Not backing down. Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix are speaking out after being sued by writer Alison Baker over their 2019 book, Fancy AF Cocktails: Drink Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers.
“The allegations presented are false and frivolous,” the Vanderpump Rules stars said in a statement to Us Weekly on Friday, December 18, one day after the lawsuit made headlines. “We will vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless claims.”
Court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, December 17, allege that Sandoval, 37, and Madix, 35, breached their contract. Baker claims that she struck a deal with Madix to help create a book of cocktail recipes after being introduced through a mutual friend in February 2016. One month later, the documents state, the women agreed to an initial fee of $3,000 and 45 percent of the total advance paid by any publisher who ultimately published the book based on the book concept.
Baker claims that Sandoval later “forced himself” into the deal the following year, leaving her with no choice but to rework her original contract with Madix so that all parties agreed to “share any revenue from this separate endeavor in equal thirds.” However, the Bravo personalities were not “prepared to contribute the level of work necessary to complete the task of successfully writing and self-publishing a book” and revised the contract yet again.
The longtime couple went on to publish Fancy AF Cocktails in 2019 without Baker’s involvement. According to the author, the recipe book “incorporates many of the proprietary rights” of the original concept she worked on with Madix, resulting in a breach of their first contract. In her petition, Baker claims that she is entitled to damages and attorney’s fees and that the creation of Fancy AF Cocktails was “willful, malicious, and fraudulent.”
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The TomTom co-owner and SUR bartender began dating between seasons 2 and 3 of Vanderpump Rules. When their book hit shelves in December 2019, cocktails weren’t the only topic covered — they also spilled some reality TV tea about former costars Jax Taylor, Kristen Doute and more.
“A few seasons back on the show, we started talking about a cocktail book. Everywhere we went, people would ask when it was coming,” the pair wrote in the introduction. “Truth is, throughout that time we were always creating new cocktails. We wanted them to be epic. … Before we get started, remember to drink responsibility, or at least hide it well. We aren’t the morality police, but don’t f–king drink and drive. And don’t drink and rage-text.”
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