Leah McSweeney opened up about the impact The Real Housewives of New York City had on her mental health in a new Vanity Fair article. The story, titled “Inside the Real Housewives Reckoning That’s Rocking Bravo,” was published October 30 with interviews from several ex-housewives including Leah, Bethenny Frankel, and Eboni K. Williams, who recounted their experiences starring on the Bravo franchise. Leah, 41, told Vanity Fair how she struggled during season 13 of RHONY because of the death of her grandmother. And after the viewers had a negative reaction to Leah’s second season on the show, she told producers she was leaving the series by phone in late 2021.
But just a few weeks later, Leah “suffered a major depressive episode” because of RHONY and her grandmother’s passing, her interview revealed. Her mom, Bunny McSweeney, and the father of her teenager daughter moved into her home before she was moved to Silver Hill Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Connecticut. Leah was admitted to the hospital on January 23, 2022 and she stayed for eight days, which was the longest amount of time she could spent there under her insurance.
The Vanity Fair story reveals Leah — who was sober before joining RHONY for season 12, starting drinking again on the show, and then got sober before season 13 — blamed “the show” for “emotional trauma” and “exploitation” when she was at Silver Hill Hospital. For the cause of her “psychological trauma,” Leah said, “I can say all of that shit is the show, but at the same time I did a deal with the devil so I need to figure out how to deal with it and win but at what cost.”
Leah also alleged in the story that the producers of RHONY were not supportive of her sobriety journey. She claimed co-showrunner Darren Ward told her, “This shit is boring as hell,” and “You better turn it up” when she wasn’t drinking during filming. She also alleged that Andy Cohen “looked disappointed” when she told him that her relapse wasn’t caught on camera.
Leah got sober for season 13 but had to deal with the death of her grandmother during filming. She admitted she regrets going on the cast trip to the Hamptons to please production despite her grandmother being so sick. “It hurt so bad that I was not able to grieve,” Leah told Vanity Fair. “That I had people not showing me any kind of compassion or humanity regarding it.”
While season 13 was airing, Lisa Shannon from Shed Media, which produces RHONY, allegedly told Leah that the audience “didn’t like” her because she was sober, Leah claimed. That was the breaking point for Leah who decided to quit the show before Bravo officially fired the entire cast and rebooted the series.
Leah returned to television for season 3 of Peacock’s The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip which filmed in Thailand in July 2022. She had a rough experience on the show and ended up in the hospital after suffering a panic attack. Several months after filming, Leah found out she would not be involved in RHONY: Legacy with some of her other former co-stars like Dorinda Medley and Luann de Lesseps.
Shortly before RHUGT 3 started airing in March 2023, Leah filed a discrimination lawsuit against Bravo, Shed Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, and several producers including Andy, for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to her Vanity Fair interview. However, an attorney for the defendants denied Leah’s claims and insisted that they offered her support amidst her struggles, but Leah “maintains those were either subsequently reneged on or she felt weren’t offered in good faith.”