Andy Cohen has denied the claims against him in Real Housewives of New York City alum Leah McSweeney’s lawsuit.
“The claims against Andy are completely false,” a rep for Cohen, 55, told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, February 28.
According to court documents obtained by THR, McSweeney named Bravo, NBC/Universal, production house Shed Media U, and producers John Paparazzo, Lisa Shannon and Darren Ward in her Tuesday, February 27, filing. In the suit, the reality star claims the network intentionally played into her struggle with alcoholism. The lawsuit also targets Cohen, 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 docs state, per the outlet.
In the suit, McSweeney says Bravo had a “rotted workplace culture that uniquely depended on pressuring its employees to consume alcohol.” She claims she told producers before her first season that she’d been sober for 30 days and was working to maintain her sobriety, but was pressured to drink all three seasons she appeared on the show and alleges producers “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.”
While filming abroad in Thailand, McSweeney claims that her rights were violated when she was not allowed to seek care for her addiction issues and was denied proper transportation to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while filming after being told attending would “not be a problem.” She also claims that she was mentally manipulated to draw better ratings.
McSweeney joined the RHONY cast in 2019 for two seasons, followed by Peacock’s third season of The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip, which was filmed in 2022 and aired one year later.
On Tuesday, the Bravolebrity took to social media to open up about the lawsuit, calling it a “story” she never thought she would be telling.
“In fact, I was petrified to speak on it and was warned not to,” she wrote via Instagram hours after the suit was filed. “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.”
She continued, “There will be much more that comes out once the people involved are questioned under oath. 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. 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.”
McSweeney noted there is “nothing more important” than her sobriety, adding that without she risks “losing everything.”
“I have been very transparent about my addiction and recovery,” she continued. “However there are personal things in the lawsuit that I never wanted to disclose for fear of being judged and shamed, but I am at a point now in my life where I feel strong enough to withstand whatever may come my way.”
McSweeney’s lawsuit comes one week after Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Brandi Glanville made sexual harassment claims against Cohen. Glanville’s legal team sent a letter to NBCUniversal, Shed Media and Shed’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, claiming that Cohen told Glanville that he wanted to “sleep with another Bravo star” while “thinking” of her.
According to the note, Cohen allegedly invited Glanville to watch him engage in sex via FaceTime. The letter also claimed that Glanville felt “trapped” and “disgusted” by Cohen’s “abuse of power,” as he was her “boss” at the time. (Glanville appeared in seasons 3 through 5 of RHOBH as a main cast member and as a guest star on seasons 6, 9 and 10. She returned for seasons 2 and 5 of UGT in 2022 and 2024.)
Cohen subsequently responded to Glanville’s claims, claiming that he and Below Deck star Kate Chastain were “joking” when they sent the video in question.
“It was absolutely meant in jest, and Brandi’s response clearly communicated she was in on the joke,” he wrote via X on February 22. “That said, it was totally inappropriate and I apologize.”
