Vanderpump Rules' 'Scandoval' Turns Into Legal Drama

A reality television scandal (known as "Scandoval") has turned into a legal drama, with one of the stars of Bravo's Vanderpump Rules suing two of the reality show's other stars, alleging they produced and distributed revenge porn against her. If almost none of that sentence made any sense to you, read on:

• What is Vanderpump Rules? The show started in 2013 as a spin-off of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, on which Lisa Vanderpump starred. The new show focused on her West Hollywood restaurant and the bartenders and waiters who worked there; in the years since, it has expanded its focus to another Vanderpump restaurant and features past workers as well as current staff, per Bravo.

• What is "Scandoval"? In March 2023, TMZ revealed two of VR's main players, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix, had broken up after nine years together. The gossip outlet also revealed the alleged cause was an affair Sandoval had with their VR co-star, Raquel Leviss. It's Leviss who is now suing Sandoval and Madix.
• What exactly happened between the three of them? The answer to that question is so complex that multiple explainers have been published online. Per Vulture's extremely comprehensive offering, which you can read in full here, Madix found out about the affair shortly before TMZ's article, when she stumbled upon a sexually explicit video from Leviss on Sandoval's phone, but it later came out that Leviss and Sandoval had been seeing each other on the sly since August of 2022. Leviss and Sandoval continued dating for a couple months after news of their affair broke, but ultimately called it quits in May of 2023. All of this has absolutely captivated followers of the show for the past year.
• What is Leviss alleging? Per her lawsuit, the sexually explicit video Madix found had been recorded by Sandoval without Leviss' consent, and Leviss believes there are more where that came from. "Leviss is informed and believes ... that Madix obtained the videos of Leviss from Sandoval's mobile phone and distributed and disseminated them to others, including but not limited to Madix herself, Leviss, and other individuals whose identities are not currently known to Leviss," the lawsuit states, per NBC News.
• What else? The lawsuit also states that the narrative pushed by Bravo and the show's production company made Leviss out to be the villain, USA Today reports. That led to "public scorn and ridicule," which in turn led to Leviss' "months-long in-patient treatment at a mental health facility." Leviss does not appear on VR's eleventh season, which premiered in January.
• In other Vanderpump Rules news: Another couple from the show, Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright, also just announced they are separating after four years of marriage, E! Online reports.

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