'Vanderpump Rules' star Rachel Leviss sues Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix for revenge porn: Reports
The "Scandoval" drama is headed to a courtroom.
In the wake of the "Vanderpump Rules" cheating scandal, Rachel "Raquel" Leviss filed a lawsuit against both Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix in Los Angeles on Thursday, alleging revenge porn, invasion of privacy and eavesdropping, according to Deadline and Variety.
In 2023, the Bravo reality show documented Madix discovering that Sandoval, 40, was cheating on her with their co-star, Leviss, 29, after she found a video on his phone that revealed the affair. In the show, Madix, 38, described discovering a screen recording of Sandoval and Leviss on FaceTime.
The complaint says there "is more to the story," though, alleging 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."
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Leviss, Sandoval, Madix and Bravo for comment.
Leviss "became an object of public scorn and ridicule," culminating in her "months-long in-patient treatment at a mental health facility," because of a narrative that was "deliberately fomented by Bravo" and Evolution Media, the production company behind "Vanderpump Rules," the lawsuit argues.
It goes on to claim that Leviss was misled into "believing that she was contractually barred from speaking out about her mistreatment." Bravo refused to allow her an "opportunity to tell her side of the story and defend herself, which she repeatedly begged for permission to do," the suit alleges.
'Vanderpump Rules' cheating scandal: What Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss and Ariana Madix have said
"Meanwhile, Leviss, who was humiliated and villainized for public consumption, remains a shell of her former self, with her career prospects stunted and her reputation in tatters," it states.
"Vanderpump Rules" returned for Season 11 in January, with Leviss no longer a part of the cast. She also did not appear at the annual BravoCon convention in November.
Leviss previously alleged on Bethenny Frankel's "Just B" podcast last year that she didn't know she was being recorded when she was on FaceTime with Sandoval. "I decided to be adventurous and look at the adult section on the TV, and Tom and I FaceTime a lot, so it turned into more of an intimate FaceTime," she said. "I expected to have privacy in that moment."
When Madix subsequently messaged her "two screen-recorded videos and a text that said, 'You're dead to me,'" this is "how I found out that I had been recorded without my consent," Leviss said.
The lawsuit comes a week after Sandoval spoke out about the scandal in a lengthy New York Times Magazine profile, in which he raised eyebrows for comparing it to "the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd." He later apologized, saying he was "incredibly sorry and embarrassed" for the comments.
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Sandoval faced significant backlash when his cheating was revealed, and the New York Times profile suggested he may be the "most hated man in America." In the interview, he maintained he did what he did "because I was in an unhappy place in my life," and he "got caught up in my emotions and fully fell in love."
Sandoval also said it was "kind of cool and crazy" that the Bravo show received so much attention for the scandal, "even though it's negative and at my expense."
Contributing: Edward Segarra
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rachel Leviss sues Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix for revenge porn
