Left: Rachel Leviss at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball on Dec. 1, 2023. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP); Right: Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 22, 2022. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
A reality TV personality is suing two other reality TV personalities over the recording and release of sexually explicit FaceTime videos, which allegedly went viral in service of fueling a lucrative scandal.
Rachel “Raquel” Leviss filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday, accusing former couple Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix of revenge porn, eavesdropping, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Leviss is a former cast member of “Vanderpump Rules,” a reality TV show about a series of restaurants in West Hollywood, an affluent city in LA County. The show is a spinoff of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Sandoval and Madix are current cast members.
In March 2023, the longtime couple quite publicly broke up. Madix thought Leviss was her friend, but Leviss was having an affair with Sandoval. Madix discovered the infidelity by looking at her then-boyfriend’s phone after it fell out of his pocket while he was performing with his band. On the phone were the Leviss videos.
Prurient curiosities were piqued across the world; the scandal soon became fixed with its own portmanteau — termed “Scandoval” on social media. Studio executives typically made sure to play the pain and misery for all it’s worth. The final episode of the show’s 10th season was updated to be filmed entirely after the news broke.
“‘Scandoval’ captured the public’s attention in a massive way, went completely viral, and injected new life into Vanderpump Rules,” the 19-page complaint reads. “It also caused mayhem in Leviss’s life, culminating in monthslong inpatient treatment at a mental health facility and her departure from the show. 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.”
And, the lawsuit claims, the scandal was embraced by the production companies behind the “previously faltering series.”
“Due to a narrative deliberately fomented by Bravo, Evolution, and the cast, Leviss became an object of public scorn and ridicule,” the complaint reads at one point before later reiterating the allegations using similar language: “Fomented by Bravo and Evolution in conjunction with the cast, Leviss was subjected to a public skewering with little precedent and became, without exaggeration, one of the most hated women in America.”
Notably, the lawsuit does not, however, target any organizations or entities — neither of the production studios are named defendants.
The lawsuit mainly focuses on the sexually explicit videos that formed the heart of the revelations and led to the scandal.
“Leviss is informed and believes, and on such information and belief alleges, that the explicit videos were recorded by Sandoval without her knowledge or consent in or around February 2023,” the complaint reads. “The two videos Leviss has seen depict her in a state of undress and masturbating. However, given Sandoval’s apparent practice of secretly recording their video calls, Leviss has every reason to assume there are additional illicit videos and/or photographs of her that she has not yet seen.”
And, Leviss claims, Madix took it upon herself to share the videos.
“Leviss is informed and believes, and on such information and belief alleges, that Madix obtained at least two illicit videos of Leviss and distributed them and/or showed them to others without Leviss’s knowledge or consent,” the complaint goes on. “At a minimum, Madix circulated the illicit videos to herself and Leviss. She also immediately informed production about what she had found. In addition, many other individuals have demonstrated intimate familiarity with their contents, leading Leviss to believe the circle of recipients is wider.”
The lawsuit offers some remorse for the basic facts of the affair with Sandoval but suggests there is more than meets the eye.
“To be clear, Leviss has repeatedly acknowledged that her actions were morally objectionable and hurtful to Madix,” the complaint continues. “She has offered numerous apologies. There is more to the story, however. Lost in the mix was that 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.”
And, Leviss says, the response to the scandal has been infinitely worse. On the night Madix made the discovery, the lawsuit alleges, another cast member reacted by violently attacking Leviss.
“The blow to Leviss’s face caused a rupture above her left eyebrow and severe swelling and bruising above her left eye,” the lawsuit reads. “Leviss was told by a treating physician that her busted brow would permanently scar.”
The filing also alleges that Bravo and Evolution were in cahoots with Sandoval over how the videos were framed after the fact.
From the lawsuit at length:
[M]edia reports suggest Sandoval was in a panic over the on-camera confrontation with Leviss. Specifically, he was concerned that being accused of recording nonconsensual pornography would “paint him in a negative light.” Sandoval reportedly threatened to cease all further filming for the show unless he was granted editing rights over the scene. Shockingly, Bravo and Evolution obliged his demand. The scene was selectively edited to omit any mention of Sandoval’s illicit recording or Leviss’s lack of consent. This was part of a pattern and practice of Bravo and Evolution throwing Leviss under the bus in favor of Sandoval. Recording someone engaged in sex acts without their consent is a crime, and Sandoval appears to have admitted to it on camera. Portraying the confrontation as it actually occurred instead of protecting sleazy Sandoval would not only have been truthful, it would have also been “good television.” But Bravo and Evolution had apparently decided that Leviss would be their sacrificial lamb. Throughout the ordeal, they have sanitized the story to ensure Leviss would be seen as the arch-villain.
“This lawsuit is squarely about illegal behavior and those who traffic in it and enable it,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Geragos, told Law&Crime. “Rachel has apologized for her part in an affair. That’s not a crime. Tom and Ariana are alleged here to have engaged in criminal acts. They then doubled down and used those actions to shame, bully, belittle, and intentionally try to destroy Rachel’s mental health. The law makes it clear that recording someone without their consent and distributing that illegal recording is punishable by law; however, doing so while knowingly enticing them to engage in sexual acts deserves the harshest of penalties allowable under the law.”
The complaint seeks to-be-determined compensatory, special, general, and consequential damages — and attorneys’ fees.
Additionally, the plaintiff is requesting an injunction that would force Sandoval and Madix to stop distributing the video and to destroy any and all copies they have in their possession.
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