Andy Cohen apologizes after Brandi Glanville's sexual harassment accusations

In yet another legal action to hit the Bravo-sphere, former Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills and Ultimate Girls Trip star, Brandi Glanville, is accusing Watch What Happens Live host and Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen of sexual harassment. In a letter sent to NBC, Shed Media, and Warner Bros. via her legal representation (obtained by Page Six), Glanville alleges that an “obviously inebriated” Cohen sent her a video in 2022 in which he “boasted” that he wanted to “sleep with another Bravo star” and invited her to watch the act via FaceTime. The identity of that specific Bravo star has not been revealed.

Glanville felt “trapped” and “disgusted” by the interaction, the letter continues. “Mr. Cohen was Ms. Glanville’s boss at the time and exercised complete and total control over her career,” the document states. “This was an extraordinary abuse of power that left Ms. Glanville feeling trapped and disgusted. It is inconceivable that Mr. Cohen remains in his post in spite of this behavior and harkens back to the bad old days of Matt Lauer and NBC News when profits were prioritized over people.”

In a subsequent post on Twitter/X, Cohen apologized for the incident and revealed that Below Deck’s Kate Chastain was also involved. “The video shows Kate Chastain and I very clearly joking to Brandi,” he wrote. “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.”

These letters are becoming a pattern for the reality network. Last month, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Caroline Manzo sued Bravo after she alleged that Glanville sexually assaulted her while filming an episode of Ultimate Girls Trip. But in that suit at least, Manzo’s anger seems to be more directed towards the culture of permissiveness and manipulation at the network than Glanville herself. Bravo “regularly pl[ies] the Real Housewives cast with alcohol, cause[s] them to become severely intoxicated, and then direct[s], encourage[s] and/or allow[s] them to sexually harass other cast members because that is good for ratings,” Manzo’s suit reads.

These allegations aren’t coming out of nowhere. The Real Housewives franchise and Bravo as a whole have faced severe scrutiny in recent months for all the ways they exploit their cast members, leading to former Housewives star Bethenny Frankel moving to sue the network and create a union for reality stars the past summer.

The recent letter from Glanville’s attorneys is partly a way to preserve evidence in response to Manzo’s “character assassination… since our client is asserting rights that may result in litigation” (via Variety) and also speaks to the larger problems happening at Bravo. “Ms. Glanville has long been taken advantage of by the institutions with which she is indelibly tied personally, professionally, financially, and in the public mind,” the document states. “Her story—one of thousands we have heard in the course of our investigation into the practices of the reality television industry—is part and parcel of the Reality Reckoning.”