Several Real Housewives franchise stars are coming to Andy Cohen’s defense following Leah McSweeney’s bombshell claims against the Bravo boss.
The former RHONY star filed a lawsuit against Cohen and Bravo on February 27. After news of her civil suit went public, she alleged in a lengthy Instagram post that the network executives “create a dangerous work environment, [and] encourage substance abuse.”
McSweeney claimed that NBCUniversal exploited her struggles with alcoholism and alleged that Cohen “engaged in cocaine use with ‘Housewives’ and other Bravolebrities that he employs,” according to court documents obtained by Page Six. McSweeney also alleged that Cohen “rewards Housewives with whom he uses cocaine with more favorable treatment and edits” on the shows. (Us Weekly has reached out to Cohen, Bravo and McSweeney for comment.)
McSweeney further claimed that she felt “pressured” to drink when she was on RHONY, despite allegedly telling producers before her first season that she had already been sober for 30 days. (McSweeney joined the series for seasons 12 and 13, which aired in 2020 and 2021.)
“Today, I am taking back my reality. The reckless and diabolical way in which the people at the top drool over the mishaps and misfortunes of the women including myself are disturbing,” McSweeney wrote via Instagram. “It’s a workplace culture where toxicity, alcoholism and pain are not only expected but encouraged and facilitated. That is something I most definitely did not sign up for nor would I ever endorse.”
While Cohen has not addressed the lawsuit directly, his rep shut down McSweeney’s accusations in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on February 28, saying, “The claims against Andy are completely false.” A week later, Page Six obtained a letter sent from Cohen’s lawyers to McSweeney’s legal team, demanding that the “cocaine use” claims were retracted “immedediately.”
McSweeney’s legal team responded in a statement to Us Weekly on March 7, saying that the “threatening letter” was “hardly surprising.” The statement read, “We do not intend to litigate this matter in the press, and if Mr. Cohen wants to address Ms. McSweeney’s claims, we suggest he do so in Court, not in a letter for the press.”
McSweeney’s lawyer, Gary Adelman, has since released a statement to Us, addressing The Real Housewives stars who’ve spoken out in defense of McSweeney.
“There are more lawsuits coming and there are more people who are going to speak out,” the statement read. “It doesn’t matter what people say or think – that Andy’s a good guy, or that you should expect to drink, or that you should expect this behavior. What’s going to matter is what the law thinks of it. And we believe the law thinks this is wrong.”
Keep scrolling to see which Housewives have publicly shared their loyalty to Cohen in the wake of the bombshell lawsuit:
Guerdy Abraira
“Been around Andy many many times and have NEVER been offered anything but good hospitality,” the RHOM star wrote in the comments section of a February 28 Instagram post shared by Page Six.
Chanel Ayan
The RHODubai star urged McSweeney to “leave [Andy] alone” in an Instagram comment. “We are in a place where you can’t trust to be friends with anyone coz they be snitching on you even when it’s not reality or truth 😂,” she added on Page Six’s social media post.
