Everyone thought Rachel Leviss would essentially fade into the sunset after her affair with Tom Sandoval was revealed. However, she isn’t going to be forgotten. Many Vanderpump Rules fans thought she would be in like a lion and out like a lamb. But it seems that Rachel still has a bone to pick with her former beau and Ariana Madix.
The Details
We all heard that Tom had filmed Rachel masturbating over FaceTime without her permission. And I have to say, I questioned why Tom had gotten away with it. The move was disgusting and against the law. There is no doubt Tom betrayed her confidence by hitting record on his phone. At the time, Rachel revealed she didn’t know why he was taping her.
Rachel explained in her podcast interview with Bethenny Frankel, “When Tom and I were filming at my apartment after filming got picked back up, I said to Tom, ‘How can I trust you? You filmed me without my consent.’ And he admitted to it. But then, after that scene wrapped, he said, ‘Why did you say that? Why did you say that on camera? You made me look bad. And I was like, ‘Well because that’s what happened.’”
It was no surprise when Rachel revealed that Tom had absolutely lost her trust. “I felt like I couldn’t trust this person,” she said. “I felt like my privacy didn’t matter to him. And he didn’t really give a good excuse besides that he wanted me to see it later on, to see how beautiful I was.” Yet, after all this information, Tom seemed to get away with his foul actions. Well, today, that changed for the lead singer of The Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras.
The Lawsuit
Rachel filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court against Tom and Ariana “for eavesdropping, revenge porn, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” via Variety. According to the court documents, her lawyers claim 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 scorned women seeking vengeance, catalyzing the scandal.”
During Season 10, a sexually explicit video of Rachel was the hot topic that helped to launch Scandoval as a worldwide news bulletin. In the same season, Ariana had admitted to accidentally seeing the video on Tom’s phone the night she found out her long-term boyfriend had been having an affair.
The lawsuit also alleges that the news of the video and Scandoval “went instantly viral and was the subject of extraordinary press coverage, even in the mainstream media. ‘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.”
The paperwork also stated that Rachel “was misled by Bravo and Evolution into believing that she was contractually barred from speaking out about her mistreatment. 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.”
Tom Broke The Law
Whether Tom is a predator or not will be determined by a jury of his peers. However, by California State law, he may have committed a crime. Love her or hate, Rachel was a victim. Between the clear power dynamic and eventually being isolated by Tom, she was a deer in the headlights. The California Recording Law states, “California’s wiretapping law is a two-party consent law. California makes it a crime to record or eavesdrop on any confidential communication. Including a private conversation or telephone call, without the consent of all parties to the conversation.”
The law applies to “confidential communications i.e., conversations in which one of the parties has an objectively reasonable expectation that no one is listening in or overhearing the conversation. A California appellate court has ruled that this statute applies to the use of hidden video cameras to record conversations as well.” If what the former model is claiming turns out to be true, then Tom has a lot to answer for.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF RACHEL’S LAWSUIT AGAINST TOM AND ARIANA?
