because in real time, when this is all happening, that's all that anyone could ever talk about."

"I think the reason why it seems strung out is because there's a little bit of a time warp and it's a delayed reaction," she added. "I think maybe it would have been best for them to like not pick up cameras right away because it was so fresh, But they're also trying to capture all the drama in real time and this was like a gold mine to them."

Since the VPR season 11 reunion aired last month, Leviss added that she's happy to simply be working on her podcast — and to not engage with drama any more.

"I am just so proud that I have created this podcast with the help of my producers, and it was a big decision to speak out on my experience and to defend myself," she said, following the bombshell reunion.

"It's also a relief that I don't need to be on the defense any longer. I feel like a weight has been lifted off and I'm now able to take this podcast in the direction that I see it going, which is focusing on mental health and keeping these conversations going about the things that are important in my life," she finished.