Leah McSweeney Checked Into a Psychiatric Hospital After Experiencing 'Emotional Trauma' From Filming 'RHONY'
Leah McSweeney is making shocking accusations about her time on The Real Housewives of New York City.
In a new interview, the former reality star revealed she checked into a psychiatric hospital in early 2022 after officially quitting the Bravo series by phone in late 2021.
McSweeney, 41, admitted she suffered a major depressive episode due to what she allegedly endured during filming, as well as the passing of her beloved grandmother. The Married to the Mob founder's spiral was intense enough that her mother, Bunny McSweeney, and her ex — with whom she shares a teenage daughter – moved into her home before she checked into Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut for eight days.
"I can say all of that s--- 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," McSweeney said while adding that she suffered "emotional" and "physiological" trauma from being on the series.
The fashion designer also claimed that co-showrunner Darren Ward shamed her for getting sober. According to McSweeney, he allegedly told her, "This s--- is boring as h---" and that she "better turn it up" if she was not consuming alcohol while filming.
When she received the news of her grandmother's death during the cast's trip to the Hamptons, McSweeney claimed production was less than supportive. "It hurt so bad that I was not able to grieve," she explained of the loss. "That I had people not showing me any kind of compassion or humanity regarding it."
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Despite McSweeney's bombshell accusations, the network said in a statement, "We are always improving upon our policies and procedures and recently sent updates to our production companies, including stricter guidelines on alcohol consumption and direction on when to intervene to maintain safety of cast and crew, increased psychological support, enhanced workplace trainings, more serious consequences for physical violence on set, and a requirement to provide cast and crew with a direct line to NBCUniversal to raise concerns."
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The blonde beauty's revelations seem to be another stepping stone for Bethenny Frankel to build her "reality reckoning" against Bravo. As OK! previously reported, the Skinny Girl, 52, founder has been doing her best to try to sue the network for their alleged ill-treatment of its employees.
Vanity Fair conducted the interview with McSweeney.
The Messenger obtained the statement from Bravo.