Raquel Leviss Confirms She’s Dropping Restraining Order Against Scheana Shay After ‘VPR’ Reunion
Raquel Leviss said she’s dropping the restraining order to avoid causing ‘further agony and stress’ on Scheana Shay, the day after they had to be separated at the ‘VPR’ reunion.
Vanderpump Rules‘ Raquel Leviss has confirmed she’s dropping her restraining order against Scheana Shay the day after they filmed the season 10 reunion. Raquel, 28, told Entertainment Tonight on March 24, “I can confirm that my attorney took my case off the court calendar Wednesday and is filing the appropriate paperwork requested by the court today to dismiss the TRO from moving forward after the 29th. We let the court know I will not be moving forward with a permanent restraining order. My team tried to work with Scheana on a mutually beneficial agreement hoping to get the TRO dropped earlier so we could film together.”
Raquel filed the restraining order in early March after she was allegedly punched by Scheana, 37, for having an affair with Tom Sandoval. She also said in her statement, “The TRO was intended to provide a cooling-off period after I was punched but I didn’t want to continue with the permanent RO nor did I want to cause Scheana further agony and stress.”
Raquel and Scheana could not film the VPR reunion together on March 23 because of the restraining order. Bravo released the two seating charts that day, which showed how the network separated Raquel (whose real name is Rachel) and Scheana so they didn’t appear together at the same time. During the reunion, Raquel reportedly showed Andy Cohen a document proving she was dropping the restraining order. But Scheana’s lawyer told H0llywoodLife that Raquel’s papers had “no legal meaning.”
Related Gallery
Vanderpump Rules Cast Then & Now: See Photos Of Lisa, Jax & More From First Season To Now
“It was a request to dismiss a complaint or a civil lawsuit, but Rachel had requested a permanent restraining order, which is something completely different,” the lawyer said. “There is no way for Rachel to ‘drop’ the temporary restraining order before next week’s hearing. This is California law and even on the court’s website.” The lawyer continued, “Even if Rachel had the correct document, which she didn’t, it wasn’t filed with the court. There is no file stamp in the top right corner. This was just another public relations stunt by Rachel and her team. If Rachel really wanted to make this go away, she would come out and publicly say the ‘punch’ never happened and she is sorry for all the harm she caused Scheana, Ariana, and her other friends.”
Raquel was allegedly punched by Scheana in New York City on Wednesday, March 1. The alleged incident occurred after she found out that Raquel and Tom Sandoval, 39, had been hooking up for months, despite him being in a nine-year relationship with their co-star and friend Ariana Madix, 37, court documents obtained by HollywoodLife revealed. In the restraining order, Raquel included photos of her left eye slightly discolored and a bloody cut on her eyebrow, and claimed that her injuries were from Scheana. However, Scheana’s lawyer said Scheana never laid her hands on Raquel and called the case a “fabrication by a known liar and a cheat who has betrayed everyone close to her.”
After Raquel and Tom’s affair was exposed, Raquel issued a public apology and acknowledged how she hurt Ariana. “I want to apologize for my actions and my choices foremost to Ariana, and to my friends and the fans so invested in our relationships,” she said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight. “There is no excuse, I am not a victim and I must own my actions and I deeply regret hurting Ariana.”