Tom Sandoval Sued Ariana Madix and Then Deleted His Instagram

UPDATE—July 19, 2024: Tom Sandoval has dropped his lawsuit against Ariana Madix, one day after filing.

On Thursday, July 18, Sandoval returned to Instagram with a statement regarding his decision to drop the suit; in it he reveals that he has also removed one of his attorneys from his legal team.

“Late Tuesday afternoon, my attorney, Matt Geragos, whose advice I trusted, called me about the Cross-Complaint in the lawsuit against myself and Ariana,” Sandoval wrote, referencing Raquel Leviss’s revenge porn and invasion of privacy lawsuit against himself and his ex, Ariana Madix, which was filed in February. “[Geragos] assured me that the action was customary and strictly preventative in these types of lawsuits and urged me to agree to it,” Sandoval added. “The words ‘New Lawsuit’ and ‘Suing’ were not articulated to me. I should’ve done more of my due diligence on the matter. Upon realizing what this action actually means, I have removed Matt Geragos from my legal team.

“In no way am I suing Ariana,” his statement continues. “The action against Ariana brought on my behalf is being removed. I hold no ill will or vindictiveness toward Ariana. Now, by removing both the Cross-Complaint and the attorney who recommended it, I hope to get through this case quickly, so that Ariana and I can both finally MOVE ON with our lives.”

**Original story below: **

Tom Sandoval, after cheating on Ariana Madix, his partner of nine years, with their mutual friend and costar Rachel Leviss, spent the entire 11th season of Vanderpump Rules claiming that he had taken accountability for Scandoval. But he has still decided to sue Madix for accessing explicit videos of Leviss on his phone without prior “authorization.” And he seems to have deleted his Instagram. Sure.

For context, Madix discovered the affair when she found the explicit videos on Sandoval’s phone in March of 2023. Now, according to court documents, as reported by Us Weekly, Sandoval is claiming that Madix unlawfully “obtained access” to his phone without his permission and “made copies” to distribute to “Leviss and third parties.”

Sandoval’s lawsuit could be a reaction to the lawsuit Leviss filed against both him and Madix, alleging revenge porn and invasion of privacy, per Us Weekly.

Raquel Leviss, Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix

Bravo/Getty Images

In response to the lawsuit from Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix’s lawyer released a statement saying, “It is abhorrent that Tom Sandoval continues to torment Ms. Madix. From engaging in an illicit affair that shattered her home and stability, to months of emotional warfare and now this attempt to further shirk personal responsibility for the effects his actions have had on her and her emotional wellbeing. Tom Sandoval knows full well what sort of privileges he and Ms. Madix shared in regard to their personal communication devices.”

Madix told Glamour in June of 2023 that her and Sandoval’s devices were synced at the time of the affair. “A few weeks after all of this [broke], I was just doing stuff on the laptop,” she said. “I bought it, so it’s mine now—and I found all kinds of stuff in the Notes app. It would be a note labeled ‘restaurant,’ but then way down at the bottom there’s screenshots of text messages and things like that.”

Scandoval took the world by storm when it first broke, but why? In her Glamour interview, Madix said she thinks it was partly due to “the deception, the trying to manipulate a narrative.” All I’ll say is that this lawsuit from Tom Sandoval would definitely fit that narrative.