Leah McSweeney Doubles Down on Claims Against Andy Cohen, Alleges He Bullied Her into Silence and Blackballed Her

Leah McSweeney is doubling down on her accusations against Andy Cohen.

Almost four months after the first one The Real Housewives of New York The 41-year-old star filed a lawsuit against Cohen, Bravo Media, NBC Universal Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, production company Shed Media US and producers John Paparazzo, Lisa Shannon and Darren Ward, alleging they facilitated a “rotten” workplace culture where employees were pressured to consume alcohol, McSweeney claims she has now experienced “retaliation”.

“In direct response to McSweeney’s filing of the complaint in this lawsuit, Defendant Cohen has further retaliated against Ms. McSweeney,” according to an amended complaint filed by the former reality star’s attorneys, obtained by PEOPLE.

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The lawsuit alleges that Cohen’s letter to McSweeney in March, in which his lawyers denied the claims and demanded she retract her “false, abusive and defamatory statements,” was “baseless and intended — once again — to intimidate Ms. McSweeney to shut up.”

McSweeney claims that Cohen (56), by publishing the contents of the letter, “intended to blacken” her name in the media and “dissuade” her from further filing a lawsuit and being “blackened” from the entertainment industry.

In a statement to PEOPLE, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip 3 alum states, “Andy Cohen and his lawyers have accused me of filing my lawsuit to get headlines, accused me of lying, and unjustifiably threatened me with legal action, even though they are well aware that I am within my legal rights.”

Leah McSweeney at the Big Feelings launch party on November 2, 2023.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

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“This is clearly bullying behavior and it’s normal. Threats like this serve to intimidate and try to silence me and other people who want to speak out. I think it’s very clear to anyone paying attention that Mr. Cohen is the one who is obsessed with being in the headlines.” , her statement continued.

Bravo had no comment when contacted by PEOPLE. Representatives for Cohen, Shed and Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

In the same month that McSweeney filed her initial lawsuit, Cohen was also accused of sexual harassment by former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville.

Andy Cohen.

Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty

Glanville claimed Cohen sent her a video in 2022 in which he was “obviously drunk” and “bragged about his intention to sleep with another Bravo star that night with her in mind and invited her to watch via Facetime.”

Cohen later apologized on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The video shows Kate Chastain and I very clearly joking with Brandi. It was absolutely a joke, and Brandi’s response made it clear that she was in on the joke. However, it was completely inappropriate and I apologize,” read his statement.

Andy Cohen at Tribeca Festival 2024.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

In May, Bravo confirmed to PEOPLE that the external investigation into Cohen had been closed.

“An external investigation into Brandi Glanville and Leah McSweeney’s recent allegations against Andy Cohen has now been completed and the allegations have been determined to be without merit,” a spokesperson for the network wrote in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

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