On February 29, almost a year after his Vanderpump Rules cheating scandal — – which fans refer to as “Scandoval” – came to a head, the former cast member formerly known as Raquel Leviss sued her former castmates. Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix.
Leviss' filing is the third lawsuit in the Bravo universe to be announced since early 2024. The first two came from the former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Caroline Manzo and ex-He Real Housewives of New York cast member Leah McSweeney. The three seem to echo the call made by the former The Real Housewives of New York Cast member Bethenny Frankel in 2023 for a “calculation of reality.“
In August 2023, a team of lawyers who partnered with Frankel wrote a letter to bravo hinting at an upcoming major lawsuit. The letter accused Bravo and its parent company, NBCUniversal, of “a pattern and practice of grotesque and depraved mistreatment of reality stars and crew members.”
Frankel has yet to file his own lawsuit against Bravo, and it's unclear if or when that will happen. But the other recent lawsuits have some wondering if this could be the beginning of the end of Bravo's reality reign.
Angela Reddock-Wrighta Los Angeles-based employment lawyer and mediator, told Yahoo Entertainment that it's a new area of law to explore, considering filming for reality TV is such a non-traditional work environment.
“We have yet to test how far these kinds of claims go on reality TV, where audiences look for high drama and people live lives the rest of us don't normally live,” he said. But, he added, “there are still protections in place, even in these somewhat nuanced environments.”
Real Housewives of New Jersey's Caroline Manzo vs. Bravo
In late January, Caroline Manzo, one of the original matriarchs of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, sued Bravo for an alleged incident between her and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills student Brandi Glanville when the two were filming a Housewives Peacock spin-off called Ultimate girls trip.
In January 2023, media reported that Glanville and Manzo were leaving early for a girls' trip after Glanville allegedly attempted to kiss Manzo multiple times without her consent during a party.
The lawsuit claims that employees associated with Bravo and its affiliated companies, including Forest Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, NBCUniversal Media, Shed Media and Peacock TV, “regularly abuse the Real Housewives cast with alcohol, severely intoxicate them, and then direct them, encourage and/or allow them to sexually harass other cast members because that is good for ratings.” Glanville is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In February, representatives from Peacock and Shed Media issued a joint statement to People., writing: “The safety of cast and crew during filming is extremely important and we take all reports seriously. Given this situation, production immediately began a thorough review and is taking appropriate measures.”
Reddock-Wright emphasized that federal and state anti-harassment laws apply to any workplace, even if it's a reality show.
“If it's a situation where the environment or the producers are actively doing something to promote [harassment]”I think it creates a claim that can be colored,” he said. “It will depend on how the facts and evidence develop.”
Reddock-Wright also noted that judges and juries will be aware of the fact that the events in question occurred during the filming of a reality show.
“On some level, it's not that it condones harassment or discriminatory behavior, but there could be a question about whether the individuals, the talent on the shows, consented or agreed on some level.”
The Real Housewives of New York's Leah McSweeney vs. Bravo
On February 27, the former The Real Housewives of New York Cast member Leah McSweeney announced her own lawsuit against Bravo.
According to the lawsuit, McSweeney claims the program made it difficult for her to stay sober as she also dealt with personal mental health issues. She alleges that the producers attempted to manipulate her into drinking and “retaliated against her when she wanted to stay sober, and intentionally failed to provide her with reasonable accommodations that would assist in her efforts to remain sober and able to perform.”
McSweeney also accused Andy Cohen, executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise and host of Bravo's See what happens live, of making sexual comments towards women on programs. A rep for Cohen told Deadline that “the accusations against Andy are completely false!”
According to Reddock-Wright, workplace discrimination claims must be based on some protected characteristic, typically race, age or gender.
“The only thing I can think of is that she is trying to connect her alcohol consumption and claim that that in itself is a disability or medical condition and [Cohen] “He's treating her differently because of it,” she said. “It's definitely a nuanced argument in terms of creating a disability claim.”
Reddock-Wright added that McSweeney essentially has to prove that his addiction and subsequent sobriety are a disability or a “protected characteristic” that Bravo and Cohen were violating. Reddock-Wright said McSweeney has to convey to the judge and jury that reality TV is not a traditional work environment, but a work environment nonetheless.
Vanderpump Rules'Rachel Leviss vs. Bravo, Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval
“Scandoval” was the cheating scandal heard around the world in March 2023, when it emerged that Rachel Leviss had become romantically involved with Tom Sandoval despite his long-term relationship with Ariana Madix. Even people who had never seen an episode of Vanderpump Rules Now they were exposed to fans analyzing the messy love triangle.
A year later, Leviss filed a lawsuit accusing Madix and Sandoval of “eavesdropping, revenge pornography, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Leviss' allegations of eavesdropping, revenge porn, and invasion of privacy stem from the fact that Madix learned of the affair by finding a video of Leviss on Sandoval's phone that Leviss claims was filmed without her consent.
The emotional distress claim stems from the allegation that Bravo and production company Evolution subjected Leviss to a “public jab” that, the lawsuit claims, made her “one of the most hated women in America.”
“It's definitely illegal to record people without their knowledge,” Reddock-Wright said.
The end of season 10 of Vanderpump Rules, which aired after “Scandoval,” was the most-watched episode of the season, with more than double the viewership of the previous season's finale. Leviss, who has appeared on the show since 2016, left the show and went to a mental health facility for three months in 2023.
Ultimately, Reddock-Wright said that while all three lawsuits appear to make reasonable claims, the outcomes of these cases will depend on whether the judge and jury will be able to view reality televisions as a normal work environment.
“The outcome will depend on how the evidence develops,” he said. “And certainly, at the very least, these are interesting claims that we'll all be watching to see what happens.”
