Actual Housewife, Leah McSweeney, Information Lawsuit In opposition to Andy Cohen and Bravo
Ms. McSweeney stated on the video name that she had determined to take part in “Housewives of New York Metropolis” as a result of she thought it will be a fantastic alternative. However as soon as she joined the forged, she stated, echoing her grievance, “Each single factor that was stated to me was coded language for, ‘You higher drink.’”
“I knew that there was going to be drama and combating, in fact,” she stated. “You recognize persons are going to like you typically, they’re going to hate you typically — you’re going to be considerably objectified and also you’re there to entertain, et cetera. I simply didn’t know that the company and the producers and the community additionally form of seemed on the girls in the identical approach because the viewers does. I believed we might be a bit bit extra humanized by them.”
Ms. McSweeney, after showing within the twelfth and thirteenth seasons of “Housewives of New York Metropolis,” didn’t return for the present’s 14th season. However after filming “Housewives,” she joined the forged of a derivative, “The Actual Housewives Final Women Journey,” for its third season, which aired final yr. She was sober whereas filming the present, episodes of which confirmed forged members encouraging her to drink.
“I used to be actually hoping for the most effective,” she stated of her choice to hitch the “Final Women Journey” forged. “I had had a number of discussions with a number of community executives who knew how I felt, they usually stated that this was going to be enjoyable.”
Ms. McSweeney’s lawsuit got here weeks after Caroline Manzo, a former star of “The Actual Housewives of New Jersey,” filed a swimsuit in opposition to Bravo and different events in January alleging that she had been sexually harassed and assaulted by a fellow forged member whereas filming an installment of “Final Women Journey.” Bravo has not commented on that lawsuit.
Final summer season, Bethenny Frankel, one other former “Housewives of New York” forged member, known as for actuality stars to unionize so as to enhance their working circumstances. In August, two leisure legal professionals, Bryan Freeman and Mark Geragos, wrote a authorized letter addressed to Kimberley Harris, the final counsel at NBCUniversal, accusing Bravo of “grotesque and wicked mistreatment” on behalf of “a number of present and former forged members and crew members on a few of NBC’s most profitable actuality reveals.”