Lisa Vanderpump took to Twitter on Wednesday, March 15 to push back on Teddi Mellencamp‘s claim that she paid Raquel Leviss to have an affair with Tom Sandoval! “Ok no …#PumpRestaurant will be open as normal…#fake-news,” she tweeted. “Oh and no I didn’t pay cast members to sleep together for ratings #pumprules they do that on their own…#fake-news Have a beautiful day everybody.”
Teddi had previously suggested it during an appearance on Melissa Gorga‘s podcast On Display. “She probably paid Raquel to do this,” she said at the time of the sprawling cheating scandal that has left the entire Vanderpump Rules cast in an uproar. For those catching up, Tom’s ex Ariana Madix allegedly found an intimate video of Raquel on Tom’s phone, effectively ending their longtime relationship earlier this month.
Ok no …#PumpRestaurant will be open as normal…#fake-news
Oh and no I didn’t pay cast members to sleep together for ratings #pumprules they do that on their own…#fake-news
Have a beautiful day everybody.— Lisa Vanderpump (@LisaVanderpump) March 15, 2023
Tom apologized for the affair via social media. “I want to first and foremost apologize to everyone I’ve hurt through this process,” he wrote via Instagram on March 8. “Most of all, I want to apologize to Ariana. I made mistakes, I was selfish, and made reckless decisions that hurt somebody I love. No one deserves to feel that pain so traumatically and publicly.”
In short order, the news exploded, with Raquel filing a restraining order against Ariana’s BFF Scheana Shay and accusing her of punching her in the face over the matter — a charge Scheana vehemently denies. “This case is a fabrication by a known liar and a cheat who has betrayed everyone close to her. Scheana never punched Raquel, period,” Scheana’s lawyer said in a March 9 statement to HollywoodLife via a publicist.
As for Lisa’s business arrangements with Tom, she addressed those during the March 8 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. When asked if she would buy Tom’s share of TomTom bar due to the intense backlash over the scandal, the 62-year-old reality icon admitted the dynamic had already changed.
“Well, you’re gonna see something in the reunion that the dynamic did change,” she said. “We haven’t really discussed that. Umm, no. They’re my partners. I’m gonna stick by them, unless they need the money.”