Scheana Shay got candid about why she decided to publicly slam Tom Sandoval’s lawsuit against Ariana Madix.
“I kept getting all these messages and I’m like, ‘What the f–k is he thinking?’ I have to say something because if I don’t say something, I seem either complicit or like I agree with this behavior,” the Vanderpump Rules star, 39, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, July 22, while attending Sutton Stracke‘s Los Angeles fashion show at the Godfrey Rooftop. “But if I do say something, it’s like I’m trying to make it about myself.”
Shay was in attendance at the Sutton Green Label show, which promotes sustainability in the fashion industry. The brand aims to enhance the lives of consumers and make a positive impact on the planet.
The reality star explained that the day news broke of Sandoval’s lawsuit, she was in London and felt like she needed to “have a rant” about what went down.
“Honestly, I don’t f–king care because I don’t support this,” she said. “So I’m going to say something and people can say whatever they want. They can say I’m backpedaling, they can say that I’m trying to make this about me, but I just don’t support that behavior, and if people want to say it’s too little, too late, whatever. At least I’m saying something because something needed to be said.”
Shay added that she’s known Sandoval, 42, for the last “15 years” and he is a “different person” now.
Us broke the news earlier this month that Sandoval, 42, filed a lawsuit against Madix, 39, claiming that she “made copies” of NSFW videos of Rachel “Raquel” Leviss. The filing alleged that Madix distributed the clips to “Leviss and third parties” against his authority. (Madix and Sandoval dated for nearly a decade and broke up after Madix learned Sandoval and Leviss were having an affair.)
Shay subsequently took to social media to speak out against Sandoval and his legal drama. (On Vanderpump Rules, Shay struggled as she mulled over whether to maintain her friendship with Sandoval following his cheating scandal.)
“This is not someone I want to be friends with. This is not who I align in my values with,” Shay said at the time. “Call me a f–king idiot, OK? I said it at the finale, you know, ‘Don’t make me look like an idiot.’ Well, you did. So many thoughts.”
Sandoval later claimed that he didn’t intentionally file a lawsuit against Madix and alleged that “the words ‘New Lawsuit’ or ‘Suing’ were not articulated” to him.
“Late Tuesday afternoon, my attorney, Matt Geragos, whose advice I trusted, called me about the Cross-Complaint in the lawsuit against myself and Ariana,” he wrote via a Thursday, July 18, Instagram statement. “He assured me that the action was customary and strictly preventative in these types of lawsuits and urged me to agree to it.”
Sandoval shared that he then fired his lawyer from his legal team.
“In no way am I suing Ariana. The action against Ariana brought on my behalf is being removed. I had no ill will or vindictiveness toward Ariana,” he stated. “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.”
With reporting by Lanae Brody
