Another day, another lawsuit in the Bravoverse. Last week, former Real Housewives of New York star Leah McSweeney filed a civil lawsuit against Bravo and Andy Cohen, accusing them of encouraging substance abuse and intentionally fueling her alcoholism for ratings.
McSweeney — who was on the show’s 12th and 13th seasons — says that prior to filming season 12 in 2019, she told producers that though she had broken nine years of sobriety and lived with alcohol use disorder, she was sober again. She alleges that even with that knowledge of her health, the producers “intentionally plann[ed] scenarios intended to exacerbate [her] disabilities,” all in efforts to “create morbidly salacious reality television.” The suit also lists NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery, and production company Shed Media as defendants and claims that they “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.”
McSweeney also accuses Cohen, the executive producer of the Housewives franchise, of having a “proclivity for cocaine usage with his employees.” McSweeney claims that “Cohen tends to provide the Housewives with whom he uses cocaine with more favorable treatment and edits.” She adds that “Cohen intentionally uses cocaine with his employees to further promote a workplace culture that thrives off drug and alcohol abuse, which leads to a failure to accommodate employees who are disabled and attempting to remain substance free.”
A rep for Cohen denied the allegations, telling Deadline that “the claims against Andy are completely false!” Soon after Cohen’s rep responded, McSweeney took to Instagram, writing: “Your favorite Bravo shows are run by people who create a dangerous work environment, encourage substance abuse to artificially create drama and cynically prey on the vulnerabilities of their employees.”
Cohen has since doubled down on his denial, TMZ reports. According to the gossip site, Cohen’s lawyers sent a letter to McSweeney claiming that her allegations that Cohen uses cocaine are false and defamatory. They also reportedly informed the former Housewife that if she doesn’t retract her statements, she’ll be on the receiving end of a lawsuit.
“To be clear: These allegations are categorically false. Mr. Cohen never used cocaine with any cast member on any Real Housewives show or with any other Bravo employee,” the letter reportedly reads. “We demand that you issue an immediate public retraction and apologize to Mr. Cohen. Every day you fail to do so only increases the damages suffered by Mr. Cohen.”
The Cut has reached out to Cohen, Shed, and Warner Bros. for further comment and will update this post when we hear back.
This post has been updated.