Leah McSweeney says that an iconic Real Housewives of New York City moment “loved” by many fans was actually a “horrible” experience for her.
In an exclusive preview of her on-camera interview with Impact x Nightline, which will be available to stream Dec. 7 on Hulu, McSweeney opens up to ABC News anchor Juju Chang about the season 12 episode of the hit Bravo reality series titled, “ Hurricane Leah.”
In that episode, McSweeney and her costars go on a weekend getaway to Newport, Rhode Island, where she is seen asking for shots of alcohol before wildly acting out, much to the shock of Ramona Singer, who exclaims at one point, “ I thought you were a recovering alcoholic.”
Looking back on it now, McSweeney says, “It was horrible.”
“The next day when I’m done filming and I’m crying hysterically in my apartment, my stomach hurts so bad. I don’t know what I did. I don’t remember what I did. I don’t know what I said,” she continues, before admitting she was “blackout drunk.”
“Oh, I was totally blackout drunk,” says McSweeney, who had just joined RHONY and was considered a fan favorite early in season 12.
She adds, “And I was so nervous to see myself. And what are people going to say? They’re going to say, ‘You’re a drunken disaster. You’re a horrible mother. You were disgusting.’ Instead, they loved it, which really messed with my brain cause I was like, ‘This isn’t funny.’ “
After struggling with alcohol abuse, something she was very open about on the series, McSweeney tells Chang, “The same week I got the call to audition is the same week that I relapsed after nine years.”
McSweeney — who stayed as a full-time cast member on RHONY until season 13 but has since appeared on one season of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip — tells Chang that she wants the other women who appear on the show to be treated with respect.
“I would just like people that are in charge to treat the women on these shows with more dignity,” she says.
McSweeney’s comments on Impact x Nightline come after statements she made in Vanity Fair about the way she and others have been treated or portrayed on-screen by the franchise, with McSweeney even claiming that producers had hoped she would relapse on camera.
In a statement to both Vanity Fair and ABC News, Shed Media, the production company behind the Housewives franchise, said that “cast members and cast members only make their own decisions whether to consume alcohol.”
“IMPACT x Nightline: Reality Reckoning? Bethenny Frankel’s Fight for Change begins streaming on Hulu tomorrow, Dec. 7
