Setting the record straight. Lisa Vanderpump clarified that she had no part in Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ affair.
“Oh and no I didn’t pay cast members to sleep together for ratings #pumprules they do that on their own … #fake-news,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, 62, tweeted on Wednesday, March 15. “Have a beautiful day everybody.”
Vanderdump’s remarks come after her former RHOBH costar Teddi Mellencamp theorized that the U.K. native may have orchestrated the Pump Rules drama to increase their ratings.
“[Lisa] probably paid Raquel [Leviss] to do this,” Mellencamp, 41, suggested to Melissa Gorga and Tamra Judge during a March 9 episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey star’s “On Display” podcast.
The former housewives have a feud-filled history of their own. The two started as friends but had a falling out during season 9 of the Bravo series, which aired in 2019. Their friendship hit a snag when Dorit Kemsley adopted a puppy from Vanderpump Dogs, only for the pooch to end up at a kill shelter. The drama, also known as Puppygate, led Vanderpump to leave the show. Mellencamp, for her part, exited the series in September 2020.
Vanderpump found even more success with her Bravo spinoff series, Pump Rules, which premiered in 2013. The reality show follows the lives of the workers at her Los Angeles-based restaurants.
Throughout the course of ten seasons, the reality stars have had their fair share of drama and hookups. The cast recently made headlines when Sandoval, 41, and his longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix broke up after nine years of dating. Us Weekly confirmed earlier this month that the pair split after the Florida native, 37, learned that her boyfriend had an affair with Leviss, 28. The drama, also known as Scandoval, sparked some tension amongst the current cast and will play out during season 10.
The restaurateur, who has a mentor relationship with Sandoval, was shocked when the news broke and sent her support to Madix during her March 8 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
“I literally had no words. I didn’t see it coming — nobody saw it coming,” she confessed to Cohen. “I have seen Ariana and I have [filmed] with her. It’s an integral part of the story now. I would say the word I would use [to describe her] is devastated.”
Meanwhile, Vanderpump didn’t seem to have any empathy for Leviss following the scandal. While on WWHL the Bravo personality called the former beauty queen a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
