Rachel Leviss Accuses Lisa Vanderpump of 'Victim-Shaming' and Spreading 'Propaganda' to Whitewash Tom Sandoval

Leviss explains why she's suing over an intimate video Sandoval allegedly took without her consent and says she feels like Vanderpump is wading in to set up another "woman [to] take the fall"

Rachel "Raquel Leviss" is responding to Lisa Vanderpump's recent comments about her lawsuit against Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval.

Earlier this month, the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 63, told TMZ that Leviss's filing was "ridiculous." She suggested the Vanderpump Rules alum, 29, should not send explicit videos to "your best friend's boyfriend" if she didn't "want to have somebody share your porn" — although it was only after this comment that she learned about Sandoval, 41, allegedly recording Leviss without her consent.

"Immediately, I was like, 'Oh, she didn't read the brief,'" Leviss said on Monday's episode of her Rachel Goes Rogue podcast. "But then, you know, insiders told me like, 'Oh no, she knows exactly what she's doing.' She's saying this statement for the press to pick up this certain story."

Related: Rachel Leviss Admits What About the Scandoval Still Makes Her 'Defensive': 'They Painted a Diabolical Picture'

In February, PEOPLE confirmed that Leviss was seeking unspecified damages on allegations of eavesdropping, revenge porn and invasion of privacy resulting from the alleged dissemination of an intimate video Leviss says her ex Sandoval filmed without her consent toward the end of theirmonths-long affair. (The discovery of that video by Madix, 38, triggered the abrupt end of her nine-year relationship with Sandoval and an international news story dubbed the Scandoval.)

In her filing, Leviss alleged that she was a "victim of the predatory and dishonest behavior of an older man" who filmed sexually explicit videos "without her knowledge or consent." She further claimed that the recordings were "distributed, disseminated, and discussed publicly by a scorned woman [Madix] seeking vengeance."

Related: Raquel Leviss Warns 'VPR' Costars to Stop Sending Intimate Video at the Center of Tom Sandoval Affair

On this week's episode of her podcast, Leviss clarified that that the video was recorded over a FaceTime call and only learned of its existence when it was sent to her. While acknowledging that the duo were never "super tight" during her time on the show, Leviss confessed that Vanderpump's public stance on the matter "doesn't feel good."

"It took a long time to really decide if I'm going to press charges or not. And I felt like it was important to to bring this up," she explained. "My privacy was violated in a very intimate and unsuspecting way, and it is embarrassing and not something that I'm proud of at all. So to have her push out a certain type of story that isn't anywhere near the truth of what has happened is very disappointing."

PEOPLE has reached out to a rep for Vanderpump.

Related: Rachel 'Raquel' Leviss Recalls Great Lengths Tom Sandoval Went to Talk to Her Post-Scandal: 'That Was Manipulative' 

Noting that Vanderpump — who is also Sandoval's business partner in their L.A. bar TomTom — possesses "a lot of power," Leviss said she wanted to be "firm in standing up for myself." She claims her former SUR boss and VPR executive producer has been "spreading certain propaganda and straight-up lies as a way to change the public's perception."

She also deemed Vanderpump's comments "victim-shaming."

"It's going back like years and years, decades and decades of back when people would say, 'Oh well she was wearing booty shorts. She was asking for it. Oh, she deserved it because she looked a certain way.' It's very, very icky," Leviss said. "It doesn't feel right."

She continued, "It's one thing to be an advocate and advocate for [Sandoval's] mental health in general, but it's another to twist and turn things to support one of your cast members who is a male and have the woman take the fall."

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Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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