Credit: Bravo
Tom Sandoval is reportedly “crushed” by Rachel “Raquel” Leviss‘ lawsuit against him.
Days after Raquel, 29, sued Sandoval, 41, and his ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix, 38, for revenge porn, eavesdropping, invasion of privacy, and emotional distress, an insider said the Vanderpump Rules star, 41, found the filing to be “absolutely shocking,” especially considering he believed Raquel was “the one.”
“Tom is so crushed right now by this lawsuit,” a network insider told the Daily Mail on March 5. “None of them ever realized that this would take the toll on Rachel that it did.”
According to the source, Sandoval’s intentions for Raquel were genuine.
“Tom honestly thought that he and Rachel would ride off into the sunset together. He was obsessed with her,” they stated. “He loved her so much and was so sure that she was the one he would spend forever with. For her to turn around and sue him is so absolutely shocking.”
While Sandoval has yet to formally respond to the case, the insider suggested he was hoping to avoid going to trial.
“She is demanding a jury trial. This would suck everyone into court and create a huge mess, so she will likely be paid off privately so that it does not get there,” they noted.
The insider went on to say that when it came to Sandoval’s months-long affair with Raquel, which Ariana discovered through an NSFW FaceTime session she found of Raquel on Sandoval’s phone, Sandoval and Raquel let their “emotions get the best of them.”
“[They] were not thinking about the ramification to their careers,” the source said. “Things were said on air to Rachel that would never be okay, such as [Katie Maloney] saying she wanted to light her on fire. [Scheana Shay] attacking Rachel and causing bodily harm is documented.”
“She was painted as the villain and yes, Rachel was in negotiations to return for season 11 and could have returned if she wanted to. She chose to not do so to protect her mental health,” they continued. “Instead, she sued the two people that she believed, through documented and sometimes filmed evidence, are responsible for inflicting irreversible trauma on her.”
The source also noted that the “network and show treated her with respect” and that Raquel “had a good relationship with production.”
As Pump Rules fans have likely heard, Raquel filed a 19-page complaint on February 29 in Los Angeles in which it was claimed that she 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.”
Sandoval is accused of recording the videos and Ariana is accused of sharing them.
The lawsuit also said Raquel was “humiliated and villainized” after “Scandoval” and noted that she spent three months in a mental health facility.
Raquel is seeking unspecified damages.
Vanderpump Rules season 11 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
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