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Andy Cohen is firing back at the allegations made by Real Housewives’ Leah McSweeney in a lawsuit filed against him. The former Real Housewives of New York City star, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, recently filed a lawsuit against Andy, 55, and the network accusing them of “intentionally planning scenarios intended to exacerbate [her] disabilities” to “create morbidly salacious reality television.” The lawsuit continued on to claim that Bravo did not supply her with a workplace to accommodate the above mentioned disabilities, including “alcohol use disorder” and “mental health disorders.” In addition, Leah accused Andy of using cocaine and alleged that he has a “proclivity for cocaine usage with his employees,” adding that he “tends to provide the Housewives with whom he uses cocaine with more favorable treatment and edits.” Now, there’s an update on Thursday (March 7). Keep reading to find out more… Andy‘s lawyer, Orin Snyder, sent a letter to Leah‘s reps, and that letter has now been made public. The letter send to Leah‘s lawyers said that “virtually every statement about Mr. Cohen contained in the complaint is false and will be proven so if this baseless lawsuit proceeds, we demand that you immediately retract and withdraw all allegations relating to Mr. Cohen’s purported ‘cocaine use,’ including but not limited to the allegation that Mr. Cohen ‘engages in cocaine use with Housewives and other ‘Bravolebrities’ that he employs.’” The letter added that without a retraction, he will hold Leah accountable “to the fullest extent of the law.” The letter continued, “To be clear: these allegations are categorically false. Mr. Cohen never used cocaine with any cast member on any Real Housewives show or with any other Bravo employee. The absence of any reasonable basis to make such allegations is confirmed by your pleading itself… While proclaimed as facts, these allegations are missing every detail, including the who, where, and when. That is because you know that no such details exist, as a slew of current and former cast members has independently confirmed (which you well know through press reports). The allegations were obviously made up by you and/or your client to achieve maximum tabloid clickbait value in the hopes of weaponizing these false allegations—along with other lies that permeate the complaint—as leverage to force an unjustified settlement. It will not. Instead, this conduct only subjects you and your client to independent and substantial legal exposure.” The letter continued, “The truth matters. Litigation cannot be used to create fake news. And it cannot be used as a vehicle to spread false and malicious lies, in furtherance of a shakedown. We demand that you issue an immediate public retraction and apologize to Mr. Cohen.” Meanwhile, Leah‘s lawyer, Sarah M. Matz, has already responded. She wrote, “That Andy Cohen had his counsel and PR agents write a threatening letter to give to the press is hardly surprising. Mr. Cohen is accustomed to using his power in the media to scare and intimidate people like Ms. McSweeney so that they will not speak out. Mr. Cohen’s attempt to discredit and intimidate Ms. McSweeney to deter her from engaging in legally protected activity in Court is exactly the type of retaliation that this lawsuit was brought to address and only is further evidence for Ms. McSweeney. We do not intend to litigate this matter in the press, and if Mr. Cohen wants to address Ms. McSweeney’s claims, we suggest he do so in Court, not in a letter for the press.” After Leah filed her lawsuit, a lot of Bravo stars came to Andy‘s defense. Letters via Variety.
