Brace yourselves for a bombshell, Vanderpump Rules fans. Rachel Leviss is suing Tom Sandoval AND Ariana Madix!
According to Variety on Thursday, the 29-year-old television personality filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against her former co-stars — both the man she cheated with, and the woman they cheated on. Why? She’s accusing them of eavesdropping, revenge porn, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Whoa!
Everyone knows that Rachel had an affair with Sandoval for months behind her former best friend and his then-girlfriend’s back. While Season 10 of the Bravo show aired a year ago, Ariana found out about their secret relationship when she accidentally saw a sexually explicit video of a FaceTime call between Rachel and Sandy on his phone.
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Rachel has gone on to say Sandoval must have recorded the NSFW video without her consent. In 2023, her attorney even sent out a cease-and-desist letter to several of her former cast members, stating the recording had been taken “illegally without Raquel’s knowledge or consent” and thus should be deleted. The lawyer mentioned California’s penal code forbidding the distribution of adult material without the involved participant’s consent.
The video was talked about throughout the height of Scandoval — even on VPR. And now, she’s suing the former couple over the video and more! It seems she believes Ariana sent the video to their other co-stars at some point. The lawsuit said, per Variety:
“Leviss was a victim of the predatory and dishonest behavior of an older man, who recorded sexually explicit videos of her without her knowledge or consent, which were then distributed, disseminated, and discussed publicly by a scorned woman seeking vengeance, catalyzing the scandal.”
Ah, so she’s suing Sandoval for making the video and Ariana for distributing it? Huh. Even if Ariana did show others the video in her wounded state, it’s tough to imagine a jury thinking of her as being guilty of distributing revenge porn. However, that may be the case due to the letter of the law? Hmm…
The suit goes on to state that the cheating scandal “went instantly viral and was the subject of extraordinary press coverage, even in the mainstream media” — at the expense of Rachel — adding:
“‘Scandoval’ injected new life into a previously faltering series, causing its viewership to explode to unseen levels and making its cast members mega-celebrities. Due to a narrative deliberately fomented by Bravo, Evolution, and the cast, Leviss became an object of public scorn and ridicule.”
Oof. Rachel further believes she “was misled by Bravo and Evolution into believing that she was contractually barred from speaking out about her mistreatment,” thus being forced to suffer from the fallout quietly. The suit says:
“As a result, she suffered in silence as Bravo and Evolution watched viewership explode, and the rest of the cast enjoyed unseen levels of public recognition and professional opportunity.”
The former SUR waitress recalled an incident in the lawsuit in which she “confronted Sandoval for secretly recording pornographic videos of her and storing them unprotected on his phone” on March 4, 2023. She claims the intense conversation left her ex so “rattled” that he “refused to leave Leviss’s apartment in spite of her requests,” adding:
“Leviss was forced to have her sister and brother-in-law pick her up and drive her to their home.”
Yikes. We’re assuming that talk happened during the infamous and awkward scene between Sandoval and Rachel at her place, during which the pair discussed the fallout from Scandoval. The lawsuit further alleged Sandoval received a pay raise and development deal from Bravo “for a job well done.” However, a source close to the matter told Variety that’s simply not true — no deal ever happened. Hmm.
We didn’t think it was possible, but Scandoval just got a whole lot messier…
At this time, neither Bravo, Ariana, nor Sandoval have addressed the claims made in the suit. Reactions to the bombshell lawsuit, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments below!
[Image via Bravo/YouTube]