Things got very awkward and tense when Kristen Doute and Luke Broderick decided to record themselves arguing over Tom Sandoval‘s lawsuit against Ariana Madix.
During the Thursday, July 18, episode of their “Balancing Act” podcast, the couple and stars of The Valley kicked things off by immediately addressing Sandoval’s lawsuit against Madix, 39, that he has since dropped.
“I was about to ream his asshole,” Doute, 41, said of Us Weekly‘s exclusive breaking news that Sandoval, 42, sued Madix. “[The idea that] Tom is suing Ariana is bats—t f—ing crazy. I’ve been texting horrific things. I don’t want any of you to read about how vile I thought that was.”
Broderick, 33, however, had faith in the decision made by Sandoval’s legal team.
“It’s funny because when I first saw the article written about it, I said, ‘This is probably something just to separate Tom and Ariana, and it’s a normal legal proceeding,'” he recalled. “Because in the distribution of revenge porn, his attorneys probably said, ‘Look, if you file this against Ariana, then that removes you because she took it from your phone and therefore one of these allegations can get dropped against you.'”
Madix and Sandoval were initially sued in March by former Vanderpump Rules costar Rachel “Raquel” Leviss for revenge porn, eavesdropping and invasion of privacy. Leviss, 29, accused Sandoval of filming an intimate video of her without her permission, which Madix then allegedly shared after she discovered their affair.
The Love Island USA host denied multiple times that she shared the video of Leviss with other people. Sandoval and Madix also individually petitioned the court to dismiss Leviss’ suit. Madix filed her own countersuit claiming that Rachel was seeking to “punish” and “blame Ms. Madix for the negative reaction [she] received as a result of her affair.”
Us confirmed late Tuesday, July 16, that Sandoval filed his own lawsuit against Madix. He claimed his ex-girlfriend “obtained access” to his phone in March 2023 and reviewed videos of Sandoval and Leviss without his “authorization or permission.” The filing alleged that Madix “made copies” of the NSFW video and distributed it to “Leviss and third parties” against his authority.
Doute called Sandoval’s filing “cowardly” before confirming that Madix and their friend group knew the lawsuit was coming before it made headlines.
“We were all aware of this alleged lawsuit, but those were your thoughts? My thoughts were vile, disgusting, deplorable, vicious and revolting,” Doute said, to which Broderick replied, “I know you’ve known the guy, you dated him forever [ago] and whatever. But recently, I’ve talked to Tom more than you have. It took me by surprise.”
Doute made it clear she didn’t “give a f—k” about seeing Sandoval’s side of things. Sandoval has since walked back the recent legal development by claiming he didn’t know he was going to be suing Madix.
“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 via Instagram on Thursday. “He assured me that the action was customary and strictly preventative in these types of lawsuits and urged me to agree to it. The words ‘New Lawsuit’ or ‘Suing’ were not articulated to me. I should’ve done more of my due diligence on the matter.”
Sandoval said he has since “removed” Matt — who is the brother of Leviss’ attorney Mark Geragos — 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 continued. “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.”
While offering their take on the drama, Broderick pulled from his own personal experience.
“I’m not coming in to just straight up blindly defend him. But I’m saying I’ve been sued. I’ve been in a lawsuit,” he noted. “I’ve spent six months of my life stressed to the gills from one business erroneously suing my business, costing me upwards of $40,000.”
Doute tried to see where Broderick was coming from, saying, “I know, honey. I feel you — but this is reality TV. Everyone signed a contract. I have been doing this s—t since 2011. Just like Tom Sandoval. He’s an OG from season 1 of Vanderpump Rules.”
Later in the episode, Doute recalled Sandoval’s recent attempts to spend time with her and Broderick, which she shut down out of loyalty to Madix.
“I’m trying not to lose my s—t right now and I’m trying not to cuss. This is just mind-blowing. So, anyway, I’m so happy that Tom had this realization, however this came to him, whatever epiphany it took,” Doute said while Broderick pointed out that Sandoval probably saw the public response that was “calling him this awful piece of s—t.”
The conversation took a turn when Doute questioned whether Sandoval truly was “completely unaware” of the developments in his case.
“Kristen, do you read your contracts before you sign them?” Broderick asked, to which Doute fired back, “I do, and I go through them with my lawyer.”
Broderick pushed back that Doute said “multiple times” that she trusts her attorney enough to have them sign her contracts.
“The same lawyer I have had since 2011. We just had a lease contract for the house. We finally found a house to rent. I have never read a f—king lease contract in my life. I read every single word,” Doute said. “Every contract that I get for my company, I read every single word. Do I read all of my contracts for reality TV anymore? No, I do not because I’ve had the same attorney for the last 13 years.”
Broderick thought that proved his point, adding, “If he were to say, ‘This is a standard thing and it’s normal for this type of proceeding. It’s basically just to help things move along faster or something that simple.’ Would you take the time to read every word of it? Or would you trust him and sign it?”
The Bravo newbie continued: “[Sandoval] was told it one way and that way is probably not false. It is that but it’s not the whole story. So he didn’t know the full scale of what he was doing. And I think he made that clear.”
The pair then shifted focus to other topics, but this isn’t the first time they argued on their podcast over Sandoval. In a January episode, Doute found out as they were filming an episode that Broderick spent time with Sandoval without her knowledge. Broderick then praised Sandoval’s home — and sympathized with him amid his legal proceedings with Madix over their shared home.
“I understand both sides of it is all I’m saying, because I feel like I’ve gotten to know both of them. They’ve both been equally nice to me. No one has ever done anything that felt manipulative or mean or bad or whatever,” Broderick said at the time. “Outside judgment would be from the public view of either one of them.”
Doute poked fun at Broderick’s attempt to play neutral while complimenting Sandoval. “So you’re just basically saying Tom has a bunch of cool LED lights in his house, so you get why he wants to buy it,” she joked. “He’s like, ‘Look at my cool gym, bro.'”
