Leah McSweeney joined season 12 of The Real Housewives Of New York to a mixed response. The mother of one was a fresh energy for the series, freely talking about her sex life and running around Ramona’s pool naked.
After two seasons, Leah wasn’t asked back, and RHONY was totally rebooted with a new cast. The former housewife sued Bravo and Andy Cohen for discrimination in February 2024, claiming they encouraged substance abuse to make good TV.
In a 109 page complaint obtained by PEOPLE, Leah claims Bravo creates a "rotted" workplace culture where people were pressured to consume alcohol. As a recovering alcoholic, she alleged that the work culture promoted substance use.
She also allegesd that the defendants failed to maintain a safe working environment and accommodate her disabilities, including "alcohol use disorder" and "mental health disorders."
She claims that she felt discriminated against during the filming of RHONY and noted that producers were “intentionally planning scenarios intended to exacerbate her disabilities to create morbidly salacious reality television.”
Leah’s complaint adds that Andy Cohen "engages in cocaine use with Housewives and other 'Bravolebrities' that he employs," and has a "proclivity for cocaine usage with his employees." Her claim also claimed that Cohen gave more favorable edits to the housewives he took drugs with.
"Cohen intentionally uses cocaine with his employees to further promote a workplace culture that thrives off drug and alcohol abuse, which leads to a failure to accommodate employees who are disabled and attempting to remain substance free."
Before her Instagram became private, Leah took to her social media to cryptically comment on the lawsuit. “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.”
Andy Hit Back At Leah’s Claims
Andy denied these allegations and called on McSweeney to retract her accusations. Cohen’s lawyers called her lawsuit “baseless” and asked her to withdraw the allegations about Cohen’s drug use.
According to Page Six, Bravo’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case, but in a recent 100-page ruling, a judge gave Leah a green light to move forward with some of her claims.
Bravo’s lawyers claimed that RHONY producers were exercising their First Amendment rights by having the cast drink on camera. Judge Lewis Liman agreed with the producers on this aspect.
Most of Leah’s case remains intact, especially her claim that producers “directly coerced and harassed [her] based on her [addiction].”
The judge noted, “[Producers] joked about [her] drinking issues in her presence despite her requests that they stop, taunted her about her alcohol use disorder and tried to undermine her sobriety through harassing comments, directed other cast members to bring up [her] mental health and substance abuse issues and to call [her] a drug addict, and coached fellow cast members to further disparage [her].”
The next legal step will see both parties gathering texts, emails, and other evidence, as well as under-oath interviews.