Rachel Leviss Is Suing Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix for Revenge Porn

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 29, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 29, 2024 |

I started watching Vanderpump Rules in this, its 11th season because I got tired of reading so much about it and not understanding who any of these people are. Beginning in the 11th season, however, is a bit like starting The Walking Dead after Rick Grimes left. The entire show is basically about a scandal that has consumed the cast members, only one of the major players involved in that scandal is no longer on the show.

I refer to Rachel Leviss (formerly Raquel Leviss), who opted against returning to Vanderpump Rules after the Scandoval affair blew up her life and led to a decision to check herself into a mental health facility for three months. She is now suing Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix for revenge porn, invasion of privacy, and eavesdropping, per Deadline.

Neither Bravo nor NBC/Universal is named in the lawsuit. Odds are, Rachel Leviss signed her life away when she agreed to be a cast member on Vanderpump Rules, and NBC/Universal and Bravo are likely contractually protected from lawsuits. Neither Bravo nor NBC/Universal are responsible for the video that is at the center of the scandal.

The suit specifically targets Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix because they were responsible for disseminating “revenge porn.” For those who do not know, Ariana Madix found out that her boyfriend, Tom Sandoval, was cheating on her with her best friend, Rachel Leviss when she discovered video footage of Leviss masturbating on a Facetime call with Sandoval. That is what triggered Scandoval and the months-long fallout.

Leviss asserts that Sandoval — a “much older man” — recorded her on Facetime without her knowledge or consent. She alleges she is a victim of Sandoval’s “predatory and dishonest behavior.” After discovering the video on Sandoval’s phone, Madix sent two screenshots from the video to Leviss with the message, “You’re dead to me.”

“That’s how I knew that she knew,” Leviss told Bethany Frankel on Frankel’s podcast. “And then also, that’s how I found out that I had been recorded without my consent.”

Sandoval’s decision to record Leviss without her consent is at the heart of this lawsuit. She also claims that it was “distributed, disseminated, and discussed publicly by a scorned woman seeking vengeance (Madix), catalyzing the scandal.”

Leviss further claims that Bravo contractually prevented her from discussing her mistreatment, that she was “humiliated and villainized for public consumption,” and that she “remains a shell of her former self, with her career prospects stunted and her reputation in tatters.”

Madix has asked for a jury trial.