Vanderpump Rules star Rachel Leviss talks about growing up with undiagnosed ADHD

Rachel Leviss opened up about her childhood and how it was growing up with undiagnosed ADHD.

In Chapter 41: Not so Neurotypical of her podcast titled Rachel Goes Rogue, the reality TV star revealed on July 26 that growing up was difficult for her since she felt she felt "stupid" due to her undiagnosed ADHD:

"Growing up school was very difficult for me. I did not realize that my brain was structured in a different way. I always just throught I was stupid because I couldn't pass my muliplication tables test, and I couldn't read as well as the other kids in class. I just thought I wasn't intelligent."

In the podcast, Leviss mentioned she was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD in college. As per Cleveland Clinic, people suffering from inattentive ADHD may have trouble focusing on a task or concentrating, and find it difficult to remain organized.

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"I realized that I had been living with an invisible disability my whole life"- Rachel Leviss on ADHD

While talking about getting diagnosed with ADHD in college, Rachel Leviss in her podcast mentioned, that identifying ADHD was "life-changing" for her.

"I realized that I had been living with an invisible disability my whole life."

Rachel shared that once she was diagnosed with it, she was able to take control of her life. Her podcast guest, autism and ADHD advocate Paige Layle discussed "masking" certain behaviors around neurotypical people. Masking refers to the practice of concealing one's true feelings or responses to conform to societal expectations or norms. Leviss mentioned masking holds back people from being "authentic."

Layle added saying:

"You just process things a different way, and you've worked your whole life taking in data from other people and figurting out what the social norms are and, you know, shifting things inside of yourself to present a certain way so that you could survive socially."

Layle mentioned that masking could cause someone to feel "lost" because they are portraying themselves in a way they believe others expect. To which, Leviss agreed adding she needed to not be herself to feel safe.

In season 7 of Vanderpump Rules reunion, Andy Cohen noted cast member James Kennedy's girlfriend, Rachel Leviss was a college graduate. Additionally, Rachel Leviss's level of intelligence was a hot topic during a discussion at the reunion.

In May 2019, Levis while speaking with Entertainment Tonight responded to the discussion about her intelligence during the reunion by saying:

"I know that I'm intelligent and, you know, having someone tell you that you're not smart or that you're dumb as rocks, it's like so beyond inappropriate. It hits hard for me, too, because I have a learning disability.

Rachel has studied kinesiology with a focus on pre-occupational therapy at Sonoma State University. During the Vanderpump Rules reunion in 2019, Rachel Leviss revealed that her future plan was to get her Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy to help kids with special needs.