Was Raquel Leviss‘ legal drama with Scheana Shay just a PR stunt?
By now you know the 28-year-old reality star previously obtained a temporary restraining order against her co-star, claiming the mom of one punched her when she found out about her affair with Tom Sandoval. The 37-year-old denied attacking Raquel, claiming the “supposed dark markings around [Leviss’] left eye have been there for months.” She even went so far as to accuse her of “sabotaging” the Season 10 reunion since the two weren’t allowed to interact or be within 100 yards of each other at the time. And yes, Raquel did end up dropping it the day after the reunion was filmed — even though their court hearing wasn’t scheduled until several days later on March 29. Or did she??
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You may recall, Raquel doubled down on Wednesday that the physical altercation happened, resulting in a “permanent scar” on her left eyebrow. Either way, this legal matter obviously made things complicated when it came to the reunion, forcing production to get creative and make the castmates switch places throughout filming on Thursday.
But in a shocking twist, Raquel announced her decision to drop her request for a permanent restraining order on Friday — and claimed it was all Scheana’s fault they were not able to film the reunion together:
“My team tried to work with Scheana on a mutually beneficial agreement hoping to get the TRO dropped earlier so we could film [the reunion episode] together. 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.”
Seriously???
The day after the reunion, now you don’t have a permanent scar anymore?? The timing of this latest update in their legal drama is a little sus, if you ask us. And we’re not the only ones who think so. A source told Page Six on Friday that Raquel supposedly dropping her requisition for a permanent restraining order is “just another PR stunt,” adding:
“There is no mechanism to terminate a civil temporary restraining order (TRO) early, unlike a domestic violence temporary restraining order.”
So her announcement doesn’t mean anything? Wild!
The insider further accused Raquel of attempting to avoid getting “in front of a judge,” saying:
“Raquel made false claims in order to obtain the TRO against Scheana and is aware that having to account for those in front of a judge are not in her best interest.”
Considering the former pageant queen (instead of sending it to Darrell) had Andy Cohen serve Scheana with fake legal docs in the middle of the reunion, it wouldn’t be shocking if this latest move was a PR stunt.
And innerestingly enough, Raquel claimed her lawyer removed the castmates’ hearing from the court calendar and was filing the appropriate paperwork requested by the court today to dismiss the whole thing. However, Page Six noted that the SUR waitress never needed Scheana’s permission to end the restraining order petition — so she could have ended it even if they couldn’t come to an agreement and she truly wanted to end her “agony and stress” over the situation before the reunion. That’s not a good look for Raquel.
It is also unknown when the PRO case will be dropped as the outlet reported that the Los Angeles Superior Court calendar still has their hearing scheduled for March 29. Hmm. And as Scheana’s attorney previously stated:
“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.”
Will she just be able to end the whole thing? Could she get in trouble, assuming the sources are right? Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
