Nearly one year exactly after the news of Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss’ affair broke and subsequently became arguably one of the biggest - if not the biggest - reality TV scandals we’ve ever seen, the fallout over what we’ve all come to refer to as Scandoval, which Maria initially wrote about here, continues.
This week, Rachel filed a lawsuit against Tom and Ariana Madix, his ex-girlfriend of 10 years, in a Los Angeles courthouse. In it, she’s seeking unspecified damages and a trial by jury over allegations of eavesdropping, revenge porn and invasion of privacy.
The legal documents, obtained by several media outlets, 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 a scorned woman seeking vengeance, catalyzing the scandal.”
The lawsuit also points to the virality of the scandal and highlights the “extraordinary press coverage” it got - and that’s not hyperbolic by any means. It instantly became one of the most-talked about current events, notably on outlets that typically didn’t even cover reality TV news, and even on those outlets, it remained a top story for weeks, with an even longer shelf life for entertainment news outlets. And as an example of the waves it continues to make, as recently as last week, the scandal received a mention on Saturday Night Live.
In her lawsuit, Rachel details what it has been like for her to navigate the ordeal, pointing to the fact that she had to enter in-patient treatment at a mental health facility and became “subjected to a public skewering with little precedent.” Again, not hyperbolic by any means.
“She became, without exaggeration, one of the most hated women in America,” the lawsuit, spearheaded by well-known (and problematic) attorneys Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos, reads.
There’s a lot to get into here, particularly because it deals with two spaces that are still both very much the Wild West – revenge porn, particularly as it pertains to laws and penalties, and reality TV, particularly from a human rights standpoint as it operates as a place of work.
In both Canada and the U.S., strides are being made in creating legislation surrounding revenge porn and “harmful online content”. In Canada, the federal government unveiled a new bill, Bill C-63, otherwise known as the Online Harms Act. The bill proposes a series of requirements digital platforms now have to meet. The government also rolled out a new “digital safety oversight body” to see to it that sites known to host harmful online content oblige by the new rules or face penalties. But with Scandoval taking place in the U.S., and with Rachel, Tom and Ariana all living in California, specifically, what, exactly, is she up against when it comes to making her case in a court of law? And in front of a jury?
As it stands, California legislators passed a revenge porn law which makes it a criminal act for someone to post online photos or videos of someone’s intimate body parts without consent. While the NSFW video in question was not posted online, at least to my knowledge (fairly thorough if I do say so myself), it is common knowledge that the video Ariana found in Tom’s phone that fateful night was a video of Rachel masturbating – and reading the laws knowing she shot it herself gets us into even murkier waters.
According to this U.S.-based law website, Penal Code 647(J)(4) defines the crime of revenge porn as:
“Anyone who intentionally distributes images of the intimate body parts of an identifiable person, or images that depict them engaging in sexual intercourse…masturbation, in circumstances where they agree or understand the images will remain private, then they distribute the images knowing they will cause serious emotional distress, is guilty of revenge porn.”
The website also specifies that laws surrounding invasion of privacy, which Rachel is also suing for, are different from revenge porn laws:
“The victim initially gave consent to take sexual related photos or videos with an understanding they would remain private, but the person distributes them without consent.”
This part is important because Rachel is alleging that besides the video she shot of her masturbating, Tom shot additional videos. So what happened with those? Whose hands did they end up in? It truly is anyone’s guess. And with these legal definitions of revenge porn and invasion of privacy, do they make Tom or Ariana guilty?
It’s clear the objective of their affair was not for Ariana to find out. They’ve all admitted that she was not, under any circumstances, supposed to see the video(s). But my feeling is that Rachel’s anger, and her lawsuit, quite frankly, is not so much about Ariana seeing the video of her masturbating, though, let’s be honest, it would be upsetting for anyone, but perhaps the very plausible case that Ariana shared it with people in the Vanderpump Rules circle – not unlikely given the circumstances and closeness of the group. Also – rage. It certainly makes us do things.
While it’s great to see governments making long-awaited moves on establishing a legal framework surrounding revenge porn and materials that include deepfakes, it’s clear in this scenario that there are a lot of considerations not fully accounted for, like the fact that Rachel shot the video herself, or that the video may not have been distributed in a way the laws assume, like online, when if they were shown, it was likely on her or Tom’s phone. What are the implications of the little nitty gritty details like that?
It’s for these nuances, among a host of others, that I feel Rachel might have fared better if she joined the chorus of former Bravo employees and went after the network instead, perhaps not for her revenge porn case, but certainly for her suffering. With the newness of the regulations around revenge porn and the inclusion of a jury, which can always be unpredictable, it’s likely her case will be incredibly difficult to prove, or at least argue. And that’s not me making a judgement about whether Tom and Ariana are guilty, but it is me saying that the network absolutely exploited her and the scandal to inject some life into a show that, as I’ve written before, was lacking in entertainment value after the departure of some heavy hitters from the cast. That seems like a much safer argument to win.
I think the amount of lawsuits the network is currently facing would’ve also worked in her favour, because out of all the plaintiffs there are right now, she and Leah McSweeney have got arguably the most probable cause to cash in, and there’s a few reasons for that, at least in Rachel’s case.
First, Tom and Ariana are, well, seemingly broke. Within the first few episodes of the season, Tom’s been very candid about how she has not been carrying her share of the household bills. He said he’d been transferring a few thousand bucks from account to account to see to it that the bills are paid and the lights are kept on.
Second, we know his restaurant took a massive hit in the wake of Scandoval, with guests not only refusing to step foot inside Schwartz & Sandy’s, but his own staff refusing to show up for work. The horrible and rapidly tanking Yelp and Google reviews were just the cherry on top. It’s no secret that he and Tom Schwartz spent an exuberant amount of money getting the doors to the restaurant open, with Schwartz putting his shared home with his ex-wife Katie Maloney on the line, and Sandoval’s ridiculous habit of splurging on frivolous expenses over the years which include flashy sidecars, drinks that include some sort of element of smoke, and, wait for it, Rachella, otherwise known as James and Rachel’s Coachella-inspired engagement. You don’t have to say it, I wholly understand the irony.
The odds that whatever unspecified damages Rachel is after will actually come from Tom and Ariana are slim to none. The pair are both likely very indebted to the businesses they’ve just launched, and despite reportedly selling $200,000 in inventory before Ariana and Katie even opened the doors at Something About Her, a sandwich shop they co-own, and a whopping $1.5 million in additional income in the wake of Scandoval, Ariana both appears and admits she is far from rolling in the dough.
In a recent interview with L.A. Times, she asserted that financial woes are the reason that since Scandoval broke, she’s taken on as many as 17 brand deals and sponsorships, which include Glad trash bags, Bic razors and T-Mobile phones.
“My team would be like, ‘This is a really great offer from Bic, look at it.’ And I’d say, ‘It is a fantastic offer, but even if it wasn’t, I’m not in a position to say no right now, because I have to make myself financially stable from now until kingdom come,’” she told the outlet.
In summary, Tom has been a blubbering mess on the show, putting what appears to be his textbook narcissism on display, and trying, half-heartedly to clean up the shit storm he made. Ariana, conversely, has earned a massive payday, complete with a starring role as Roxie Hart in Chicago, an appearance on Dancing With The Stars, and countless other opportunities and appearances that boost her brand, visibility, and net worth.
Meanwhile, Rachel has fared the absolute worst, not only with the havoc wreaked on her mental health, but her reputation ripped, shredded and torn to bits. Her latest podcast endeavour, in addition to trying to repair some of that damage, I’m sure, is also allowing her the chance to share her side of the story, something her lawsuit alleges she was misled (by Bravo!) into believing she couldn’t. As she continues to share her story, we’re seeing the stance toward her soften. But a softened stance after the damage caused by the public outrage is simply too little too late. So it absolutely makes sense that she’s placed her sights on a bigger sense of vindication and liberation with this lawsuit, and I just hope that no matter what the outcome is, she gets the peace she’s looking for.
