Former “Vanderpump Rules” personality Rachel Leviss is suing her former co-stars Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix, a year after their messy cheating fiasco, known to fans as “Scandoval,” reared its ugly head.
Leviss (formerly “Raquel Leviss”) accused Sandoval and Madix of espionage, revenge porn, invasion of privacy and “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” according to her complaint reviewed by The Times on Thursday. The 29-year-old's lawsuit stems from the tabloid scandal that revealed she had slept with Sandoval, Madix's longtime boyfriend.
Leviss' lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, describes Sandoval, 40, and Madix, 38, as longtime romantic couples whose relationship and reality TV fame were in crisis. Wary of the prospects of cancellation, the former couple “had every incentive to exploit these salacious threads in the 'Vanderpump Rules' storyline that they so desperately needed,” Leviss' suit says.
Legal representatives for Sandoval and Madix did not immediately respond to separate Times requests for comment Thursday.
The days leading up to Scandoval's reveal in March 2023 are the focus of Leviss' lawsuit. Court documents detail an alleged incident on March 1, 2023, where Madix searched Sandoval's phone after it fell out of her pocket during a performance in West Hollywood with his band. Madix, according to the lawsuit, found “sexually explicit videos of Leviss.”
Sandoval began sleeping with Leviss in August 2022, despite being in a relationship with Madix, according to the filing. The lawsuit alleges that Sandoval recorded sexually explicit clips of his co-star “without his knowledge or consent on or about February 2023.”
“Given Sandoval’s apparent practice of secretly recording her video calls, Leviss has every reason to assume that there are additional illicit videos and/or photographs of her that he has not seen,” the lawsuit says.
Leviss, who was on “Vanderpump” from 2016 to 2023, alleges that Madix obtained and distributed at least two sexually explicit videos of Leviss, sharing them “with others without Leviss’ knowledge or consent.” Madix allegedly informed the “Vanderpump” cast and crew about the videos.
“[Madix] He knew or reasonably should have known that he did not have Leviss's consent to do so,” the lawsuit says.
The same night as Sandoval's performance in West Hollywood, Madix allegedly confronted Leviss about the matter and sent him sexually explicit videos. She was in New York filming an episode of Andy Cohen's “Watch What Happens Live” with her co-star Scheana Shay. After receiving Madix's message (“you are DEAD TO ME”), Leviss “experienced a whirlwind of emotions in response, including shock and fear,” the lawsuit says.
“I was terrified that Madix would leak [the videos] on the Internet,” the complaint adds, before detailing Shay’s alleged assault on Leviss.
The subsequent news of Leviss and Sandoval's romance (which evolved into “Scandoval”) “caused chaos in Leviss's life,” leading her to leave “Vanderpump Rules” and seek treatment at a mental health facility for three months. Both Sandoval and Leviss apologized for the matter.
The lawsuit also attacked Bravo and production company Evolution, accusing the “Vanderpump” team of subjecting Leviss to a “public jab” that turned her into “one of the most hated women in America.” Leviss also claimed that the “Vanderpump” crew edited a filmed conversation between her and Sandoval to “omit any mention of Sandoval's illicit recording or Leviss' lack of consent.”
“Bravo and Evolution had apparently decided that Leviss would be their sacrificial lamb,” the suit alleges. “Throughout the ordeal, they have sanitized history to ensure Leviss is seen as the archvillain.”
A representative for Bravo did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.
The lawsuit alleges that Leviss faced “contempt and ridicule” after the cheating scandal, adding that the fallout took a toll on his mental health. “Leviss has been irrevocably abused and destroyed in the service of a salacious story,” the lawsuit said.
“Sandoval and Madix engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct that transcended the limits of human decency,” Leviss said in his lawsuit.
Hoping to “vindicate its legal right, if not restore its tarnished reputation,” Leviss is seeking an unspecified amount of damages, including legal fees. He also requested that the court order the defendants to stop sharing the illicit videos.
