Kandi Burruss — the current longest-running Real Housewife — can’t relate to former Real Housewives of New York City star Leah McSweeney’s claims that producers pressured her to drink on the Bravo series.
“I saw a piece of it. I never did get to finish reading it. I just kind of saw the first couple of paragraphs and was like, ‘Y’all, I’ve been on this show for 14 seasons, and they haven’t gotten me to drink yet. I’ve never been tipsy in my life. Nobody on here is going to change that,’” Burruss, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly at BravoCon on Saturday, November 4.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star added that Bravo stars need to have “some type of responsibility for ourselves.”
“That’s just my opinion,” she clarified. “I mean, I’m not hating on nobody.”
In a Vanity Fair article published last month, McSweeney, 41, said that she felt encouraged by producers to drink despite struggling with substance abuse in the past. Bravo denied the claims saying that “production spent endless amounts of time accommodating her.”
The feature also included former Housewife Bethenny Frankel, who has slammed the network over a lack of residuals and alleged Andy Cohen goes too far in his line of questioning. Eboni K. Williams also accused Ramona Singer of saying the N-word during production on season 14 of RHONY. (Cohen, for his part, called the article a “factually inaccurate rehash” at BravoCon while the network took action to remove Singer from the fan convention lineup when she reused the N-word when texting a Page Six reporter about the story.)
The Vanity Fair story and, more specifically, Frankel’s calls for a “reality TV reckoning” were a hot topic at BravoCon. When Us caught up with her longtime friend Kyle Richards, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star had a similar take to Burress.
“Obviously, I know there’s certain things people think about reality television. It has it’s downside [and] it has its upside,” Richards, 54, shared with Us at BravoCon on Saturday. “My personal experience has been very good in spite of everything. I wouldn’t be here for 13 years if it wasn’t [a good experience]. And anything that I’ve done in these 13 years is something I chose to do and I only have myself to blame or answer to. So that’s my take.”
Lisa Vanderpump also showed her support for the Bravo network.
“To have an amazing television career, I’m so thankful to NBC and Bravo. They’ve taken so much crap lately from so many people that you know used to work for them, [and] I think it’s a shame,” Vanderpump, 63, told Us at BravoCon. “You’ve got to also look at what they’ve given you as well.”
She continued: “I think when people are gonna be great authorities on something, they check their facts. And also I don’t like the degeneration of somebody like NBC and Bravo that have given so much to these people, so many opportunities.”
Vanderpump also touched on Rachel “Raquel” Leviss’ appearance on Frankel’s podcast where the Vanderpump Rules alum claimed that her affair with Tom Sandoval was exploited by the series.
“Of course, I’m sure people got rights, but Raquel — she said she was at some point negotiating for more money to come back. So these people that are now complaining — like Lisa Rinna [saying], ‘Boycott BravoCon’ and Bethenny saying this — I think a lot of them were pitching and asking for shows,” Vanderpump concluded.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
