Ariana Madix just took another L in the Scandoval saga, and this one stings different.
A California appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Vanderpump Rules star can’t escape Rachel Leviss’s revenge porn and invasion-of-privacy lawsuit—the case is officially moving forward to trial in November 2025. The court rejected Madix’s attempt to use California’s anti-SLAPP law to kill the suit early, essentially saying: nah, you don’t get a free speech pass on this one.
Here’s what went down, for anyone who somehow forgot this entire mess. In March 2023, Madix discovered that her nine-year boyfriend Tom Sandoval was cheating on her with their castmate Leviss. The discovery? Sexually explicit FaceTime videos on Sandoval’s phone that he’d recorded without Leviss’s consent. But here’s where it gets wild: Madix didn’t just see them. According to the lawsuit, she copied the videos and distributed them—first texting them to herself, then sending snippets to Leviss with the message “you are DEAD TO ME.” The scandal exploded on national television, Leviss became a target for public vilification, and the fallout was so brutal she ended up in inpatient mental health treatment and left the show entirely.
Leviss filed the lawsuit in February 2024, accusing both Sandoval and Madix of revenge porn, invasion of privacy, eavesdropping, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She’s seeking at least $129,849 in damages. Sandoval’s defense? He claimed Leviss filmed the videos herself and shared them voluntarily after Madix found out. Madix’s defense? She leaned hard on the “Scandoval was a massive public story, so my actions were protected speech” argument—basically trying to treat the whole thing like it was just reality TV tea.
The court wasn’t having it. Judge Daniel Crowley initially rejected Madix’s anti-SLAPP motion in July 2024, finding that accessing someone’s phone without permission and distributing their intimate content is illegal, full stop. The appellate court just affirmed that ruling. The judges made clear they weren’t deciding whether Leviss’s allegations are true or whether Madix actually sent the videos beyond what she claims. But they confirmed: the conduct alleged—accessing, copying, and distributing private sexual material—isn’t protected speech. It’s a crime. The public scandal around the affair doesn’t change that.
This is where Madix’s legal strategy hits a wall. She’s been betting that the “it was newsworthy” argument would work. It hasn’t. And now she’s out of delay tactics. The case moves to trial, discovery gets real, and both sides will have to answer for what they did.
For Leviss, this is a massive win—it’s validation that the legal system recognizes her as a victim, not just a supporting character in a reality TV plot. For the culture, it’s a important moment. The court’s ruling essentially says you can’t hide behind “it went viral” when you distribute someone’s intimate content without consent. Being on a reality show doesn’t strip you of privacy protections. Being cheated on doesn’t entitle you to revenge through non-consensual distribution of intimate videos.
The 16BARS take: Madix’s appeals have failed because the law is pretty clear—stealing and spreading someone’s explicit videos is illegal, regardless of how juicy the storyline is. Trial’s coming November 2025, and there’s nowhere left to run.
