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Former “Real Housewives of New York City” star Leah McSweeney has filed a civil lawsuit against the show’s host and executive producer Andy Cohen. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York, also names Bravo Media, NBCUniversal Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, production company Shed Media US and producers John Paparazzo, Lisa Shannon and Darren Ward.
In the 109-page complaint obtained by People, McSweeney claims that the defendants pressured employees to consume alcohol and failed to take into account their disabilities, including “alcohol use disorder” and “mental health disorders.” She says she told the defendants that she had broken nine years of sobriety, but was sober when filming of the show’s 12th season began in 2019. Elsewhere in the complaint, McSweeney alleges that Cohen “consumes cocaine with Housewives and other ‘Bravolebrities’. ‘that he employs’ and has a ‘prone to cocaine use with his employees’. A representative of Cohen told Entertainment Weekly The accusations against him are “completely false.”
McSweeney’s lawsuit comes after former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Brandi Glanville alleged that Cohen sexually harassed her. A letter Glanville’s lawyers sent to NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery and Shed Media claims that Cohen sent Glanville a video in 2022 where the Real Housewives EP appeared “drunk.” Cohen allegedly “bragged about her intention to sleep with another Bravo star that night while he was thinking about her and invited her to see him via Facetime,” attorneys Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos said.
“This was an extraordinary abuse of power that left Ms. Glanville feeling trapped and upset,” the letter added. “It is inconceivable that Mr. Cohen would remain in his position despite this behavior and harkens back to the good old days of Matt Lauer and NBC News, when profits were prioritized over people.”