Ariana Madix Loses Appeal to Dismiss Raquel Leviss' Revenge Porn Lawsuit

Ariana Madix, the former "Vanderpump Rules" personality who now hosts "Love Island USA," has failed in her attempt to shut down a revenge porn and invasion of privacy lawsuit brought against her by ex-castmate Raquel Leviss.

A California appellate court ruled against Madix on Wednesday, declining to reverse a lower court's July 2024 decision that determined her alleged conduct did not qualify as protected speech or a matter of legitimate public concern.

The lawsuit, filed by Leviss in February 2024, targets both Madix and her former boyfriend, Tom Sandoval, over sexually explicit FaceTime recordings of Leviss that surfaced on Sandoval's phone.

Madix has admitted in a sworn declaration that she accessed Sandoval's device without his consent and copied the videos while hiding in a bathroom stall at a club. She has maintained that her actions were driven by shock and heartbreak after unexpectedly discovering evidence of an affair between Sandoval and Leviss, a storyline that would later dominate "Vanderpump Rules" and become known across pop culture as "Scandoval."

According to Madix's account, she came into possession of Sandoval's phone after it slipped from his pocket during a performance with his cover band in West Hollywood. Someone handed her the device for safekeeping, and she said an instinctive suspicion prompted her to check it, a task made easy because she already knew his passcode. Scrolling through the phone alone in a bathroom stall, she said she stumbled upon the FaceTime recording and was stunned by what she saw. She wrote in her declaration that she quickly used her own phone to record two clips of the video, adding that until that moment she had considered Leviss a friend and had no idea about the affair.

Madix insists she only sent brief portions of the footage to Leviss herself that same night, accompanied by a text message reading, "you're dead to me," which she submitted as evidence along with the full text exchange. She has repeatedly denied distributing the videos to anyone else, stating flatly in her declaration that she never shared, displayed, or showed the recordings to another person.

Madix also claimed that Sandoval snatched her phone away shortly afterward and deleted the clips himself. She said she immediately messaged a friend, Logan Cochran, to explain what had happened and to confirm that the footage was gone, telling him that Sandoval had taken her phone and erased the videos.

Despite those denials, the lower court concluded in July 2024 that Madix's actions fell outside the shield of California's anti-SLAPP statute, a law designed to allow for the swift dismissal of lawsuits that threaten to suppress protected free expression.

The court found her conduct unlawful, a determination the appellate panel has now upheld. Leviss's suit accuses Madix of improperly retrieving the videos and distributing them in what her complaint characterizes as an act of revenge porn, while also accusing Sandoval of recording the intimate footage without her consent in the first place.

Madix faces claims of revenge porn, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, while Sandoval is contending with privacy and emotional distress allegations along with a separate eavesdropping claim tied to the original recording.

Sandoval mounted his own unsuccessful challenge to the lawsuit, arguing that the claims against him were vague and insufficient, and pointing out that Leviss's own behavior had been conducted openly within the context of a reality show that scrutinized her personal life for public consumption.

The legal battle remained frozen for more than two years while Madix's appeal worked its way through the courts. A status hearing in the case has been scheduled for August 11.