Wait, Raquel Leviss and Nema Vand of 'Shahs of Sunset' Dated? About Their Relationship Timeline
Nema Vand claims to have inside info about the genesis of Raquel Leviss's affair with Tom Sandoval.
Published Feb. 13 2024, 11:09 a.m. ET
We never thought we'd see the day that Raquel Leviss emerged from her scandalous affair with Tom Sandoval and would be linked to anyone other than the reality star who was dating her best friend Ariana Madix.
And yet, fans are buzzing about a past romance between the infamous Vanderpump Rules cast member and another Bravolebrity.
Indeed, a million years ago (by reality show standards), long before Scandoval, and even before Raquel was engaged to James Kennedy, Shahs of Sunset alum Nema Vand says they were a thing.
So, let's explore Raquel Leviss and Nema Vand's very brief relationship timeline.
December 2021: Raquel Leviss breaks off her engagement to James Kennedy.
Following a brief engagement, co-stars Raquel and her longtime beau James Kennedy decided not to walk down the aisle after all, and called off their quickie betrothal just before the New Year.
This split left Raquel open to date someone new — and that person was apparently the freshly divorced Nema Vand.
March 2022: Raquel Leviss reportedly has a fling with Nema Vand, and talks about hooking up with Tom — and Ariana.
The Instagram account Your Moms Are Watching claimed that Raquel and Nema were together circa March 2022.
And fans were really rooting for things to work out, with one person writing in the comments, "This would be such a lovely couple."
While we don't know how long they were together, according to the Shahs of Sunset star, she was already talking about a potential hookup with Tom — if Ariana wasn't available.
While appearing on Scheana Shay’s podcast Scheananigans, Nema claimed that his ex had her eye on hooking up with the now-scorned ex-lover of the man who she eventually got busy with.
It was as far back as April 2022 when Raquel and Tom first began contemplating a hook up, per Nema.
“Tom allegedly was like, ‘You know, we have an open thing, like, we can hook up with whoever we want,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, do they?'” Nema recounted about a conversation the eventual couple had in a hot tub in the wee hours of the morning.
But according to Nema, Raquel did not believe Tom and instead thought he was “just planting the seed that you and I could hook up here, and it would totally be OK.”
“So she knew exactly what he was doing,” the reality star ex claimed on the podcast.
But, he also said that Raquel was interested in Ariana before Tom, a tidbit that the disgraced star backed up with her own comments. “I mean I even suggested maybe like, ‘What would Ariana think about like having me as an addition?’ And he was like, ‘No no no she would not be into that,’” she previously said.
We know now that it was around August 2022 that Raquel and Tom eventually stopped just talking about hooking up — and actually did. They were busted in March 2023 when Ariana found out about the ongoing betrayal.