Details from the explosive and highly-anticipated lawsuit filed by former Real Housewives of New York and Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip castmate Leah McSweeney are making headlines, and it includes several revelations that could wreak major (and further) havoc on the already-embattled Bravo brand, as well as Andy Cohen himself.
In the lawsuit, filed yesterday, Leah alleged that Andy plays favourites with the Housewives he likes in the form of snorting cocaine with them or dishing out work and show-related favours; the favouritism was something I suggested routinely takes place in this article. The papers also allege the network knowingly employs a high-ranking producer who “sends unsolicited pictures of [their] genitalia to lower-level…production employees.”
Despite some of her lawsuit being about what she finds problematic (and like, super illegal) with Bravo, Andy and the other Housewives, much of the lawsuit is about how she was preyed on by the network and show producers as she tried to maintain her sobriety.
She claims the network went against rights she was entitled to under employment laws by not seeing to it that she received proper care for her alcoholism despite their knowledge of her issues with alcohol. She says she was pressured to drink and furthermore, that the network is built on a culture that “thrives off drug and alcohol use.”
As I mentioned, this is just the latest in a series of lawsuits, explosive podcast episodes and exposés about some of the happenings behind the scenes in the Real Housewives universe. Within the last week, former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip castmate Brandi Glanville wrote in a legal letter that an “obviously inebriated” Andy sexually harassed her, saying he wanted to sleep with another Bravo star (later revealed to have been Below Deck’s Kate Chastain), while thinking of Brandi. He reportedly invited Brandi to watch the sexual encounter over FaceTime. Last week, Andy addressed the claims made in the letter on Twitter, offering up an apology, saying the “joke” was “meant in jest”.
If you’re thinking “none of this makes sense” or “all of this is very weird” or “isn’t Andy gay?” welcome to the club. The minute I heard Brandi’s claims, I knew in my gut that however exaggerated they may be, they were way too specific, but also way too on brand to not have been true. Because what else would you expect from a leaderless reality TV franchise whose head honcho is far too chummy with the stars of the show to impose any real, working, professional boundaries?
Leah’s case, as well as the discussion surrounding Rachel Leviss’s mental health in the wake of Scandoval are unfortunate examples of the people who serve as collateral damage in the midst of all this “entertainment”. As a matter of fact, I’d even argue that the male butler who filed a lawsuit against Bravo over his experiences with the ladies on Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip is an example of that too, despite the inability of many viewers to believe that he wasn’t living out some sort of sexual fantasy, and that he was actually feeling a pressure that anyone in that situation might feel to keep a smile on and be a good sport.
Looking back, it was very clear that Leah was doing her absolute best to abstain from alcohol during the filming of RHUGT. There were some gross remarks made by Heather Gay, who, prior to this season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, I was a huge fan of. She challenged herself and the other women to try and get Leah to drink. To me, this suggests that not only is the network and Andy complicit in using alcohol and substances as an ingredient to provide and prolong entertainment, but that the other showmates are complicit in encouraging women to desert their attempts at sobriety to help enhance the ratings of any given show, as well.
Take this season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, where we get a rare look at Kyle living sober as she navigates her separation from Mauricio after nearly 30 years, which I wrote about here. The snide remarks made by other castmates during confessionals and the constant showing of clips of an intoxicated Kyle doing the splits at parties almost serve as a reminder to everyone of just how much “fun” drunk housewives are. And I agree - drunk housewives are great. But drunk housewives are not great when that drunk housewife had every intention of being a sober one.
It's not an easy thing to have your life filmed in general. But to go on national television and admit you have a drug or drinking problem and have that be ignored in hopes you might abandon your sobriety for show views? That’s not easy either. And as I’ve said before, there needs to be some sort of better working order put in place.
I find myself thinking of other shows, perhaps not necessarily the same in nature because what else is even remotely comparable to Real Housewives, especially now with the bar being in hell, but other shows with hosts and reunions and similar elements that seem to get it right. I find myself thinking of a show like Survivor.
Even with Jeff Probst dating a former contestant, their relationship was executed with such tact, grace and privacy that he still has his job and remains one of the most beloved and well-respected TV show hosts there is. I think of a franchise like The Bachelor, a show that quickly ousted Chris Harrison over his problematic remarks in 2020. Despite the show making headlines for several scandals throughout the years, there is a very healthy distance between Jesse Palmer and the cast, which is the exact opposite of what you get with Real Housewives.
All of this is to say that I don’t think the expectation is that crazy things don’t happen behind the scenes. I think the expectation is just that those crazy things are dealt with behind the scenes, or better, don't occur in the first place thanks to healthy workplace boundaries and safe practices. It’s not normal that as an audience, we’re privy to this much information. I always hear Lainey mention “inside baseball” and with this amount of inside baseball, we’re pretty much the umpires at this point. That’s a very heavy lift on an audience that mainly consumes this stuff because we want to see affluent women fight and navigate friendships and marriage as a means of taking our minds off of the crap happening in our own lives.
No one asked for discussions of substance abuse, or new sexual assault allegations seemingly every week, and just sheer chaos across the different shows in the franchise. The expectation is that there are boundaries that protect everyone involved in production from the stars of the show to the people behind the scenes that make it possible and to be honest, us, the audience. And with us not getting that, it’s becoming less entertaining, more concerning and more alarming that Andy still holds his seat – and more importantly, all that power.
