Vanderpump Rules stars Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix are facing a lawsuit stemming from their recent book of cocktail recipes.
Author Alison Baker is suing the longtime couple on grounds of breach of contract over their book Fancy AF Cocktails: Drink Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers, according to court documents obtained by E! News. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published that book on Dec. 3, 2019.
"The allegations presented are false and frivolous," Tom and Ariana told E! News in a statement. "We will vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless claims."
Alison, who has co-authored seven books with celebrities, claims that she contacted Ariana in February 2016 about working on a book together, and that they met up later that month to discuss details of the concept. Alison allegedly pitched a book of cocktail recipes written from Ariana's perspective as a bartender at SUR on the Bravo reality series.
The writer claims that Ariana agreed to pay 45 percent of the advance and the royalties, along with giving Alison a co-author credit on the title page.
According to the docs, Alison completed a finalized version of the book proposal in early 2017, and their work on the proposal was part of Ariana's story line on Vanderpump Rules.
Alison alleges that Tom became "openly jealous" of her work with Ariana, and that he suggested that the three of them work on a separate full manuscript of a book based on the existing concept that they would then self-publish. Alison claims that the three of them agreed to share profits equally.
The documents state that Fancy AF Cocktails allegedly infringes on the initial book concept and that Ariana has failed to pay Alison the 45 percent of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's advance. Calling the TV stars' conduct "willful, malicious and fraudulent," the author is suing Tom and Ariana for an amount of money to be determined at trial.
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