'Real Housewife' Leah McSweeney accuses Bravo producers of 'psychological warfare' in federal suit

MANHATTAN (CN) — In a scathing lawsuit against Bravo Media, a former “Real Housewife” accused the network’s producers of “guerilla-type psychological warfare,” including fueling her to relapse into alcoholism — and then knocking her performance as “boring” when she got sober.

Leah McSweeney, who starred in the reality TV series “The Real Housewives of New York City” from 2020 to 2021, filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in the Southern District of New York.

The 41-year-old NYC native claims the show’s producers pressured her to drink alcohol and prevented her from visiting her dying grandmother despite knowing she suffered from various mental health issues including a history of alcohol use, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety disorders.

“Yet, rather than engaging in the interactive process to provide Ms. McSweeney with reasonable accommodations, defendants trapped her — alone — in a foreign country and manipulated her castmates into traumatizing Ms. McSweeney,” the 109-page lawsuit says.

Producers Andy Cohen, Lisa Shannon, John Paparazzo and Darren Ward are named as defendants alongside Bravo Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, Shed Media and NBC Universal.

Before joining the Real Housewives, McSweeney says she had been sober for approximately nine years. She relapsed five months before signing a contract with Bravo Media to join the show in 2019, but regained her sobriety by the time she began filming for the show’s 12th season — and told the producers both about the relapse and that she wanted to remain sober while filming.

Instead of honoring the agreement, McSweeney says, the producers developed an “artificially close” relationship with her to suss out scenarios that may trigger another relapse.

“Defendant producers did this to drive Ms. McSweeney to the brink of insanity and force her to break her sobriety because it would create morbidly salacious reality television,” McSweeney says.

Despite her objections, the producers provided McSweeney with unlimited free alcoholic beverages throughout filming and repeatedly encouraged her to drink, she says in the suit. As a result of the producers’ pressure, McSweeney relapsed shortly after filming began.

McSweeney’s relapse came to a head in one infamous episode of the Real Housewives of New York City — titled “Hurricane Leah.” During a trip to Newport, Rhode Island, McSweeney “loses her cool at the evening clambake,” as the show’s official episode description says.

It became the show’s highest-rated episode of the season, according to the suit.

Because of her relapse, McSweeney says she grew physically and mentally ill and developed severe depressive symptoms. The producers, she adds, were aware of her condition, but failed to offer any accommodation and continued to pressure her into drinking alcohol.

After filming wrapped, McSweeney says she regained her sobriety. But the producers forced her to participate in “confessionals” where they told her to say lines that played into her alcoholism, such as “time for a drink.”

Bravo also released a special episode titled “Leah’s Best Moments," which McSweeney says was essentially a “highlight reel” of her relapse. McSweeney says she was also forced to narrate the episode and comment on the episode’s “hilarity.”

Despite feeling uncomfortable with confessionals and special episode, McSweeney says she felt forced to participate.

“She felt she had no choice but to comply with whatever defendant producers told her to say regarding her alcohol use disorder,” the lawsuit says.

McSweeney returned to the show for its 13th season and filmed a spinoff series, “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip." During filming for both shows, McSweeney says she was discriminated against for maintaining her sobriety: She received negative performance reviews from producers and was told her scenes were “boring” when she refused to be plied with drinks.

While filming season 13 McSweeney also says she asked for time off to visit her dying grandmother, adding that she had been experiencing panic attacks as a result. The producers would only allow her to visit if they could film her, according to the suit. When she declined, the producers told McSweeney that if she left to visit her grandmother, she would miss five episodes and would not be paid.

It was because of the producers’ refusal to accommodate her mental health conditions, McSweeney says, that she was institutionalized after filming wrapped for the 13th season for suicidal and self-harm ideations.

“Ms. McSweeney could not work to support herself nor her daughter,” the lawsuit says. “In fact, Ms. McSweeney required around-the-clock care to ensure she would stay alive and would not harm herself.”

McSweeney was later offered a role on another Real Housewives spin-off series but, she says, was fired after filing a formal complaint of discrimination to human resources.

She seeks damages for lost wages and earnings for times she was mentally impaired and unable to work and damages related to mental, emotional and physical pain and suffering. McSweeney is represented by Sarah Matz and others at Adelman Matz.

McSweeney’s attorneys did not immediately respond for comment.

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