The legal complaints targeting Andy Cohen and his Real Housewives franchise are expanding this week, with former cast member Leah McSweeney’s lawsuit alleging drug-related favoritism and a conspiracy to prey on her alcoholism to boost the show’s ratings.
McSweeney, 41, filed the suit on Tuesday, naming the franchise kingpin, Bravo, NBC/Universal, production house Shed Media US, and producers John Paparazzo, Lisa Shannon and Darren Ward. The suit obtained by The Hollywood Reporter alleges that, while aware of the designer’s issues with alcohol and fragile mental health, producers allegedly coerced and coaxed her into drinking alcohol while shooting two seasons of RHONY and one season of a spinoff show. It also targets Cohen specifically, accusing him of playing favorites with those who party with him.
“[Cohen] engaged in cocaine use with ‘Housewives’ and other Bravolebrities that he employs” and rewards “‘Housewives’ with whom he uses cocaine with more favorable treatment and edits,” the suit claims of the 55-year-old Bravo producer and host of Watch What Happens Live.
On Wednesday, a rep for Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter, “The claims against Andy are completely false.”
“It’s outrageous that anyone would make a claim that Andy does cocaine with any Housewives,” added a source.
McSweeney, who founded the fashion brand Married to the Mob, joined the RHONY cast in 2019 for two seasons, followed by Peacock’s third season of The Real Housewives: Ultimate GirlsTrip, which aired in 2023 and filmed a year prior.
After filming Ultimate Girls Trip, McSweeney was in talks with Bravo about returning to the franchise on RHONY: Legacy, which filmed after and aired in late 2023. She was ultimately not cast, with production deciding she was not a legacy castmember, having joined in season 12. “If she was cast in Legacy like she wanted, this wouldn’t be happening,” says a production source.
McSweeney brought her complaint to the web on Wednesday morning in a lengthy Instagram post, calling the alleged behavior from producers “diabolical.”
According to her suit, in Bravoland she found a “rotted workplace culture that uniquely depended on pressuring its employees to consume alcohol.” Knowing that she struggled with alcohol use disorder, the suit alleges that producers “colluded with her colleagues to pressure Ms. McSweeney to drink, retaliated against her when she wanted to stay sober, and intentionally failed to provide reasonable accommodations that would aid her efforts to stay sober and able to perform.”
MeSweeney claims in the filing that while filming abroad, her rights were violated when she was not allowed to seek care for her addiction issues — despite producers’ full knowledge, she says, of her issues with alcohol. The mother of one specifically states she was denied proper transportation to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while filming in Thailand after being told by producers this would “not be a problem.”
McSweeney’s suit also claims that producers tried to mentally manipulate her in an attempt to draw out a ratings-friendly meltdown. In the court papers, filed in New York’s Southern District Court, McSweeny says that the exploitation attempts landed her in a psychiatric hospital.
“[McSweeney] grew mentally and physically ill, which manifested into extreme depressive symptoms,” says the complaint. Attorneys representing the former reality TV star said that an episode during this period — titled “Hurricane Leah” — was one of the season’s highest-rated episodes, with a reported 1.325 viewers in the 18- 49 age demographic.
McSweeny’s suit comes after a complete overhaul of the show’s cast for season 14 with a more diverse group of women that Cohen told THR “represent a different New York than we’ve seen before.” Her suit is also the latest case following what another ROHNY alum, Bethany Frankel, has called a “reality reckoning” that is exposing some of the darkness in Bravo’s mega-franchise.
In a legal letter sent to the network and others last week, ex-ROHNY star Brandi Glanville claimed that Cohen bragged about how he’d like to “sleep with another Bravo star” and that he was “thinking” about her, inviting Glanville to watch over FaceTime; such an “extraordinary abuse of power” that “left Ms. Glanville feeling trapped and disgusted,” the letter reads. Cohen quickly brushed this off on X, indicating that Glanville was in on the lighthearted joke, given her response at the time, but did apologize for saying something so “totally inappropriate.”
Glanville herself is facing legal action from a former employee at Dorinda Medley’s Blue Stone Manor, Marco Vega, who claims that Glanville, along with fellow cast member Phaedra Parks, sexually assaulted him on the set of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip in season two. Glanville is facing similar allegations in a case brought by another castmate, Caroline Manzo, who accused Glanville of sexual assault while filming season four of the spinoff, which filmed with Glanville returning and has yet to air.
When SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA in striking against Hollywood studios, Frankel accused the network of taking advantage of the Bravo reality stars and called on the talent to unionize.
Last summer, a legal letter from Frankel, with power attorneys Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos, amid the actors strike alleged “grotesque” mistreatment and “draconian” nondisclosure agreements, prompting Bravo to clarify that nondisclosure agreements are not enforced when it pertains to “unlawful acts in the workplace.”
Then in September, NBC/Universal revamped its conduct guidelines. This included an expansion of alcohol training for cast and crew members and mental health support groups, as outlined in September by NBC Chairman Frances Berwick.
On the eve of the network’s annual BravoCon gathering of talent, Frankel, McSweeney and another former RHONY castmate Eboni K. Williams spoke for a Vanity Fair piece claiming that castmembers were pressured to drink alcohol while filming and called out a co-star Ramona Singer’s allegedly racist comments and behavior. (Singer denied using any racial slurs but was scrubbed from the BravoCon lineup.)
“We’ve never mistreated anyone,” Berwick said about the intent of her August memo detailing the new protocols, THR reported. “These are ultimately small tweaks on what we were doing before, a restating of protocols. In some cases, we’re going to look more closely because we feel like this is a moment that certain shows should have more specific guidelines.”
When asked about the “reality reckoning” led by Frankel during a BravoCon panel, Cohen replied: “Can’t we talk about something fun? My thoughts are, as you can see here, Bravo and the shows on Bravo bring people so much joy and so much happiness — which is why we are all here, to have fun. That’s the place that I’m at.”
Jackie Strause contributed to this report.
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