Leah McSweeney Is “Pleased” Her Suit Against Bravo Will Move Forward, as Other Ex-Housewives Call It a “Win”

A Housewife will finally get her day in court. On March 31, Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Liman issued an Opinion and Order in the case of former The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) and The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip (UGT) cast member Leah McSweeney vs. network front man and Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen, codefendants Bravo and the network’s parent company NBCUniversal; as well as RHONY and UGT’s production company Shed Media, its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, and producers Lisa Shannon, John Paparazzo, and Darren Ward. Judge Liman ruled that three of McSweeney’s claims could move forward: a hostile workplace environment claim regarding her substance abuse disorder and mental illness, a reasonable accommodation claim, and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ten additional claims regarding the same issues were dismissed with individual producers as defendants but can still be pursued against the corporate defendants, and 20 claims alleging sex and religious discrimination were dismissed entirely.

Inside the Real Housewives Reckoning That’s Rocking Bravo” examined allegations of racist behavior and substance abuse, among other issues, on the sets of multiple productions. On November 14, attorneys for the defendants and McSweeney—as well as McSweeney herself—appeared in front of Judge Liman. The judge heard oral argument about the defendants’ motion to dismiss McSweeney’s February 2024 civil complaint against those named. The filing alleged a workplace “rotted” by discrimination and retaliation from production regarding McSweeney’s alcohol use disorder and recovery in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as Cohen’s alleged sexual harassment and drug use with employees. Cohen’s personal attorney sent a letter to McSweeney’s attorneys stating that the allegations were “categorically false” and “defamatory” and threatening legal action, which led to another filing from McSweeney’s legal team alleging the letter was shared by Cohen with the press as retaliation that kept McSweeney from being hired because she had been branded a “liar,” and that it functioned as a warning to other Bravo talent not to pursue such complaints.

In Judge Liman’s March 31 Opinion and Order, he noted, “The entirety of Defendants’ argument with respect to Plaintiff’s disability-related claims […] is that they would impermissibly abridge Defendants’ First Amendment rights,” continuing, “Defendants dispute no substantive elements of Plaintiff’s ADA claims or their state and city analogs, challenging neither the plausibility nor the cognizability of Plaintiff’s harms as a matter of antidiscrimination law.”

All claims in McSweeney’s lawsuit that were upheld are subject to discovery. (Or, in the parlance of Bravo: Receipts. Proof. Timeline. Screenshots.) This means unseen footage from the show and text messages from Cohen and producers could be made public.

McSweeney’s case is one of several recent filings by former Bravo cast members, including former Real Housewife of New Jersey and UGT star Caroline Manzo and UGT supporting cast member Marco Vega, who both allege drunken sexual misconduct from costar Brandi Glanville (who is not named as a defendant in either case) at the encouragement of producers. Those cases are pending the New York Supreme Court’s decisions on motions to dismiss from Bravo, NBCUniversal, Shed Media and their subsidiary company Forest Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and the streaming service Peacock. Regarding the decision in McSweeney’s case, Derek Smith, the attorney for Vega and Manzo, told VF, “The decision is a win for Leah McSweeney allowing her core claims to move forward. The decision is also a win for all reality television participants. It establishes that television producers cannot discriminate against their employees while attempting to hide behind the First Amendment. Discrimination is not a constitutionally protected activity. The Court held, ‘The right to expressive speech does not carry with it a general exemption from all laws that would govern conduct on the set.’”

In February, former Vanderpump Rules star Rachel Leviss filed a revenge porn and eavesdropping suit against former castmates Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval. The lawsuit, which is slated to go to trial in November, reads, “Fomented by Bravo and Evolution in conjunction with the cast, Leviss was subjected to a public skewering with little precedent and became, without exaggeration, one of the most hated women in America.” (Madix and Sandoval have denied the allegations.)

Judge Liman, who has never seen Real Housewives, said in November that if McSweeney’s argument prevailed, “maybe reality [TV] doesn’t survive.”