Leah McSweeney’s camp is speaking out after a plethora of Real Housewives stars publically backed Andy Cohen following her lawsuit against him and Bravo — saying “she won’t let anyone deny her truth.”
The former Real Housewives of New York star claimed in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that Cohen and Bravo had exploited her alcohol problem to secure the show bigger ratings.
McSweeney also claimed that Cohen used cocaine with select cast members and that these individuals had a more favorable edit.
Tamra Judge, Kyle Richards, and Sutton Stracke are just some of the names across the Real Housewives universe to have voiced their support for Cohen amid the accusations.
In a new statement to Page Six, McSweeney’s representatives said the fashion designer filed the lawsuit “based on her own lived experiences.”
“She’s not attempting to tell anyone else’s truth, but she won’t let anyone deny her truth either,” they said.
The representative went on to claim that the reaction would have been far different if McSweeney had been an employee making these claims outside the entertainment industry.
“But because [Bravo is] an entertainment brand, somehow people think it’s okay to dismiss and downplay a woman’s stories of mistreatment at work,” they added.
Leah McSweeney returned for a spinoff last year
McSweeney was a cast member on The Real Housewives of New York for two seasons, but she was let go alongside Ramona Singer, Luann de Lesseps, and Sonja Morgan when Bravo opted to reboot the series with an entirely new cast.
McSweeney didn’t return for RHUGT Legacy alongside some of her co-stars but did return for the previous season of RHUGT to star alongside Porsha Williams, Heather Gay, and other cast members across the Real Housewives universe.
News of the lawsuit comes at a particularly turbulent time for Bravo, Cohen, and the franchise as a whole.
Many former stars are filing lawsuits against Bravo
Caroline Manzo recently filed a lawsuit over an alleged incident involving Brandi Glanville while filming RHUGT Morocco last year.
The season may be deemed too controversial for TV, with Gretchen Rossi recently revealing that there’s a big chance it will not air.
Glanville, for her part, recently claimed that Cohen sexually harassed her, with her lawyers calling on NBCUniversal to fire him from working on the shows at the network.
The drama reportedly stemmed from a video featuring Cohen with Below Deck‘s Kate Chastain. In the video, Cohen reportedly claimed he would like to sleep with Glanville, as she watched on Facetime.
Andy Cohen apologized to Brandi Glanville
“The video shows Kate Chastain and I very clearly joking to Brandi,” Cohen said via X(formerly known as Twitter) in response.
“It was absolutely meant in jest, and Brandi’s response clearly communicated she was in on the joke. That said, it was totally inappropriate and I apologize.”
It remains to be seen what will become of the lawsuits against the network, but we think it’s fair to say that none of them will work with Bravo or on any NBCUniversal projects again.