Rachel Leviss Claims Tom Sandoval Is Choosing 'to Lie' About Revenge Porn Case to 'Change the Narrative'

Rachel "Raquel" Leviss is telling her side of the story as the legal battle over her revenge porn lawsuit continues.

On the latest episode of her Rachel Goes Rogue podcast, the former Vanderpump Rules star, 29, responded to her ex Tom Sandoval’s claims in a new legal document that she videotaped herself and sent him sexually explicit videos, two months after she filed a lawsuit against him and Ariana Madix.

“I feel anger that Tom chooses to lie to attempt to change the narrative,” she claimed on the April 29 podcast episode. “I don't know how many times I can say it that he filmed me this video FaceTime without me knowing. And the video footage is me on the big screen, him on the little screen on the FaceTime call so that is him recording that video.” 

She denied being the one who captured the video, alleging, “I did not record that video. I did not send it. It was sent to me, so that can easily be disproven. So I think it's just silly that he chooses not to take accountability and goes one step further to fabricate a story that can easily be disproven as far as doing this lawsuit to become famous as he is putting out there now."

In a statement to PEOPLE, Sandoval' lawyer Varand Gourjian claims, "To be clear, Leviss filed her frivolous lawsuit against our client Tom Sandoval solely in order to remain in the public eye and rebrand herself as a victim instead of the other woman.”

“As part of her attempt to remain relevant, Leviss has also actively maintained her podcast aptly named ‘Rachel Goes Rogue’ with the stated aim of making the public ‘see ‘REALITY’ through a different lens.’” the statement continues. “However Leviss’ view of ‘reality’ is through a cracked lens. Leviss’ lawsuit is part and parcel of her publicity stratagem, and thus it is unsurprising her Complaint reads like a press release in asserting that ‘There is more to the story’ just as her podcast provocatively promises ‘to tell you the real story.'"

The statement further claims, “The plain facts are that Leviss was broadcasting her actions herself, with her own phone, with Sandoval during their FaceTime calls while she was a cast member of the reality television show Vanderpump Rules. As Leviss admits in her own Complaint, she and Sandoval ‘were not particularly discrete’, Scandoval ‘went instantly viral’ and made everyone involved ‘mega-celebrities.’  As such, Sandoval did not eavesdrop on Leviss or intrude upon Leviss’ privacy. The only emotional distress suffered by Leviss is due solely to her own poor decisions and actions, for which she refuses to accept responsibility.”

The Bravo alum also claimed that her ex values “fame” and “doing things to leverage his infamy.” However, Leviss noted that she doesn’t “prioritize” those things. 

She then detailed why she decided to file the revenge porn lawsuit, claiming, “I am doing it to hold people accountable because recording somebody without their consent is not okay. And it has been done to other people before. That is why there are revenge porn laws now, because it has become an issue with our new digital age and sending a video that is intimate in nature to anybody is also not okay.”

After noting that there’s a “lot of shame” surrounding the incident, she explained, “I think there's a piece where I really chose to let go of that shame and and take ownership of my actions in a situation that is pretty shameful, and really open myself up to the the scrutiny that comes with that because I am strong enough to handle that.”

“And so I am doing this for a bigger reason. It's not just me. It is for all the people who have had their privacy violated sexually, that are either too ashamed to speak out and hold the other people accountable or don't have the resources or chose not to, but they know what happened. And so I'm doing it for those people,” she added.

Leviss shared that Sandoval’s alleged actions were also behind her decision to file the lawsuit.

“To be clear, I made a bad choice to be in a relationship with Tom, but holding him responsible for the reprehensible act of illegally filming me without my consent — which then became national news and extremely detrimental to my mental well-being — is the right choice for me,” she said.

The former reality star also noted that Madix needs to be held responsible for her alleged part in the dissemination of the video.

“I feel very angry about it and more so on Tom's part,” she claimed. “But the fact that Ariana sent it out, it's like both of those things are equally wrong, and it just blew up, and it was because of this video. So it's like, if everyone's out to hold people accountable, I feel like in upholding my truth and and [allowing] myself to hold these people accountable too.”

Leviss also reflected on what it would have looked like if she returned to Vanderpump Rules following Scandoval.

“I would have been in a high stress environment filming with people that worked to tear me down as opposed to lift me up as a person,” she hypothesized. “I would have been under magnifying glass with people reporting certain things to the media, the media picking it up, creating stories that weren't actually factual, catapulting even further into the fan fiction that was being created in the world, about my life. And, also, you know, the influence that Tom had on me. I was still protecting Tom at this time. I knew he had a big influence on me as a person and my identity.”

“And as I was trying to break free from that, going back to do the show would force me to film with him, and I didn't want to,” she continued. “I didn't want Tom to be in my life anymore. Even if I did go back and film and was like I'm ending things with Tom. They would still create situations that would bring me back in, and I would feel the need to comment on it like I have been doing on my podcast. And, yeah, it could have been really entertaining, but I have chosen to live a more authentic life for me instead of providing entertainment for the public to consume.”

“I'm prioritizing myself over entertainment,” she concluded. 

The podcast host detailed how she and her former flame differed on their handling of the scandal, saying, “For him, I believe that doing the work is like him prioritizing the show, knowing that he has a commitment to the show and a commitment to the storyline and a commitment to the cast that he has chosen to be friends.” 

She added, “And for me, doing the work is going to therapy every week or at that time in The Meadows, going to therapy every day. Doing the work for me is fostering true friendships with authentic, intimate connections, where we are building each other up and bringing out the best in each other. Doing the work is practicing mindfulness meditation, working out my body, going for walks, not drinking alcohol, and just, like, really embodying all of that and learning how to set boundaries and and what that looks like for me and and getting guidance where I need it to make clear decisions in my life."

Leviss realized that she and Sandoval weren't “in alignment with what our values are,” which ultimately led to their relationship ending.

“That is why the relationship failed, amongst other things,” she explained. “But, you know, I have different values with integrity, honesty, respect, authenticity, and kindness and self development and self growth. And through this experience and compromising my values, I have learned that those are the things that I am choosing to uphold every single day here on out.” 

Leviss said she even tried to give the relationship “a shot” but needed to prioritize herself.

“As I was in my recovery center — learning about myself and getting more authentic to who I am —  I started really realizing that we're not compatible in that way,” she shared. “Actions speak louder than words. We chose different paths, and, and there's different consequences for those choices.”

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Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.