The Real Housewives of New York City alum Leah McSweeney is not pleased that Andy Cohen made jokes about Princess Kate Middleton’s health before it was revealed that she is battling cancer.
“Andy Cohen gets a kick out of being cruel to women and Kate Middleton is no exception,” McSweeney, 41, claimed via Instagram Story on Friday, March 22. “I hope that after she was forced to publicly talk about her cancer diagnosis, he will muster up the decency to apologize to her.”
She continued, “People with power need to lead by example.”
Kate, 42, confirmed earlier on Friday that she had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.
“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous,” Kate said in a video released by Kensington Palace. “The surgery was successful, however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I’m now in the early stages of that treatment.”
Kate’s video came after nearly two months of speculation about the princess’ health condition and whereabouts. After the palace confirmed in January that Kate had undergone a successful abdominal surgery, royal watchers started heavily speculating about the details and the recovery lengths to now-viral proportions.
Cohen, 55, got in on the theories multiple times, cosigning one rumor that Kate used a body double for a recent Windsor outing and playing into another that Prince William had an affair with Rose Hanbury. (William, 41, has been married to Kate since 2011 and never addressed an alleged affair. Hanbury, meanwhile, denied the allegations.)
Cohen has yet to publicly respond to McSweeney’s Friday accusations or the news that Kate is battling cancer. The Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen host, who was once a guest on Kate’s sister-in-law Meghan Markle’s “Archetypes” podcast, is currently in the middle of a legal battle with McSweeney.
McSweeney named Cohen, Bravo, its parent company NBCUniversal and several Real Housewives producers in a February lawsuit, claiming that the network intentionally played into her struggle with alcoholism. She also accused Cohen of playing favorites among Housewives who chose to party with him.
Cohen fervently denied the accusations. “The claims against Andy are completely false,” Cohen’s rep said in a statement in February.
Multiple other Real Housewives franchise stars have come to Cohen’s defense, leading McSweeney’s team to fire back.
“There are more lawsuits coming and there are more people who are going to speak out,” McSweeney’s lawyer, Gary Adelman, told Us Weekly in a March statement. “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.”
