Ariana Madix Suffers Major Loss In Raquel Leviss Invasion of Privacy Lawsuit

Raquel Leviss achieved a significant legal win as a judge decided against dismissing her lawsuit against her former Vanderpump Rules co-star Ariana Madix, involving accusations of privacy invasion, as reported by In Touch.

The lawsuit also names Tom Sandoval, Ariana’s ex-boyfriend and Raquel’s affair partner, as a defendant. At the center of the controversy, Raquel, 29, alleges that Tom secretly recorded explicit FaceTime conversations between them. The discovery of these recordings on Tom’s phone by Ariana, 39, ultimately led to their breakup.

Raquel’s legal complaint accuses Ariana of not only finding the videos but also sharing them with third parties, an action that Raquel claims was done without her consent. Both Tom and Ariana have refuted all the claims, asserting no wrongdoing on their part. Ariana, in her defense, stated in court documents that she had never distributed the videos to anyone else, maintaining, “I did not send the videos to anyone else. Nor did I share, display, or show the videos to anyone else,” emphasizing that her interaction with the video was kept private.

The legal representatives for Raquel countered, arguing that Ariana’s actions of accessing Tom’s phone and extracting the private content were beyond the bounds of free speech and amounted to criminal behavior.

“Although [Ariana] attempts to recast the lawsuit as an attack on her right to speak freely on matters of public concern, it is no such thing,” Raquel’s lawyer asserted in court documents.

Furthermore, in a declaration, Raquel stressed the severity of Ariana’s actions: “It is not just that [Ariana] had discovered the recordings and confronted me about their contents. If that were all that happened, [Ariana] would not have been named in this lawsuit. But that is not all that happened. In her own sworn testimony, [Ariana] acknowledges that she stole and disseminated them. She distributed the recordings from their original source on Sandoval’s phone to herself and to me at a minimum.”

The judge in the case ruled in favor of allowing Raquel’s lawsuit to proceed, particularly noting Ariana’s alleged illegal activities. The court’s order detailed, “[Ariana’s] conduct is not protected under the anti-SLAPP statute because the alleged conduct was illegal as a matter of law.”

Highlighting the critical evidence, the order explained:

“[Ariana’s] declaration establishes that she accessed [Tom’s] phone without [Tom’s] knowledge and consent… Her declaration indicates that she had previously accessed [Tom’s] phone with his knowledge and consent, but makes no reference to her having [Tom’s] consent to do so on this occasion.”

As the case heads to trial scheduled for November 3, 2025, the ongoing legal battle continues to draw attention, highlighting the complexities of privacy, consent, and legality in the digital age.