Vanderpump Rules star Raquel Leviss says Tom Sandoval recorded an “intimate FaceTime” video of her without her consent before their affair finally came to light.
In her first post-reunion comments, Leviss spoke on the Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast on Wednesday about the incident that triggered the internet-breaking “Scandoval” and the notorious video that led to Ariana Madix—Sandoval’s girlfriend at the time—discovering her partner’s betrayal.
“So you’re FaceTiming Tom, you’re in New York and Tom is in L.A., and you’re masturbating, and he’s recording you, and you don’t know you’re being recorded?” Frankel asked. “Correct,” Leviss replied.
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She said she had been in New York promoting Season 10 of the reality show on March 1 when she decided to FaceTime Sandoval.
“I decided to be adventurous and look at the adult section on the TV, and Tom and I FaceTimed a lot, so it turned into something more of an intimate FaceTime. I expected to have privacy in that moment, so that happened,” she said.
Leviss went on to say she was unaware that Sandoval had recorded the call until Madix sent two screen recordings later the same night, along with a text message saying: “You’re dead to me.” “That’s how I knew that she knew,” Leviss said. “And then also, that’s how I found out that I had been recorded without my consent, so of course all of these emotions came flooding over me.”
Frankel asked if the footage was “graphic,” to which Leviss answered: “It’s not something that I would ever want my grandma to see.” She also said she’d felt “scared” the clip images were “going to be leaked” and “felt pressured in that moment” to confess to Madix about the truth of the affair.
After news of the affair broke, TMZ reported days later that Leviss’ attorneys had sent letters to several of her fellow cast members and friends warning them not to share the video, alleging that the recording “was done illegally without Raquel’s knowledge or consent,” though the letter did not explicitly accuse Sandoval of making the illegal recording.
“Some of Ariana’s friends have described the video in great detail online, and she also sent it to me, so I don’t know who else she sent it to,” Leviss said on the podcast. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she sent it to other people, but it’s not legal.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Leviss discussed how her actions had affected others. “I do want to take a moment, though, to just acknowledge the hurt that I brought to a lot of people,” she said. “I was not careful in my actions and I was not thinking long term. I was completely wrapped up in heartbreak and wanting to get certain needs met.” Leviss said she was “drinking a lot” while filming to ease the “anxiety” of breaking up with her fiancé James Kennedy in December 2021.
“In a reality TV environment, I wasn’t getting that safe space for me to express my emotions in a healthy way,” she added.
Read it at TMZ
