Former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Brandi Glanville accused “Watch What Happens Live” host and “Real Housewives” executive producer Andy Cohen of sexual harassment.
Glanville, 51, made the claims in a letter her lawyers sent Thursday to NBCUniversal, Shed Media and Shed’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Glanville said that in 2022 Cohen sent a video to her boasting about “his intention to sleep with another Bravo star that night.” The letter alleged that Cohen appeared inebriated and invited her to watch via FaceTime.
Cohen, 55, said the comment was a joke but apologized to Glanville.
As the executive producer of “Real Housewives,” Cohen was Glanville’s boss, the letter said. It accused Cohen of abusing his power and leaving Glanville “feeling trapped and disgusted.”
In his response to Glanville, Cohen wrote that he and former “Below Deck” star Kate Chastain had made a joke and that Glanville was in on it.
“The video shows Kate Chastain and I very clearly joking to Brandi,” Cohen said Thursday in a post on X. “It was absolutely meant in jest, and Brandi’s response clearly communicated she was in on the joke. That said, it was totally inappropriate and I apologize.”
Shed Media and Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment. NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and Bravo, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The letter also addressed claims Caroline Manzo made in a lawsuit alleging that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Glanville while filming “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” in Morocco in January 2023. The season of the show has not aired on television.
Manzo, 62, who starred on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” alleged in a lawsuit filed in January that an “intoxicated” Glanville groped and kissed an unwilling Manzo at a bar. It also accused Glanville of kissing Manzo on a couch and following her into a bathroom where Glanville allegedly groped Manzo.
Glanville said in her letter that Manzo’s allegations were a “character assassination” and that the two had engaged in “dirty dancing,’ flirting, and playful touching” and that “they shared a couple of kisses.” Glanville also said Manzo had pulled her into the bathroom so they could wash their hands and they were accompanied by two other castmates.
NBC News reached out to representatives for Manzo.
The letter went on to blame Shed Media and NBC for “deliberately refashioning a series of intimate moments between two consenting adults into a #MeToo scenario.”
“This is a transparent attempt to cut ties with Ms. Glanville in a manner intended to deny her recourse, discredit her, and ward off damaging revelations that Ms. Glanville is uniquely positioned to reveal,” the letter stated.
Glanville also accused NBC and Shed Media of trying to “bolster its claims of sexual misconduct” against Glanville by “deliberately misconstruing an interaction” between her and a production executive named Shawn Loesser.
The letter alleged that her relationship with Loesser is “characterized by mutual flirtation” and the “attempt to recast a single interaction of this nature as sexual harassment by Ms. Glanville beggars belief.”
Loesser could not be reached at phone numbers listed for him.
Attorneys Bryan J. Freedman and Mark Geragos, who are representing Glanville, said her allegations are “yet another example of the abusive practices of the reality TV industry” and encouraged other people to come forward.
“Mark Geragos and I have heard from thousands of current and former cast members on reality shows about the physical and emotional harm inflicted on them by virtue of their participation,” they said in a joint statement. “We know there are untold numbers of innocent victims who have yet to tell their stories or seek legal redress.”
The reality star and legal team are threatening to pursue legal action and requested that NBC, Shed Media and Warner Bros. preserve all documentation related to her claims.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
