The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Demi Engemann has requested that Marciano Brunette’s defamation lawsuit towards her be dismissed.
In keeping with court docket paperwork obtained by Us Weekly on Tuesday, February 17, Engemann, 31, requested the decide to throw out Marciano’s lawsuit, claiming that Brunette, 33, was punishing her “for exercising her First Modification proper to talk out regarding (Brunette’s) misconduct.”
Engemann, who known as the lawsuit a “sham,” alleged that Brunette beforehand bragged about how his workplaces made a “particular coverage prohibiting him from sleeping with different workers” as a result of he allegedly “slept with an ‘extraordinary’ variety of workers.”
Engemann additionally requested Brunette’s to pay her attorneys’ charges and prices.
The drama between Demi Engemann and Vanderpump Villa‘s Marciano Brunette could be starting. Again in August 2024, the solid of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives traveled to Italy for a trip featured on Vanderpump Villa. Through the getaway, Engemann and Brunette met for the primary time. What occurred in the course of the journey between the (…)
TMZ was first to report.
Us Weekly has reached out to Engemann and Brunette for remark.
Engemann and Brunette first linked in 2024 when the Mormon Wives solid traveled to Italy to look on season 2 of Vanderpump Villa. Brunette claimed that he shared a consensual kiss with Demi, who’s married to husband Bret Engemann. Demi, for her half, accused Brunette of crossing the road in Could 2025.
“I did come out with a reasonably daring and true assertion towards Marciano (not too long ago) as a result of at that time it was like, ‘You’re mendacity about me. Really, you have been the predator.’ So I’m not going to remain quiet — and I stand by that assertion,” she solely informed Us Weekly in Could 2025. “There’s extra taking place behind the scenes that can come to mild. I’m positive at this level it’s develop into a authorized matter. There’s not way more I can say on it as of now as a result of I wish to protect the truth that it’s a severe scenario. However I stand behind these statements.”
Later that 12 months, Demi claimed throughout a Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ season 3 confessional that any physicality between her and Brunette was “undesirable.”
“Everybody goes to deal with these sorts of conditions completely different. You by no means deserve undesirable contact,” Demi stated within the November 2025 episode. “It doesn’t matter what it appears to be like like, it doesn’t matter what your relationship was like earlier than or after, undesirable contact is undesirable contact.”
Following the episode, Brunette denied Demi’s accusations.
“It’s unlucky to see the whole lot that is occurring now, as a result of the whole lot that occurred (on Vanderpump Villa) was consensual,” Brunette claimed on a November 2025 episode of the “Juicy Scoop” podcast. “I’ll simply flat-out say that the accusations she’s making towards me are one hundred pc false.”
The next month, Brunette sued Demi for defamation. In keeping with paperwork obtained by Us on the time, Brunette alleged that Demi falsely described him as a “sexual predator.”
“The reality is easy. Engemann and Marciano met whereas filming in Italy. They flirted. They spoke privately. They shared a consensual kiss. They separated,” Marciano’s authorized staff stated per the docs. “After filming, Engemann stayed in touch with Marciano for months via calls, FaceTime, texts, invites, and even location sharing. That habits confirms a continued relationship, not an individual reacting to sexual assault.”
Marciano Brunette isn’t holding again amid his lawsuit towards The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Demi Engemann. Maricano, 32, shared a Reel through Instagram on Saturday, December 6, that includes the fact TV star miming trending dialogue about “getting even” with somebody who has completed you improper. “Someone do one thing to me, I’ll do one thing (…)
Brunette claimed that Demi’s allegations brought on “extreme” harm to his status.
“They accuse Marciano of prison sexual conduct he didn’t commit. They have been printed broadly, republished repeatedly, and framed to harden into ‘fact’ within the minds of viewers,” the docs learn. “The harm has been rapid and extreme, together with misplaced skilled alternatives, harassment by strangers, and lasting hurt to Marciano’s status.”
After submitting the lawsuit, Brunette took to social media to open up about how difficult life had been for him up to now 12 months.
“This previous 12 months has been one of many hardest of my life — actually possibly the toughest ever,” he stated in a December 2025 Instagram video. “I do know you probably have seen me, on TV or on the web, I wish to joke round and have enjoyable and all the time hold the vitality excessive. However behind the scenes, I’ve been coping with rather a lot mentally — it’s actually f***** me up.”